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Writing 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.
Sentinel Literary Quarterly Poetry and Short Story Competitions Various closing dates. See website for details.
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
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
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)
Jacqui Bennett Writers Bureau Resuming ASAP. Keep watching this space. Click here for details.
Words with JAM First Page Competition Looking for the most gripping, read-on-able first page of up to 400 words. Any genre. Prizes: £500, £100, £50. Closing Date: 8th June 2012. Entry Fee: £6 for one entry; £10 for two. Full details on website.
The Eyelands Second International Short Story Contest First prize: holiday on the island of Crete. Closing date: 15 June Full details on website.
Bloody Scotland Glengoyne Whisky Short Story Competition Maximum 3000 words. Deadline: 29th June. Full details on website.
Unbound Press Flash Fiction Award Prizes: £500, £250, £125. Entry Fee: £5, 3 entries £10. Max: 500 words. Deadline: June 30. 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 BTF Crime Writing Competition The British Thyroid Foundation, based in Harrogate, is celebrating its 21st birthday by running a Crime Writing Competition. Maximum 2000 words with the theme Go for the Throat. Entry: £3 (cheque payable to The British Thyroid Foundation). Closing date: 30th June 2012. More details from Cathryn.Perkins@tiscali.co.uk. BTF website.
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.
Calderdale Short Story Competition Closing date: Friday 6th July. Prizes: £300, £100, £50. No theme. Entry fee: £4. Short stories up to 3,000 words. See Website for details.
Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition Max 1200 words. Entry fee: £3 per story, £5 for two. Prizes: £150, £70, £40. Closing date: 9 July 2012. See Website for details and entry form.
100 Words or Fewer - US website and competition that welcomes (and encourages) entries from the UK. A real challenge, and the sort of competition where you'll learn the real meaning of the words 'short story'. Closing date: July 18. Full details on website
The Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition First Prize: €2,000 (*approx $2690.82/ £1685.27), publication in the literary journal Southword, AND a week-long residency at Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat. Second Prize: €500 and publication in Southword. Four other shortlisted entries will be selected for publication in Southword and receive a publication fee of €120. Submission deadline: 31 July, 2012. Submission guidelines on website.
Saveas writers Group Competition to celebrate the 200th birthday of Dickens. Entries of short works of poetry or prose inspired, broadly or otherwise, by any character from a Charles Dickens novel. The competition is open to all writers and international submissions are welcome. Deadline: August 15th 2012. 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.
The Prolitzer Prize for Prose Writing Up to 2000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction. Closing date: October 1 2012. Prizes: £130, publication in Prole. Two runners up, each receiving £30. Fee: £4, £3 for each subsequent entry. Details
Playing Bingo Short Story Competition Length 1,500-3,000 words. First prize £300, second prize £100, and two runners up prizes of £50. Closing date: February 2013. No entry fee. More information on website.
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
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.
Thynks Publications Limited Keep checking Thynks Competitions News for regular updates. Prose and poetry.
Sentinel Literary Quarterly Poetry and Short Story Competitions Various closing dates. See website for details.
Writers Forum Magazine Monthly Poetry Competition Prizes: £100 plus publication; three runners-up receive a dictionary plus publication. Entry fee: £5 per poem, £7 for two. No theme, up to 40 lines. Every entry with SAE receives a free check-box critique. No deadline as the competition is continuous. Email: poetry@writers-forum.com Details and downloadable entry form at: www.writers-forum.com, or from the magazine, which is available from branches of WH Smith.
Writers' Billboard Bi-monthly writing competitions in various formats, including poetry. Website: http://writersbillboard.net
Jacqui Bennett Writers Bureau Poetry Competition Resuming later iu 2012. Keep watching this space. For more details CLICK HERE.
Northampton Literature Group Open Poetry Competition Three categories: Free Verse, Rhyming Poetry and Humorous Poetry. £3 per poem or 4 for £10. Deadline: May 12 2012. Details on Website.
David Burland Poetry Prize Closing Date: 15 May 2012 Entry Fee: £8 first poem, £4 additional poems. Prizes: £500, £100, £30. Details on website.
Mary Charman-Smith Poetry Competition Entry £4 per poem; three poems £9. Prizes £100; £25. Deadline: 15 May. See Website for details and entry form.
Virginia Warbey Poetry Prize Entry: £4 per poem, closing date: 19th May, and poems are accepted on any theme and of any length. Prizes: 1st £600; 2nd £300; 3rd £150; 10 runners-up £25. Full details online.
The Welsh Poetry Competition Prizes: £300, £150, £75. Closing date: 27th May 2012. See website.
Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition Deadline for entries: 31 May 2012. Entry: £5 per poem. The winner will be named 'Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year 2012' and will receive a book token and a case of wine. The 2nd and 3rd prize-winners will receive book tokens, while the 'Best Read' Prize will be a bottle of champagne. Full details and application form on website.
Poetry Rivals 2012 Competition Details on Website: www.poetryrivals.com
The Elmet Poetry Prize Closing date: Friday 6th July. Theme: Stages. Prizes: £300, £100, £50, plus The Huddersfield University Yorkshire Prize for the best poem by a poet living in Yorkshire. Entry fee: £4. Poems no longer than 40 lines. See Website for details.
The Ted Hughes Young Poets Award Closing date: Friday 6th July. Theme: Stages. Prizes: 1st prize £100, runners up £50 in each of three ages categories- 6-10 years, 11-14 years and 15-18 years. Entry fee: FREE but each poem should be accompanied by an entry form. Poems no longer than 40 lines. See Website for details.
Segora Open Poetry Competition 2012 40 lines max. Deadline: 7 July. First prize £150. Entry: £3.50. Details: www.poetryproseandplays.co.uk.
Saveas writers Group Competition to celebrate the 200th birthday of Dickens. Entries of short works of poetry or prose inspired, broadly or otherwise, by any character from a Charles Dickens novel. The competition is open to all writers and international submissions are welcome. Deadline: August 15th 2012. 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.
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