Tag: Competitions

November 2024 Competitions

October 21, 2024

Another selection of writing competitions I might enter during the coming month.

  • Reed Magazine’s John Steinbeck Award looks for up to 5,000 words. $20 to enter, first prize $1,000. The deadline is 1 November. Entries need not relate to Steinbeck.
  • F(r)iction wants 1,001 to 7,500 words: entry is $15 and first prize $1,000. Again, the deadline is 1 November.
  • The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is free to enter for people living in Commonwealth countries. There is a prize of £2,500 for the winner in each region plus £5,000 for the overall winner. Stories must be between 2,000 and 5,000 words. And the deadline is 2 November.
  • Curious Curls want stories that embrace curiosity. $2.50 entry for a $250 prize: word limit 10,000. Enter by 15 November.
  • Creative Writing Ink looks for pieces up to 3,000 word: entry is £9, through Duosuma. The top prize is £1,000 and the deadline is 15 November.
  • Ironclad asks for stories up to 6,000 words on the theme ‘The 14th Day’ – to be published on Valentine’s Day.. £8.99 to enter, with a rather unexciting prize of £100 plus publication. Deadline 18 November
  • The Neilma Sidney prize, from Overland, is for stories about about travel. $20 to enter and the prize is $5,000: send up to 3,000 words by 22 November
  • Narrative Magazine will take stories of up to 15,000 words, for an entry fee of $27. The prize is $2,500 and the deadline is 26 November.
  • The prestigious Fish Prize is with us again: up to 5,000 words, €22 entry and a €3,000 prize. The deadline is 30 November.
  • Prairie Fire, from Canada, look for a maximum of 5,000 words. It costs $34 and first prize is $,1250, with a deadline of 30 November.
  • I don’t normally do microfiction, but I’ll make an exception for  Tadpole Press, who want a mere 100 words: it’s $15 to enter and a more generous $2,000 as top prize. Get your entry in by 30 November.

If you get somewhere with one of these, please let me know!

October 2024 Competitions

September 17, 2024

Another list of writing competitions I might enter, with deadlines in October.

  • Letter Review want up to 5,000 words and offer a share of a prize pot of $1,000. It’s free to enter, which you must do by 1 October. I’ve linked to their Submittable page because that’s where most of the details seem to be.
  • The Jeffrey E. Smith award from the Missouri Review has a maximum word count of 8,500, an entry fee of $25 and a top prize of $5,000: the deadline is again 1 October.
  • With the same deadline, Zoetrope want stories up to 5,000 words: entry is $30 and first prize is $1,000.
  • The American Literary Review will take up to 8,000 words: an entry fee of $15 brings you the chance of a $1,000 prize. One more with a 1 October deadline.
  • Galley Beggar Press want stories up to 6,000 words: an £11.00 entry and you might win a more generous £2,500. Enter by 13 October.
  • The annual Calvino Prize looks for up to 25 pages of prose in the style of Italo Calvino. It’s $25 to enter with a prize of $2,000 and the deadline is 15 October.
  • With the same deadline, the Caledonia Novel Award requires your first twenty pages plus a synopsis. Entry costs £28 and the top prize is £1,500.
  • The Raven, from Pulp Literature, seeks stories up to 2,500 words: $35 entry, $300 prize and again the cut-off is 15 October.
  • Last one with that deadline, Marlowe and Christie want the first 3,000 words of your novel. It costs £24 to enter and the top prize is £1,100.
  • Our favourite competition from Greece is back. Eyelands is looking for a full-length novel up to a massive 250,000 words. Entry is $35, with a deadline of 20 October. If you win, your work will be translated into Greek and published, and you will receive a specially commissioned ceramic and enjoy a five-day stay in Athens.
  • The Bedford competition has a limit of 3,000 words, an entry fee of £8.50 (reduced from £9 last year!) and a prize of £1,500. The deadline is 31 October.
  • Last but not least, Southport Writer’s Circle want up to 2,000 words by 31 October, entry just £3, prize just £200

If you get somewhere with any of the contests above, do let me know!

September 2024 Competitions

August 21, 2024

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

  • The John McGivering prize is run by the Kipling Society and entries must have some kind of link to Kipling. This year they must also be about food and drink and can be up to 2,500 words long. It costs £8 to enter and you could win £350, but time is short as the deadline is 1 September.
  • Terrain will take up to 5,000 words: entry is $20 and the top prize $1,000. You have until 2 September.
  • If you missed last month’s early deadline for Aesthetica, you can still catch the late entry deadline of 8 September, but will pay a little more – £24. The word limit is 2,000 and you can win £2,500
  • The Royal Society of Literature’s V.S.Pritchett prize is back, with a maximum word count of 4,000. It costs £8 to enter and the top prize is £1,000. Enter by 13 September.
  • Ink of Ages is looking for historical or mythological stories (no time machines, please). The word limit is 2,000: it’s free to enter and there’s no cash prize but the winner will get a whole lot of stuff apart from seeing the story published. They will send a consignment of books and various items or merchandise, and they will also produce for you a custom piece of art which might be a map, a family tree, or some other graphic. Enter by 15 September.
  • The Dinesh Alirajah contest this year is on the theme ‘The Unspoken’. Again, it’s free. Stories must be between 2,000 and 7,500 words and you can win £500. The deadline is 22 September.
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All the rest have a deadline of 30 September.

  • Louise Walters is again running her quirky ‘Page 100’ contest in which you submit exactly that page from your manuscript. It costs £10 and you win a book club subscription plus some extra feedback on your work.
  • Hammond House has the theme ‘Time’ this year. 1,000 to 5,000 words, £10 to enter, and a prize of £1,000 (plus a mention on the local arts TV channel and a place of honour in the annual anthology).
  • The regular Henshaw contest, now run by Hobeck Books, looks for up to 2,000 words. £6 to enter and £200 to be won.
  • Christmas already? Crowvus have launched their annual Christmas Ghost story competition. Up to 4,000 words, £3 to enter, win £100.
  • The Iowa and John Simmons competition is for a collection of short stories running to at least 150 pages. It’s free, but there’s no prize beside publication.
  • Maybe you prefer money? Also for a collection, Juniper wants 55,000 to 75,000 words. $30 to enter and a prize of $1,000
  • 6,000 words of the Best in Rural Writing could win you $500, for a $5 entry fee.
  • Finally if travel is your thing, you can win $500 for a story of 500+ words about ‘My Greatest Journey’. And it’s free to enter!

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

August 2024 Competitions

July 22, 2024

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

  • Black Warrior (from the University of Alabama) wants stories up to 6,000 words, by 2 August. Entry is $20 and they say there is a cash prize, but not how much. Let’s hope it’s more than $20.
  • Aurora (from the East Midlands) is back, looking for stories up to 2,000 words: entry is £9 and you can win £500 plus membership of the Society of Authors. Deadline 7 August.
  • Gival wants between 5,000 and 15,000 words: $25 to enter and top prize $1,000. Deadline 9 August.
  • Juxtaprose will take as few as 500 words or as many as 7,000: it’s $15 to enter, you could win $1,000 and the deadline is 11 August.
  • Book Pipeline’s standard deadline is 20 August (pay more for a later entry). They have ten different categories: for literary pieces the word count can be between 40,000 and 120,000. It’s $45 to enter and there’s a prize of $2,500 for each category.
  • The Westerwood competition from the Scottish Association of Writers looks for 2,000 to 3,000 words: £7 entry and a (rather modest?) £100 prize. Enter by 24 August.
  • The Masters Review summer competition is for stories up to 6,000 words long: $20 entry and $3,000 prize. Deadline 25 August.
  • OTP look for 1,000 to 5,000 words: entry is free and if successful you’ll be paid their standard fee. Stories must be on the theme ‘Expertise’ and be submitted by 30 August.

All the rest have that psychologically compelling end-of-the-month deadline (31 August)

  • Publishing Lab want full-length works, either novels or collections. $28 entry and they will give the winner a contract and $10,000 advance.
  • Aesthetica look for up to 2,000 words: £18 to enter and you could win £2,500, an Arvon course and other goodies.
  • NAWG want stories between 500 and 2,000 words: a £5 entry fee gets you the chance of a £200 prize.

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

June 2024 Competitions

May 20, 2024

Here again is a look at writing competitions I might enter during the coming month (including two for older writers like me).

·      The Salamander Prize is for stories up to 7,500 words. Entry is $15, top prize $1,000 and the deadline is 1 June.

·      The Writer’s Digest has a word limit of 4,000. Entry is $35 and the top prize is $1000 – awarded in several categories and lots of lesser prizes are awarded to good entries. An overall winner gets $5,000 The deadline is 3 June.

·      New American Fiction’s competition is also open to non-Americans. They are looking for a full-length work, but it could be a collection of shorts, novellas, or even flash as well as a straight novel. $25 entry, $1,500 prize and the deadline is 15 June.

·      The excellent: Stories Through the Ages, from Living Springs, is for baby boomers plus (people born in 1966 or earlier) They will accept up to 5,000 words, charge $20 and award a prize of $500 as well as publication. The deadline is 15 June.

·      Writefluence    is back. This year they want stories that begin ‘What?’ No prize except publication, but then entry is still only Rs. 199/-  ($2.25 approx). Enter by 15 June.

·      The Uncharted competition is for cinematic stories (ones that are easily imagined in film form), of up to 5,000 words. $20 entry and a prize of $2,000. The deadline is 16 June.

·      Write by the Sea looks for up to 2,500 words, entry is €10 and the winner gets €500 plus an elegant trophy. You’ve got until 16 June.

·      If you’re a Bardsy member, their Spring Anthology competition is $20 with a prize of $500 – the word limit is 2,000, and the deadline 24 June.

·      The Imagine 2200 competition invites you to do just that, presenting a climate-fiction vision of how a greener world might be flourishing by that year. They want 3-5,000 words and the top prize is $3,000, but entry is free! The deadline is 24 June.

All the rest have a deadline of 30 June.

·      WriteTime is another one for the oldies – over 60s, in this case. Only 1,500 words is required, £5 to enter and a £50 prize – not huge value for money.

·      The Wells Festival of Literature looks for up to 2,000 words: entry is £6 and the prize is £750.

·      The regular Henshaw competition,  ow run by Hobeck Books, has word count of up to 2,000, entry £6 and top prize £200.

·      The Moth is back, looking for up to 3,000 words: entry is £15 and first prize £3,000.

Do let me know if you achieve recognition in any of these!

May 2024 Competitions

April 20, 2024

So here I am, back again with a list of competitions I might enter during May. I’ve included ones with a deadline of 30 April, since I didn’t do an April list. Here they are first.

  • F(r)iction wants up to 7,500 words: entry is $10 and first prize $1,000.
  • The Plaza Prizes include a category for short stories up to 5,000 words: £15 to enter and  a prize of £1,000
  • Desperate Literature again offer a prize which besides €2,000 includes a residency and consultation. Up to 2,000 words, €20 to enter.
  • Free Fall takes up to 3,000 words. Entry is CA$25 and top prize CA$500
  • The Ironclad Creative short story competition has the unusual theme of ‘7:12 am’. £7 to enter and the prize is £100.

Moving on into April…

  • The Cheshire novel prize is back – send the first 5,000 words plus a synopsis. It’s a full £29 to enter and the top prize is £1,000, deadline 1 May.
  • With the same deadline the Tom Howard/John H Reid competition offers $3,500. $22 entry and up to 6,000 words are accepted.
  • Letter Review will take up to 5,000 words, you win a share of $1000 and it’s free to enter. Deadline 1 May again.
  • Leapfrog is looking for longer works – minimum 22,000. It’s $35 to enter and your main prize is publication, though all finalists get $150. Enter by 5 May.
  • Another novel competition is the Goldfinch one- again your first 5,000 plus a synopsis are required. £10 to enter, prize £300, deadline 15 May.
  • Lush Triumphant from sub-Terrain looks for 3,000 words, entry $30, prize $1000. Again, the deadline is 15 May.
  • I don’t normally do very short pieces, but the postcard competition from Geist looked interesting. You have to send them a postcard and a 500-word piece which relates to the picture. It’s CA$25 to enter and the prize is $500: deadline 20 May.
  • Do not forget the mighty Bridport competition, with its prize of £5,000. Entry is £14 and the word limit is 5,000. Last year I was shortlisted – so close! The deadline for this one and all the rest is 31 May.
  • MTP want up to 3,000 words. An entry fee of £8 gives you a chance of winning £1,000, and a decent chance of featuring in their chunky annual anthology, which is always named after the winning story.
  • Finally the good old Frome Festival is back. 1,000 to 2,200 words, entry is £6 and the prize £400.

Good luck – if you get anywhere with these, do let me know!

January 2024 Competitions

December 21, 2023

Some writing competitions I might enter with deadlines in January. No pretence of being a comprehensive list..

  • If you’re quick you can still enter the Exeter Novel Prize – deadline 1 January. They require your first 10,000 words and a synopsis: £20 to enter, with a prize of £1,000.
  • Then there’s the Disquiet Literary Prize. 25 pages max, entry $15, prize $1,000, and for this one you’ve got until 5 January.
  • If 25 pages is too much, The Page Is Printed wants just one side of A4. £5 to enter, prize £100 and the deadline is 14 January.
  • The Georgia Review will accept up to 9,000 words, and for an entry fee of $30 offers a top prize of $1,500. The deadline is 15 January.
  • The Cai Emmons prize from Redhen needs a minimum of 150 pages. $25 entry for a big $5,000 prize: enter by 15th.
  • Driftwood look for up to 5,000 words, charging $30 to enter. The prize is $400, but you also get publication in the magazine wth an interview and 5 copies of the relevant issue.
  • The Bournemouth (Fresher) Writing Prize wants 3,000 words. It’s £7 to enter and you could win £500 plus feedback and a professional recording of your work. The deadline is 22 January.
  • The Masters Review is running its winter competition: up to 6,000 words, $20 entry and a prize of $3000. Enter by 28 January

The rest all have a deadline of 31 January.

  • Story Unlikely is back – free to enter and a prize of $750. Maximum wordcount is 4,500.
  • The Screw Turn competition from Ghost Story wants 250-1000 words: $15 entry and a prize of $1,000.
  • .The Parracombe prize returns 2024 words max. Entry is £5, the prize £150.
  • Finally, Askew’s Word on the Lake festival offers a prize of $200 (Canadian) for stories up to 2,000 words: entry is $15.

If you get somewhere with one of these, do let me know!

December 2023 Competitions

November 21, 2023

Rather slim pickings this month for competitions – December always seems to be quiet, especially in the UK. Perhaps everyone is saving their creative energy for really great Christmas cards? Anyway, here we are.

  • The St Louis Writer’s Guild is again offering the stingiest prize: $15 to enter, but the top prize is $50. Maximum 3,000 words and the deadline is 1 December.
  • The Breakwater Review contest, with the same deadline, costs only $10 to enter and offers a decent $1000 prize. You can go up to 4,000 words.
  • The Skobeloff competition is free, but your only prize is publication. They want stories of love and romance up to 5,000 words long, and you’ve got until 10 December.
  • The Masters Review is looking for chapbooks, between 25 and 45 pages. It’s $25 to enter but you could win $3,000 plus 75 copies of your chapbook to give to friends and relatives. (Or use as a sort of taster with novel submissions? Maybe not.) The deadline is 17 December.
  • For the Jacob Zilber prize from Prism magazine you need up to 4,000 words and an entry fee of $35: top prize $1,500, and the deadline is 21 December.

The rest all have deadlines of 31 December, possibly something to fill those empty days between Christmas and New Year.

  • The Letter Review has an entry fee of $20 and a top prize of $5,000: stories up to 5,000 words.
  • Boulevard magazine will take up to 8,000 and charge $18, offering a prize of $1,500.
  • Finally, the Danahy Fiction Prize from the Tampa Review costs $20 to enter with a prize of $1,000. Stories up to 5,000 words.

So ends another year of authorial competition. Merry Christmas!

November 2023 Competitions

October 22, 2023

A selection of writing competitions I might enter during the coming month.

First, a few with deadlines on 1 November.

  • Scribble’s annual competition is for stories up to 3,000 words that must begin with the words ‘’He had an uneasy feeling as he inserted the key…’ £5 to enter, top prize £100.
  • The Caledonia Novel Award is for completed works of at least 50,000;words, but initially you are required to submit the first 20 pages with a synopsis. It’s £25 to enter and the first prize is £1,500 plus a residential course.
  • Reed Magazine’s John Steinbeck Award looks for up to 5,000 words. $20 to enter, first prize $1,000. Entries need not relate to Steinbeck.
  • The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is free to enter for people living in Commonwealth countries. There is a prize of £2,500 for the winner in each region plus £5,000 for the overall winner. Stories must be between 2,000 and 5,000 words.
  • F(r)iction wants 1,001 to 7,500 words: entry is $15 and first prize $1,000. You have until 3 November.
  • Liars League has a pub-based contest, free to enter. Winning works are read in the pub (in London) where the author is awarded a night of free beer. They’re looking for 800 to 2,000 words on the theme ‘Hearth and Home’ and you’ve got until 5th November.
  • The Neilma Sidney prize, from Overland (‘Australia’s only radical literary magazine’), is about travel. $20 to enter and the prize is $5,000: send up to 3,000 words by 10th November. If you’re writing about marginalised communities/identities you are asked to say whether you are a member of those groups.
  • The Wonderland competition looks for 1,000 to 2,500 words. It’s £5 to enter but the only prize is publication:and it seems you have to email them asking to enter, all of which will probably put me off bothering. The deadline is 12th November.
  • Curious Curls want stories about curiosity. $2.50 entry for a $250 prize: word limit 10,000. Enter by 15thNovember.
  • Ironclad asks for stories up to 6,000 words on the theme ‘dusk’. £6 to enter, prize £100 plus publication. Deadline 16 November

The rest have a deadline of 30th November.

  • The prestigious Fish contest has an entry fee of €20, a prize of €3000, and a word limit of 6000.
  • Doug Weller is again running his contest for six-word stories: free to enter and a prize of $100. Six words is really not quite…
  • Plaza Prizes want up to 8,000 words: £15 entry with £1,000 as top prize.
  • Prairie Fire, from Canada, look for a maximum of 5,000 words. It costs $34 and first prize is $750.
  • Finally those nice people at Tadpole Press want a mere 100 words: it’s $15 to enter and a generous $2,000 as top prize.

If you get somewhere with one of these, please let me know!

October 2023 Competitions

September 23, 2023

Here are the writing competitions I might enter with deadlines in October. 

  • The Jeffrey E. Smith award from the Missouri Review has a maximum word count of 8,500, an entry fee of $25 and a top prize of $5,000: the deadline is 1 October.
  • The Chilling Pen award is for stories of up to 1,000 words: it’s free to enter and you could win $500 – again the deadline is 1 October.
  • Zoetrope want stories up to 5,000 words: entry is $30 and first prize is $1,000. Deadline: 2 October.
  • Ink of Ages is from the World History Encyclopaedia and OUP: they are looking for historical or mythological stories between 1,500 and 2,000 words, with a deadline of 7 October. It’s free to enter, and the prize is $200 to spend in the WHE bookstores plus a choice of some books from OUP.
  • Sleek City Press want up to 1,500 words on the theme ‘I faked my own death’: the entry fee is $20, top prize $2,000 and the deadline is again 7 October.
  • The annual Calvino Prize looks for up to 25 pages of prose in the style of Italo Calvino. It’s $25 to enter with a prize of $2,000 and the deadline is 15 October.
  • Iron Horse want a long story rather than a short one: 20 to 40 pages, in fact. Your $15 entry fee gets you a subscription as a bonus and you could win $1,000. Enter by 15 October.
  • The Wenlock Olympians are again looking for stories up to 2,500 words: £6 to enter and you might win £150 plus a medal! The deadline is 30 October.

The rest of the list have a deadline of 31 October.

  • Eyelands is looking for a full-length novel up to a massive 250,000 words. Entry is $35. If you win your work will be translated into Greek and published, and you will enjoy a five-day stay in Athens.
  • The Bedford competition has a limit of 3,000 words, an entry fee of £9.00 and a prize of £1,500.
  • Fiction Factory is back, asking for maximum 3,000 words, with a fee of £7 and a prize of £500.
  • Sheila-Na-Gig wants literary pieces up to 5,000 words, entry $3, prize $100
  • Southport Writer’s Circle want up to 2,000 words, entry £3, prize £200

If you get somewhere with any of the contests above, do let me know!