Tag: short story

May 2025 Competitions

April 23, 2025

Here again are some writing competitions with deadlines during the coming month. The list is not comprehensive (I don’t bother with flash much, for example), but I hope it might be of interest.

  • Folly Journal takes stories between 800 and 2,500 words: NZ$10 to enter and first prize is NZ$1,000 – but the deadline is 1 May, so you need to be quick.
  • F(r)iction is looking for 1,000 to 7,500 words and it’s $10 to enter with a $1,000 prize. The good news is, you’ve got until 2 May. Incidentally, the same publisher is running Dually Noted, where people submit short (500 word) self-contained episodes which can continue the main story arc or be incidental episodes fitting the overall theme, a new addition every week. At the moment the overall theme, which continues until December, is A Night Club for the Newly Departed. No prize except online publication, but it’s free.
  • The Australian Book Review’s Elizabeth Jolley prize looks for up to 5,000 words. AU$30 to enter, a nice $5,000 prize, and the deadline is 5 May.
  • Old stalwart Writer’s Digest is back with a word limit of 4,000, a fee of $30 and a $5,000 prize. Enter by 5 May.
  • Ironclad want stories on the theme ‘Planted’. Up to 6,000 words, it’ll cost you £9 and you can win a comparatively unexciting £100. The deadline is 10 May.
  • Lush Triumphant offers a prize of $1,000 for stories up to 3,000 for a fee of $30 – deadline 15 May. I entered one of these a couple of years ago and could never seem to find out who won.
  • Ploughshares wants up to 6,000. The competition is free to subscribers, or you can pay $30 to enter (for which you also get a year’s subscription – see what they did there?). Enterr by 15 May.
  • The Ghost Story wants – well, have a wild guess – of up to 10,000 words. $20 entry gets you a chance at a $1,500 prize. Deadline 30 May.

All the rest have a deadline of 31 May.

  • The lively Frome Festival wants between 1,200 and 2,000 words: it’s £8 to enter and the top prize is £625.
  • You do not want to miss the prestigious Bridport competition. £5,000 for 5,000 words, with entry £14. This year a new Never Too Late prize will be awarded to the best entrant across all categories who is over 60 (discreet cough).
  • The Goldfinch Novel competition wants your first 3,000 words, plus a synopsis. £10 entry, and the winner gets £500.
  • Yeovil’s short story competition is for stories up to 2,000 words, entry £10.50 and the prize £625. It seems they don’t believe in round figures.
  • The Blue Pencil Agency First Novel competition asks for your first 5,000 words plus a 300-word synopsis. It’s £25 to enter and the prize is £1,000, but if you place you also get an introduction to one of their literary agents: I suppose you finally get to use that elevator pitch.
  • Finally I really have to mention the Robert Traver Fly Fishing Writing Award. (J.R. Hartley! Thou shouldst be living at this hour.) The word limit is 3,000, the fee $25 and the prize $2,500. Judges will look for three key things in the writing: the joy of fly-fishing (personal and philosophic experience); ecology (knowledge and protection of the natural world); and humour (piscatorial friendships and fun on the water). Apparently this has been going on since 2019, and long may it continue.

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

April 2025 Contests

March 25, 2025

Another look at writing competitions I might enter during the coming month (so no poetry or competitions that are not open to UK writers, for example).

  • Don’t forget the Alpine Fellowship Prize, deadline 1 April! The word count has been reduced this year, to 1,250, and the prize, at £3,000 is no longer quite as large as it once was: but this is still easily one of the best free competitions going.
  • The John Gardner Memorial Prize looks for up to 4,500 words, charges $19 and offers a prize of $500. Again the deadline is 1 April.
  • The Letter Review keeps going, offering a $600 prize for a maximum of 5,000 words: $20 to enter, by 1 April.
  • The Barry Hannah Prize from the Yalobusha Review takes up to 5,000 words, charges $3 and has a prize of $500: once again the deadline is 1 April.
  • A few more days for the Mairtín Crawford prize, with a deadline of 9 April. Up to 2,500 words, £10 to enter, £500 prize.
  • Desperate Literature is back wanting up to 2,000 words. €20 to enter and the prize is an attractive €2,000 plus a residency in Italy. Get your entry in by 13 April.
  • Fractured Lit wants ghost, fables or fairtales with a fresh approach, up to 1,000 words. $20 fee, $3,000 prize and the deadline is 13 April.
  • For the Perkoff Prize your story must relate to health or medicine, and it can be up to 8,500 words long. It costs $15 to enter and the prize is $1,000. The deadline is 15 April.
  • BOMB magazine takes up to 5,000 words for an entry fee of $30 and offers a prize of $1000. Deadline 15 April.
  • With the same deadline the New Ohio Review looks for 20 pages: $22 entry and $1,500 prize.
  • The Hemingway Shorts prize has a limit of 2,000 words, a fee of $15 and a prize of $1,000 and again the deadline is 15 April.
  • Also by 15 April, the Florida Review Editor’s Award takes stories up to 9,000 words, charges $25 and awards $1,000.
  • The Eyelands Contest has a theme of ‘2025’ (Did someone get the columns in their table transposed?) it wants stories up to 3,000 words, €10 to enter and a mere €500 prize. The deadline is 20 April.
  • The HoneyBee Prize from the Goodlife Review (how wholesome it all sounds) takes up to 5,000 words. $18 to enter, a relatively modest prize of $300, deadline 21 April.
  • Those excellent folk at FreeFall magazine have a word limit of 3,000. Entry is CA$25, and the prize is CA$500 plus publication. The deadline is 30 April, as it is for the next two.
  • The Plaza Prizes comp wants up to 5,000 words, and for £15 you  could win a very decent £4,000.
  • Finally the Gulf Coast Prize has a limit of 7,000 words, costs $26, and offers $1,500

If you enter any of these and win (or get anywhere), do let me know.

March 2025 Competitions

February 21, 2025

Here is another look at writing competitions I might enter which have deadlines in the coming month.

·      The Weatherglass Novella prize looks for 20 to 40,000 words: it’s £20 to enter. The winner(s) will be published and receive an advance of £500. The deadline is 1 March.

·      For the Tennessee Williams short story contest, your piece must have some sort of connection with A Streetcar Named Desire, and be between 1,500 and 4,000 words. $10 to enter, with a $300 prize. The deadline is 11 March.

·      The organisers of the Phoebe competition say there is no actual word limit, but that if your story is more than 4,000 words it will need to be extraordinary. $7 to enter, a $500 prize and the deadline is 15 March.

·      The Brick Lane Bookshop competition will accept up to 5,000 words: £10 entry for £1,000 prize: get your entries in by 17 March.

·      It’s festival time in Fowey again: they want a maximum of 1,500 words on the theme ‘Making Waves’. £10 entry and just £250 as top prize. The deadline in 28 March.

All the rest have a deadline of 31 March.

·      The Clay Reynolds Novella prize requires 20 to 50,000 words – $20 entry and $1000 as an advance plus publication for the winner. Looks like slightly better value for money than Weatherglass?

·      I don’t often do poetry, but the Plaza Prizes have a contest specifically for prose poetry – which I take to be laid out like prose but reading sort of like poetry? The limit, however, is specified as 60 lines. £10 entry, £250 prize.

·      The good old Henshaw contest is still going: 2000 words, £6 entry, £750 prize.

·      Speaking of value for money, the Deborah Rogers Foundation award appears to be free but offers a prize of £10,000! You will need 15 to 25,000 words, however.

·      The Bath Short Story award is back: 2,200 words, £9 entry and a prize of £1,000.

·      The Letter Review competition accepts up to 5,000 words: entry is $20 and you get a share of $1,000, so the final sum depends on how many winners they pick – most likely it will be 2-4 so maybe $333.33?

·      Just outside the month (deadline 1 April) you might want to be aware of the Alpine Fellowship competition. The prize is sadly reduced these days, but still £3,000: this year the word count has been halved, to 1,250, on the theme ‘fear’. The good news is, it’s free.

Good luck if you enter any of these; if you get anywhere, please do let me know.

February 2025 Competitions

January 24, 2025

Here is a look at writing competitions I might enter which have deadlines in February.

  • The Jim Baen Memorial prize is free to enter: the winner is published and paid commercial rates. Entries should be upbeat, realistic space stories up to 8,000 words – you need to get them in by 1 February.
  • The same tight deadline applies to the American Short Fiction competition (you need not be American, or short). Entries can be up to 1,500 and for the $18 fee you can have two. The prize is $1,000
  • The Masters Review once again looks for up to 6,000 words: $20 entry and a $3,000 prize. Enter by 2 February.
  • The Writers and Artists prize, from the handbook of the same name, is free and offers an Arvon course as its top prize: they want 2,000 words on the theme ‘Wonder’, and you have until 14 February.
  • The Mary McCarthy Prize is for a collection of stories of 150 to 250 pages. The fee this time is up from $29 to $34 (somebody there clearly thinks round numbers sound bigger). You can win $2,000 and publication and you have until 15 February.
  • The Elmbridge Literary Competition asks for 1,500 words on the theme ‘The River’. £8 to enter and a prize of £250. The deadline is 21 February.
  • The Next Generation award is for a story up to 5,000 words long. Entry is $25and you could win $500 plus a medal. Enter by 27 February.

All the rest have a deadline of 28 February.

  • The Brink prize is for hybrid or cross-genre writing up to 15 pages. $25 to enter, with a prize of $1000 and publication.
  • Bridge House is not actually running a competition as such but accepting submissions for its anthology. No fee, therefore, and your reward will be royalties if published. They are looking for up to 5,000 words on the subject of ‘Magi’, interpreted however you wish.
  • Exeter Writers want 3,000 words maximum: for £7 you get a chance at a prize of £700. Unusually, they don’t allow simultaneous submissions.
  • The Grace Paley award is for a collection of stories, between 150 and 300 pages. $30 to enter, $5,500 plus publication as the prize.
  • The NOWW competition from Ontario wants pieces between 2000 and 3,500 words. $CA10 to enter, and the prize is $CA125
  • The Edinburgh Short Story award has a maximum word count of 2,000: it’s £11 to enter and first prize is £3,000

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

January 2025 Competitions

December 19, 2024

Fourteen writing competitions I might enter with deadlines in January.

  • The Letter Review wants up to 5,000 words, and for an entry fee of $20 you can win $5,000 – but you’ll need to get your entry in by 1 January.
  • The Exeter Novel Prize is back, looking for your first 10,000 words plus a synopsis. £20 to enter with a prize of £1,000, but with the same deadline, you’ll need to have it ready quickly.
  • Disquiet offers a free place on its literary programme in Lisbon, with money for airfare and expenses. If you can’t get there, you can opt for $1,000 instead. They want up to 25 pages and will charge $15: you have until 6 January.
  • For the Page Is Printed competition, you only need one side of A4: however, you will be charged £5 for entry to a competition whose top prize is only £100. The deadline is 13 January.
  • The Georgia Review competition has categories for both fiction and non-fiction: the overall winner gets $1,500. I can’t see a specific word limit but in the past it has been 9,000, which should be enough for anyone. Deadline 15 January.
  • The Cai Emmons prize requires a minimum of 150 pages. $25 to enter and a decent $5,000 prize. Enter by 15 January.
  • Bournemouth is back, with a maximum word count of 3,000, an entry fee of £10 and an unexciting prize of £500. Deadline 15 January.
  • With the same deadline, Storybottle will take up to 10,000 words: the entry fee is $15 and the prize $1,000.
  • The Thomas Wolfe fiction prize costs $25 for non-members with a prize of $1,000. 3,000 words maximum. Deadline 30 January.

All the rest have a deadline of 31 January

  • Story Unlikely is free to enter. The word limit is 4,000 for non-members (members are allowed another thousand for some reason) and the first prize is $1,500.
  • The Parracombe Prize (I was shortlisted last year!) looks for a maximum of 2025 words. £5 entry, £150 prize.
  • Askew’s Word on the Lake has a word limit of 2,000, it’s $15 to enter and the prize is $200.
  • Swamp Pink (no idea) wants 25 pages and $20 entry gives you a shot at $2,000 (a bit more like it).
  • Finally the Fiction Factory first chapter competition needs your first 5,000 words plus a synopsis. It’s £18 to enter and the top prize is £500, but short-listed entries get a free appraisal.

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

December 2024 Competitions

November 20, 2024

Another list of competitions I might consider entering – so no flash, poetry or competitions I’m ineligible for.

  • The Breakwater Review contest has a deadline of 1 December, costs $10 to enter and offers a $1000 prize. Stories up to 4,000 words.
  • The Black Fox looks for up to 5,000 words on the topic ‘Fragments of Time. It costs $12 to enter and the prize is $325. Submit by 1 December.
  • The Leopold Bloom Prize for Innovative Narration, from L’Esprit magazine, wants up to 5,000 words of ‘risk adept narration’ by 2 December. You can pay $10 or $15 for a quick response (within three days)
  • The Witness Literary Awards want you to ‘contextualize the American experience, highlight issues of global concern, grapple with the relationship between the personal and the political (however defined), and/or keenly observe interior/exterior landscapes.’ You’ve got a maximum of 7,000 words to do it in, and it will cost you $8, for a possible $600 prize. You’ve got until 5 December.
  • JuxtaProse will also take up to 7,000 words, and though they charge $18 their prize is $1,000. The deadline is 6 December.
  • You could be recognised as an Anthony Veasna So Scholar in Fiction if your submission, by 11 December, pleases Adroit Journal. You can submit up to three pieces which should total no more than 9,000 words. It costs $15 and the prize is only $200, but still…
  • The Columbia Journal Winter Print looks for stories up to 7,000 words – $15 entry, $500 prize, deadline 12 December.
  • The Masters Review Chapbook contest wants 25-45 pages. It costs $25 to enter and you could win a decent $3000 plus 50 copies of your chapbook. Last year it was 75 copies, but perhaps they have realised that giving away that many is a bit of a challenge, even around Christmas. Enter by 15 December.
  • Fabuly’s competition is refreshingly free. They want 2,000 words on ‘An Unexpected Encounter’, and you could win $500 with online publication of illustrated and audio versions of your work.
  • Globe Soup, that splendidly supportive Facebook community for writers, is running its big competition again – 8,000 words max and £8 to enter (once you’ve paid to enter one of their contests you can join the esoteric community where there are regular free competitions and other good stuff) for a prize of £2,000. Get your entry in by 16 December.

The rest all have deadlines of 31 December, possibly so you can use that nice pen/notebook you got for Christmas.

  • The Lascaux Review will take up to 10,000 words: entry is $15, top prize $1,000
  • Boulevard magazine will take up to 8,000 and charge $18, offering a prize of $1,500.
  • The Danahy Fiction Prize from the Tampa Review costs $20 to enter with a prize of $1,000. Stories up to 5,000 words.
  • Write Time is for the over-sixties only. Only 1,500 words, in recognition of our tired old fingers, and it’s £5 for one story or £10 for three, winning £100 so you can get a little gift for your grandchildren.
  • If you write horror, Killer Shorts want a story up to 6,000 words. It’s $30 to enter and you could win a package of benefits including publication and a mentoring call: but the real draw is a trophy in the form of a skull typewriter – whatever that is.

I hope you find something useful in the list, but please choose your competitions carefully and don’t just enter randomly, as I’m constantly doing. This year I submitted to about half as many as in previous years, but it still amounted to about one entry a week (I don’t write that fast – some stories were entered for multiple contests). Seven of those entries achieved some kind of recognition – one longlisting, four shortlists, one third place and one win. That’s a hit rate of 15%, marginally up on the surprisingly consistent 13% I’ve had in past years.

But the year’s not over yet! Merry Christmas!

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.
  •  

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.