Tag: Competitions

February 2026 Competitions

January 20, 2026

I have now collected the competition details from previous months and put them all together on a new page, which I will update rather than making separate posts. February’s info is already there. You’ll see there’s also a direct link from the front page to the new one. I think this will make the list a little easier to find and consult. The idea is also that in due course there will be a full rolling twelve months on the page, which should make it easier to look at old details to get an idea of what’s probably coming up beyond next month.

I hope this is helpful. Feedback is welcome, (but don’t write to say you’d like all the competitions to be free, for I am powerless in that respect).

January 2026 Competitions

December 21, 2025


Here is another monthly round-up, covering competitions with deadlines in January.

As always, these are contests I may enter myself, so generally no poetry or flash and no competition that isn’t open to an elderly bloke in the UK. Prizes and entry fees vary a lot, so check the benefits to see whether they appeal to you. There is no point in entering a competition if you don’t even want the prize! In some cases the entry fee amounts to a large slice of the prize, though there may be other benefits such as publication, trophies, free books or courses, etc.

Merry Christmas!

ContestWord CountFeePrizeDeadlineDetails
Exeter Novel  Prize 10k + synopsis£20.00£1,000.0001/01/2026
Disquiet Literary Prize25 pages$15Lisbon Program or $1,00005/01/2026First prize is a week-long lit program in Lisbon, but you can opt for cash
Storybottle10,000$15$1,00015/01/2026
Cai Emmons
 		25,000 word min
$25
$5,00015/01/2026
Georgia ReviewLess than 9,000$25$1,50015/01/2026Winners of story and essay sections compete for the top prize.
The Page is Printed1 A4 page£5£100 voucher19/01/2026
LISP3,000£14.50£10026/01/2026You can enter later but it costs more
Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize3,000$25$1,00030/01/2026
Parracombe2,026£5£15031/01/2026
The Ghost Story flash1,000$15$1,00031/01/2026
Bristol Short Story Prize4,000£14.00£1,00031/01/2026
Askew’s Word on the Lake2000$15(Ca)$200(Ca)31/01/2026

December 2025 Competitions

November 20, 2025


Here is another monthly round-up, covering competitions with deadlines in December.

As always, these are contests I may enter myself, so generally no poetry or flash and no competition that isn’t open to an elderly bloke in the UK. Prizes and entry fees vary a lot, so check the benefits to see whether they appeal to you. There is no point in entering a competition if you don’t even want the prize! In some cases the entry fee amounts to a large slice of the prize, though there may be other benefits such as publication, trophies, free books or courses, etc.

If you do get anywhere with any of these, please do let me know.

ContestWord CountFeePrizeDeadlineDetails
Breakwater Review4,000$10$100001/12/2025 
St Louis Writers Guild3,000$15$5001/12/2025Poor value? 
Neilma Sidney3,000$20$5,00005/12/2025Travel
Chaotic Creators1,250£10.00£50 + pub06/12/2025Small prize? 
Leopold Bloom Prize5,000$10 ($15 quicker)$50008/12/2025‘Risk-adept narration’
Masters Review Chapbook25-45p$25$3000 +50 copies15/12/2025 
Globe Soup8,000£16.00£2,00016/12/2025 
Ruth Rendell1,000£15.00£1,000 plus performance21/12/2025Interact Stroke Support (upbeat stories)
Letter Review5,000$20share $1,00030/12/2025 
Anthony Veasna So9000 (3 pieces)$20$20031/12/2025 To become an ‘Anthony Veasna So Scholar’
Boulevard8,000$18$1,50031/12/2025 
Danahy5,000$20$100031/12/2025 
Lascaux Review10k$15$1,000 + medallion31/12/2025 
Write Time1,500£5 (£3 for £10)£100.0031/12/2025 Older writers
Farnham First Five Pages 5p + syn£10.00£1,00031/12/2025For draft novels 
Inkitt Love at First Kick Min 20k No LimitFree$300 + various31/12/2025 Soccer Romance. Linked with Galatea.
ASP Anthology 2-7k£5.00£0.005/word31/12/2025UK only, no horror or disturbing content
Henshaw (Hobeck) 2k£6.00£20031/12/2025 The old warhorse, still going.

August 2025 Competitions

July 19, 2025

A selection of writing competitions that I might enter with deadlines in August.

  • The Robert Watson Literary Prize, worth $1,000 is from the Greensboro Review. The word limit is 7,500. Entry is only open to subscribers and a subscription is $15: deadline 1 August.
  • The Cream City Review (Milwaukee’s leading literary journal) does it the other way round: entry is $15 and comes with a year’s free subscription. The word limit is 9,000 and the top prize is $500. Enter by 1 August.
  • The Aurora Prize from Writing East Midlands takes up to 2,000 words and charges £9 for entry, with a prize of £500 and a year’s membership of the Society of Authors. The deadline is 6 August.
  • The H.G.Wells Prize looks for stories up to 5,000 words on the theme ‘The Middle Ground’. £10 entry, prize £1,000, deadline 8 August.
  • The Craft First Chapters competition wants your first 5,000 words: entry is $20 and the prize $2,000, closing on 10 August.
  • The Bournemouth Writing Prize looks for up to 3,000 words and will charge you £10, with a prize of £1,000, deadline 15 August.
  • The Black Warrior contest will accept stories up to 6,000 words and it’s $20 to enter. The winning story will be published and there is a cash prize, but I have been unable to find out how much it is, which sort of suggests they’re not proud of it. The deadline is 16 August.
  • Book Pipeline wants your first 5,000 words plus a synopsis. Entry is $45 and the category prize is $2,500. Enter by 20 August.
  • Pen and Quill’s competition is free to enter: you could win $200 plus books and a subscription. They look for 1,500 words on the theme Afterlight/Afterglow (which they explain further on their website). The deadline is 21 August.
  • The Scottish Association of Writers brings us the Westerwood Prize, with a word limit of 2,500 and a £10 entry fee. This year instead of £100 the top prize is dinner, bed and breakfast at the Westerwood Hotel, Cumbernauld’s classiest spa and golf resort. The contest closes on 24 August.
  • A bit of a departure now. Not Quite Write is known for its Flash Fiction contest: now there’s a Flesh Fiction one for erotic stories. Up to 1,500 words, free to enter, with a prize of $500 plus a trophy (not sure what form the trophy takes).
  • Those fine folk at the World History Encyclopaedia are back with their Ink of Ages prize, for stories about history or mythology. Up to 2,000 words, free to enter, and you could win $1,000. In addition one of their artists will do some nice work for your book or story. Enter by 29 August.

All the rest have a deadline of 31 August.

  • First I have to mention the Ajuda Foundation prize, which promotes the worthy cause of mental health support in Wales. Stories, which can be up to 2,000 words, must be related to themes of mental health and wellbeing. £10 to enter, a prize of £100.
  • The Oxford Flash Fiction competition takes pieces up to 1,000 words: it’s £7 to enter and the prize is £1,000.
  • Aesthetica is back yet again looking for 2,000 words and an entry fee of £18. Win £2,500 plus subscriptions and a course.
  • Publishing Lab, from New Orleans, wants a novel or collection and for a $28 fee offers a hefty $10,000 prize.
  • Saveas wants stories up to 3,500 words on the theme ‘Facing the Storm’, entry fee £5, first prize £200.
  • The Cisco Writers Club have a limit of 2,500 words, fee of $5 and prize of $100.
  • The LA Review has the same word limit but charges a little more, at $20: however, their prize is a full $1,000

If you get anywhere with any of these, do let me know.

July 2025 Competitions

June 18, 2025

Here’s another look at writing competitions I might enter during the coming month.

  • The Goldenberg Prize from Bellevue Literary Review is for stories up to 5,000 words, the entry fee is $20 and first prize $1,000. Enter by 1 July.
  • The Slice from Forkapple Press wants a collection of at least 5 stories amounting to 150-200 pages. It’s $20 to enter: the winner gets $500, some copies, and 25% of profits on publication. Like the sound of that. Again the deadline is 1 July.
  • For Hastings Book Festival you need a story up to 2,500 words. It’s a strangely precise £8.25 to enter with a prize of £250 and the deadline is 8 July.
  • The H.G.Wells prize is back, looking for 1,500 to 5,000 words on the theme ‘The Middle Ground’. £10 entry, prize £500. Again the deadline is 8 July.
  • The Doris Gooderson prize from Wrekin Writers looks for 1,200 words: £5 and a £200 prize. You have until 14 July to enter.
  • For the New American Fiction competition you need a full work of at least 100 pages, but it can be a collection of short stories or even flash fiction. It costs $25 to enter and you can win $1,500. The deadline is 15 July.
  • The Adrift short story competition from Driftwood Press has the same deadline and a word limit of 6,000. The prize is $500 which perhaps doesn’t look the best value given the entry fee of $30.
  • The Petrichor prize (for finely crafted fiction), from Regal House Publishing looks for somewhere between 100 and 375 pages. $25 to enter for a prize of $1,000. Again the deadline is 15 July.
  • The Lazuli Literary Group want up to 150 pages of thoughtful, intelligent and beautiful writing of any kind. $15 to enter and the winner gets $500 – there may be multiple winners if the entries are good enough. Once more the deadline is 15 July.

All the rest have a deadline of 31 July.

  • Southlands Arts has a maximum of 2,000 words, a fee of £3 and a prize of £100.
  • Leicester Writes takes up to 3,500 words and charges £7 for a prize of £200.
  • The Anthology Short Story competition is for a mere 1,500 words, and it will cost you €18, but for a prize of €1,000.
  • The Olga Sinclair competition from Norwich is for stories up to 2,000 words on the theme ‘Weave’. £5 entry and a prize of £200.
  • The Plaza Prizes First Chapters looks for 5,000 words from the beginning of your ms + a 300-word synopsis. Entry costs £20 and the prize is £1,500.
  • Over in Munster they are again honouring Séan Ó Faoláin, master of the form, with a short story contest. Up to 3,000 words, €10 entry and besides a nice €2,000 prize you’ll be invited to do a reading in Cork.
  • By far the biggest prize on offer comes from The Novelry with their unusual offer, The Next Big Story Prize. They want your first 1,500 words: the novel need not be finished. If you’re from the UK it’s £15 to enter and the top prize is £75,000. If you’re from the USA, Canada, or Australia it’s US$15 to enter and the prize is US$100,000. In effect, this is two parallel competitions. If you’re from anywhere else, you can’t enter at all. Eight people from the shortlist get free entry to a course to polish up their offerings, with the final winner walking off with the prize. I assume this is intended to promote the Novelry’s courses, but it does seem a lot of money.
  • Finally, Wild Atlantic Words wants up to 3,000 words, it’s €10 to enter and the prize is €500.

If you get anywhere with any of these, do let me know.