Writing Competitions

UK Short Story Competitions

UK Poetry Competitions

Short Story Competitions

Here is a list of short story competitions currently running in the UK (mostly). I'll present them in closing-date order, but I strongly advise you not to submit your stories until you have first written to the contact address (or visited the appropriate website) for further details. Other restrictions in length and subject matter may apply.

The Watty Awards Various competitions - various closing dates. Full details on website.

Chapter One Promotions Short Story and Novel Competitions throughout the year. Website: http://www.chapteronepromotions.com

Éclat Fiction aims to create an ambitious and enjoyable publication that showcases nascent writing talent. Competition every 2 months; 8 best short stories published in anthology. The top 3 stories will receive a monetary prize as well as publication. Website: http://www.eclatfiction.com/home.html

Sentinel Literary Quarterly Poetry and Short Story Competitions Various closing dates. See website for details.

The New Writer Annual prose and poetry prizes. Also, submissions welcome to The New Writer magazine - Writers' Guidelines. Main website: http://www.thenewwriter.com

Lightship Publishing Literary Competitions throughout the year. Website: http://www.lightshippublishing.co.uk

Meridian Writing run quarterly short story competitions. Details on website.

Flash 500 Competition is a quarterly, open-themed, flash fiction competition. Closing dates: 31 March 2010, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December. Entries of up to 500 words. Entry fee: £5 for one story, £8 for two stories. Prizes: £250, £100, £50. Details: Flash 500 Competition

Fish Publishing Three writing competitions annually – Short Story, Poetry, and Flash Fiction. Details: http://www.fishpublishing.com

Avery Short Story  A monthly short story competition on any theme or genre.  Entries of up to 1000 words are accepted with a fee of £4.   The closing date is the last day of each month.  The winning entry will be published on the website and receive £50 prize money.  Details: www.averyshortstory.co.uk

StoryFeedback.com Monthly Short Story Contest Ongoing contest with a deadline date of the end of each month. For short stories in any genre. Maximum 3000 words. First prize £100, second £50, third £25. Winner and runners-up - plus best shortlisted - published online and in a professionally illustrated anthology. Entry fee £3, plus £3 for tick sheet critique. See website for full details: http://www.StoryFeedback.com. StoryFeedback.com, 7 Offley Street , Worcester WR3 8BH (Cheques/PO paid to 'Dark Tales').

Writing4all is a creative writing community with an ongoing monthly competition, where Irish writers can share and develop their work. Website: www.writing4all.ie

WriteInvite Weekly online short story competitions – every Saturday night at 5.30. Entry: £3.00. Prize £40.00. Website: http://www.write-invite.com/index.php

Cazart Writing Competitions Two monthly writing competitions, Short Story & Flash Fiction. Winner from each category receives £20 and will be published on website.  Entry fee is £3 and the closing date is the 26th of each month. More details: http://www.cazart.co.uk

The Global Short Story Competition Organised by Certys Limited, supported by Darlington Arts Centre in Darlington, County Durham, England. Cash prize for the winner of each monthly competition. Entry: £5 per story. Details: www.globalshortstories.net

Txt Lit Txt Lit is a new literary genre of creative writing using a mobile phone texting system, or SMS (Short Message System). A single mobile phone text message contains just 160 characters, including spaces and punctuation. Each entry costs £1 plus the normal cost of a text message as charged by your network provider. You can enter each competition as many times as you like. First prize: at least £50. Competitions every month. The theme for September is romance. More details on website at http://www.txtlit.co.uk

Writers' Billboard Bi-monthly writing competitions in various formats, including poetry. Website: http://writersbillboard.net

Scribble Open Short Story Competition Length: up to 3000 words. Prizes of £75.00, £25.00, and £15.00, will be awarded for the best three stories in each issue. For other published stories, a complimentary copy will be given. Annual subscribers will also receive a credit voucher to the value of £4.00. Stories from non-subscribers are welcome but must be accompanied by the entry fee. Entry fee for the competitions is £3.00 (cheques payable to Park Publications). Free unlimited entry for subscribers. Scribble is published in March, July, October, and December. More details HERE

Monthly Writers' Forum Short Story Competition Any genre, but stories must be original and previously unpublished. Aim for a word count between 1,500 to 3,000. Stories may embrace crime, mystery, romance, sport, humour, fantasy, erotica or science-fiction. The competitions are held monthly and there is also £1,000 for the best short story of the year. Monthly prizes of £250 for the best story published and two prizes of £150 for runners up. All stories not selected for publication are returned to authors with a grid assessment. Text should be type-written or word-processed, printed in double spacing. Entries should be accompanied with a short biography and colour photograph of the writer. Please submit a saved copy of the ms on disk as a Rich Text File (RTF) or Microsoft Word 5.1a (for Apple Macintosh). Send complete ms and contact details to: Writers International Ltd, PO Box 3229, Bournemouth BH1 1ZS Tel: 01202 589828 Fax: 01202 587758 Website www.writers-forum.com

Dark Tales Quarterly Short Story Contest Ongoing contest with a deadline date of the end of: September, December, March, June. For horror and speculative fiction. Maximum 5000 words. First prize £500, second £250, third £100. Winner and runner-up - plus best shortlisted - published in Dark Tales magazine. Entry fee £3, free for subscribers for first entry; plus £3 for tick sheet critique. See website for full details: http://www.darktales.co.uk/ Dark Tales, 7 Offley Street, Worcester WR3 8BH (Cheques/PO paid to 'Dark Tales', £15 to subscribe for 4 issues)

7th Annual Accenti Magazine Writing Contest Closing date 7 February. Details on website.

Vintage Script is looking for short stories and articles that are original and well-written, and must be on an historical theme. Short stories and longer articles should be no longer than 2,000 words. We are also interested in shorter articles of 500-1,000 words. Contributions should not have been published elsewhere. Look at the Submissions page on the website if you have a historical story or article to share. The deadline for the Spring 2012 edition is 13 March 2012. Website: http://www.vintagescript.co.uk/

The 2012 Bristol Short Story Prize is now open. The deadline for entries is midnight on March 31st 2012. Please read the competition rules before entering.

Jacqui Bennett Writers Bureau Resuming later iu 2012. Keep watching this space. Click here for details.

Momaya Short Story Competition Max 3,000 on the theme "Heat". Deadline: 30 April 2012. Full details on Website.

WritersReign 5th Annual Short Story Competition Theme: One Moment in Time. Closing date: 30th June 2012. Prizes: £100.00; £50.00; £25.00 plus 3 Highly Commended prizes of £10.00 each. Entry fee: £3.50 for 1 story, £6.00 for two. Website: http://www.writersreign.co.uk

The Sportswriter Competition 2012 Entries up to 2000 words (or 40 lines for poems) and should relate to sport in some way. The entry fee is £3.00, of which £1.00 will be donated to Cyclists Fighting Cancer charity http://cyclistsfc.org.uk/. Prizes: £250, £75, £25. Deadline: midnight on 1st July 2012, the day of the Euro 2012 Final. Full details on website.

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition Poetry and Short Fiction. £500 prize in each category and publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual. Entry fee is £10 and allows for the entry of two works into any one category. Deadline: 31 August 2012. See Website for details.

If you want to win short story competitions, get the best possible help. Join our Mini Short Story Course

Kudos(formerly Competitions Bulletin/Writing Competitions Monthly)

The ONLY magazine of its type on the market today. Lists details of current UK and Overseas writing competitions - and there are more than you think! Up to £250,000 of prize money in each issue. POETRY - SHORT STORIES - ANTHOLOGIES - PLAYS - NOVELS - NON-FICTION. Compiled and edited by Carole Baldock. Subscribe to any number of issues @ £3 each UK postpaid, largely offset by savings on postage (around 70p each time) because several entry forms are usually enclosed, which also saves time and effort. Save even more - £3 off, if payment for new subs or renewals received by January 31; old rates still apply: £15/6. Write to Carole Baldock, 17 Greenhow Avenue, West Kirby, Wirral CH48 5EL, stating how many issues of Competitions Bulletin you'd like at £3 per issue. (Also, please state which month - Competitions Bulletin is published in: January, March, May, July, September, November.) Enclose Cheque/PO payable to Carole Baldock - and don't forget to include your name and address. Queries: carolebaldock@hotmail.com. Website: http://www.kudoswritingcompetitions.com

Poetry Competitions

Here is a list of poetry competitions currently running in the UK. I'll present them in closing-date order, but I strongly advise you not to submit your poems until you have first written to the contact address for further details. Other restrictions in length and subject matter may apply.

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