Every now and then at 5a.m. (probably posted by my clone) I will be bringing you a newsflash, update on what I’m doing, invited guest piece, or whatever takes my fancy, and today I’m talking about writing competitions…
It’s been a while since I mentioned the competitions listed on my blog and I’ve been adding loads in the past few weeks. The page is laid out in a calendar format with the current month at the top, and I know we’re already half-way through the month but you may have something already written with nowhere to go and one of these might just be the perfect place…
NB. I may well not have tried these competitions myself so please take a good look at the websites before parting with money and submitting your hard work! ALSO please note that not all the competitions run each year so please check their validity before entering (and their guidelines do change from year to year).
Colour Key: blue = external websites, purple = emails, green = pages on this blog
Details of the H.E. Bates Short Story Competition (deadline end October) that one of my writing groups runs is here. This year we have a theme (and new judge: Stephen Booth): ‘A walk at midnight’.
AUGUST
- Biography: Tony Lothian Prize.
- Film: Mini Operas film competition opens 6th August closes 24 September.
- Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition (see Indies Unlimited), Unbound.
- Flash Fiction: Stringybark Flash Fiction and Micro Fiction Awards. $770 prizes cash + books. Closing date 26th August. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
- Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
- Mixed: Malahat (poetry, fiction, non-fiction), Aesthetica Magazine (poetry, short story), Ilkley Literature Festival (shorts & poetry), Words With Jam (<1000 words script, novel, extract, short story), Eccles Centre (fiction & non-fiction).
- Mixed: Mslexia (Themed Poetry & Prose Competition: ‘Motherhood’) an other opportunities inc. feature articles, monologues, reviews, poems, rants & raves.
- Non-fiction: Earlyworks Press Memoir & Journalism Competition, Unbound Press Nonfiction Award, Biographers Club.
- Novels: Luke Bitmead Bursary, Nemesis Publishing Debut, Moth Publishing (Northern Crime Competition).
- Plays: www.ovationtheatreawards.webs.com.
- Poetry: Aesthetica Magazine, Delhi London Poetry Foundation, Lorca Translation, Salopian Poetry Society, Todd Swift, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: 8-line mini-riddle), BBC Proms, Scot Care (‘A Scot in London’).
- Poetry: Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition has two categories for entry, Poetry and Short Fiction, and a selection of fantastic prizes including: £500 prize money for each winner and publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual. Submissions previously published elsewhere are accepted. Entry is £10 and allows for the entry of two works into any one category. Deadline 31st August. Thank you again to The New Writer magazine for that one.
- Poetry: Torbay Open Poetry Competition: judge Hilary Davies, max 50 lines, closing date 31st August. Thank you again to The New Writer magazine for that one.
- Poetry: The Manchester Poetry Prize 2012 International, send 3-5 poems, 1st prize a whopping £10,000. Judges Ian Duhig, Frances Leviston, Adam O’Riordan. Deadline 31st August. Thank you again to The New Writer magazine for that one.
- Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
- Scriptwriting: Ovation Theatre Awards.
- Short stories: Aesthetica Magazine, Emerald Flash Fiction, Five Stop Story, Manchester, New Eastbourne Writers, Wellington, The Write Place, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: love story / subscriber-only theme: 1,000 word short story), For Books Sake, Brighton Cow.
- Short stories: UK-based Fantastic Books Publishing is running a short story competition for sci-fi / fantasy stories 700-1,500 words. Judge Penny Grubb. Prizes £100, £50, £25. Winners + 7 runners up will feature in their anthology. % to cancer research charity. The deadline is 15th August. Details here.
- Short stories: Hayley Sherman runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month.
- Short stories: Choc Lit Short Story Competition: max 1,500 words in which the central theme is a hero or heroes – they don’t have to be irresistible or romantic. 1st prize £200, online publication and a tin of Cadbury Heroes. Closing date 31st August. Judges are Choc Lit authors Margaret James, Sue Moorcroft and Linda Mitchelmore. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
- Short stories: Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition has two categories for entry, Poetry and Short Fiction, and a selection of fantastic prizes including: £500 prize money for each winner and publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual. Submissions previously published elsewhere are accepted. Entry is £10 and allows for the entry of two works into any one category. Deadline 31st August. Thank you again to The New Writer magazine for that one.
and then not forgetting those that aren’t date-specific…
- Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Co-run by interviewee Kat ‘K.S.’ Brooks. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
- Poetry: Buxton’s Word Wizards slam poetry competition runs in the coffee lounge at the Grove Hotel, Buxton, Derbyshire, UK at 7:30pm on the last Tuesday of every month. Entry is £2.50. More info can be obtained by e-mailing Rob at: poetryslamUK@aol.com.
- Poetry: Well Versed is the weekly poetry column of daily UK newspaper the Morning Star, published every Thursday, in print and online. Poetry editor Jody Porter. Under the stewardship of the late and esteemed John Rety, Well Versed developed into a widely-read forum for new and established writers. Send submissions, with biographical information, to: wveditor@gmail.com. Poems need not be overtly political, but space is limited so they must be short to medium in length.
- Short stories: Flash Fiction Online are currently closed to submissions (I guess because they’re overwhelmed), but it’ll be worth checking their website every now and then.
- Mixed: Mixed: Pockets and Creative Print Publishing (both have different themes each month), Opening Editions (free).
- Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
- Short stories: Brighton COW (currently on hiatus), Coast to Coast, Writing / Writers’ News magazines and Opening Editions.
- Short stories: Bound Off now take submissions via Submishmash.
- Short stories: Hayley Sherman runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month.
- Short stories: http://www.fivestopstory.com/write: 2012 competitions cost £4 per entry (2 for £7, 3 for £8, optional feedback £5) and have monthly prizes of £50. There is also a £150 prize for the overall winner of their 2012 league table and you can become a member for £25 which entitles you to 3 free entries per month (2012).
- Short stories: Aeon Award, Cheer Reader, Dark Tales, Emerald Flash Fiction and Writers’ Village.
- Children’s: Dal Burns‘ children’s writing competition Write Across America.
- Flash fiction: One Forty Fiction.
- Mixed: What The Dickens magazine says about their site “there are competitions and give-aways which are all free to enter”.
- Mixed: sterlingmag and sundayat6mag.wordpress.com.
- Mixed: You can apply for a three-month residency on the Mslexia blog (women only, sorry guys).
- Novels: http://apostrophebooks.com/fictionfasttrack.
- Poetry: Poetic Republic is an ongoing online poetry competition in which the entrants are also the judges.
- Scriptwriting: http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/links5.shtml.
- Short stories: Creative Writers’ Circle competitions are open to all and are free.
- Short stories: Flash Fiction Online is a 500-1000 word site that is free to subscribe / read, free to submit to. Payment is via donations with 60% going to the author and 40% going to the site so there’s no way of knowing how much (if anything) you’d earn but another opportunity perhaps.
- Short stories: Author and columnist Lorraine Mace runs the Flash 500 flash fiction and humorous verse competitions.
- Short stories: Short Funny Story wants humorous short stories or true-life events and pay $15 for every story published online with $25 extra for any story chosen for inclusion in their anthologies.
- Short stories: Penny Dreadfuls 21 commissions short stories.
- Short stories: Words Magazine short story competition guidelines.
- Mixed: Duotrope is a great resource for competition and submission opportunities.
- Mixed: Fan Story lists ongoing competitions of which there are 50 each month!
- Mixed: Jacqui Burnett’s Writer’s Bureau has a list of a variety of forthcoming competitions.
- Mixed: Carole Burdock’s bi-monthly magazine Kudos.
- Mixed: Loquax.com lists thousands of competitions including writing comps.
- Mixed: Words Magazine has a variety of competition information.
- Mixed: www.prizemagic.co.uk has a variety of competitions.
- Mixed: Sally Quilford‘s competition calendar.
- Mixed: free literary monthly magazine Words with Jam has regular competitions.
- Mixed: Write Link also lists forthcoming competitions.
- Mixed: http://writingcontests.wordpress.com lists various competitions.
- Poetry: Poetry Kit, http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/competitions.
- Poetry: You might also like to take a look at Poet Laureate Alice Shapiro’s website. Alice kindly provided some poetry tips for this blog in August 2011.
Poet Scott E Green dropped by and left a comment on my me page to say that his blog has multi-genre competition and submission info. I checked it out and it looks really useful. - Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
- Scriptwriting: www.hollywoodscriptexpress.com/screenplay_contests.html, www.scriptfactory.co.uk/go/Default.html, www.writesofluid.co.uk/screenwriting-competitions.html, http://www.firstwriter.com/competitions and www.thespiannet.com/writing_contests.shtml.
- Short stories: Poetry Kit (“shorts & other comps”), Words Magazine.
- Short story collections: http://apostrophebooks.com/fictionfasttrack.
If you discover any broken links, closed competitions or know of ones that I haven’t listed here, please do email me with details.
***
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me. I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.
Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.
