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 5^th 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 10^th 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 12^th November.
• Curious Curls want stories about curiosity. $2.50 entry for a $250 prize: word limit 10,000. Enter by 15^thNovember.
• 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 30^th 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!