August 2026 Competitions
July 24, 2026
I have updated my list of forthcoming writing competitions…
Tag: short story
The Great Beyond
July 24, 2026
Sonder Books have accepted my story ‘Seven Ways to Let Go’ for their forthcoming anthology ‘The Great Beyond’!
Ruby Anthology
July 6, 2026
Here I am reading an excerpt from my story ‘The Sutton Phenomenon’ at the launch of Sutton Writers fortieth anniversary anthology, available on Amazon.
Competitions
June 21, 2026
I have updated my list of current writing competitions…
June 2026 Competitions
May 20, 2026
I have once again updated my list of writing competitions to include ones with deadlines next month. Good luck!
May 2026 Competitions
April 21, 2026
I have updated my list of writing competitions to include ones with deadlines next month. There are some interesting ones this time. Good luck!
April 2026 Competitions
March 18, 2026
I have updated my list of competitions… Rather slim pickings in April, but there are quite a few coming up in May. Surprisingly, there are no competitions for writing a good April Fool story. Someone should organise that.
March 2026 Competitions
February 20, 2026
I have updated my list of 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!
| Contest | Word Count | Fee | Prize | Deadline | Details |
| Exeter Novel Prize | 10k + synopsis | £20.00 | £1,000.00 | 01/01/2026 | |
| Disquiet Literary Prize | 25 pages | $15 | Lisbon Program or $1,000 | 05/01/2026 | First prize is a week-long lit program in Lisbon, but you can opt for cash |
| Storybottle | 10,000 | $15 | $1,000 | 15/01/2026 | |
| Cai Emmons | 25,000 word min | $25 | $5,000 | 15/01/2026 | |
| Georgia Review | Less than 9,000 | $25 | $1,500 | 15/01/2026 | Winners of story and essay sections compete for the top prize. |
| The Page is Printed | 1 A4 page | £5 | £100 voucher | 19/01/2026 | |
| LISP | 3,000 | £14.50 | £100 | 26/01/2026 | You can enter later but it costs more |
| Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize | 3,000 | $25 | $1,000 | 30/01/2026 | |
| Parracombe | 2,026 | £5 | £150 | 31/01/2026 | |
| The Ghost Story flash | 1,000 | $15 | $1,000 | 31/01/2026 | |
| Bristol Short Story Prize | 4,000 | £14.00 | £1,000 | 31/01/2026 | |
| Askew’s Word on the Lake | 2000 | $15(Ca) | $200(Ca) | 31/01/2026 |
Seen and Done 