Tag: Writing

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!

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!

July 2024 Competitions

June 23, 2024

Here again is a look at writing competitions I might enter during the coming month (so no poetry or competitions not open to UK writers, for example).

  • With a deadline of 1 July, New American Fiction looks for a full work of various kinds (novel, novella, collection) likely to be at least 100 pages.  Entry $25, top prize $1,500
  • It’s still not quite too late to enter the London Independent (LISP) contest if you are willing to pay the late fee of  £16.50 and get your entry in by 1 July. They want up to 3,000 words and the prize is a mere £100, so honestly not great value for money at this stage.
  • The Goldenberg Prize is offered by the Bellevue Literary Review – entries must be on the themes of health, healing, illness, mind and body, and run to no more than 5,000 words. Entry is $20, top prize $1000, and again you need to be quick because the deadline is 1 July.
  • The Hastings Book Festival wants up to 2,500 words: the entry fee is a weirdly precise £8.25 and top prize just £250. Deadline 7 July.
  • The HG Wells prize this year is for stories on the theme ‘The Fool’, of up to 2,500 words. Entry is £10 and the prize is £500. Deadline 8 July.
  • The Doris Gooderson Prize comes from Wrekin Writers, who say that at least half the profits from their comp will go to the Severn Hospice. They want stories up to 1,200 words, entry is £5 and the top prize is £200, with a deadline of 12 July.
  • Leicester Writes will accept stories up to 3,500 words: entry is £7 and the prize is £200. Enter by 15 July.
  • With the same deadline, the Adrift comp has a word limit of 6,000: entry is $30 and the top prize is $500.
  • Petrichor looks for 100 to 350 pages of finely crafted prose. Entry is $25 and the prize is $1,000.
  • Witcraft looks for short humour of 200-1000 words: $5 to enter with a prize of $250, and like all the rest the deadline is 31 July.
  • My good friends in Norwich are again running the Olga Sinclair Prize: up to 2,000 words on the theme ‘Nature’, £9 entry and £500 prize.
  • And in Munster the prestigious Séan Ó Faoláin prize is for stories up to 3,000 words. Entry is €19 and the first prize is €2,000 plus an invitation to read your piece in Cork, accommodation paid for.
  • Hawk Mountain wants a collection of stories: $20 entry and you could win $1,000 plus publication.
  • The Plaza Literary: First Chapters comp wants the first 5,000 words of your work: entry £20 and a prize of £1,500.