October-deadline writing competitions

Below are a few writing competitions with October deadlines. Other months and regular competitions on https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/competitions-calendar. Let me know if you enter, and good luck!

OCTOBER

• Children’s: The Times/Chicken House.
• Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
• Flash Fiction: Weekly challenge on theironwriter.com.
• Flash fiction: The SSCHQ Crime and Mystery Flash Fiction Competition is a writing competition hosted right here at Short Story Competition HQ. Members of SSCHQ are invited to submit crime and mystery stories for the chance to win publication and promotion. Join for free here. Short stories up to 800 words maximum. Closing Date: 7 October, 2013. Free entry. Prize = publication. Details on http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/sschq-crime-and-mystery-flash-fiction-competition. Their Sci-Fi competition, Fantasy competition, Horror competition, Romance competition, and Literary competition have the same rules.
• Flash Fiction: Writer Austin Briggs runs a monthly 55-word competition (different theme each month). It’s free to enter and you can win $55 (of his own money!).
• Flash Fiction: Each month the Scottish Book Trust provides a prompt to get you started, but where the <50-word story goes from there is entirely up to you. Their favourite story will be published on their page and the writer will receive a lovely Novel Poster from The Literary Gift Company. You can submit your story in the body of an email or as an attachment and remember to include your full name with your entry. They also welcome entries in Gaelic or Scots.
• Flash Fiction: Words with JAM‘s ‘Shorter Story’ and ‘Shortest Story‘ competitions have a deadline of end October. Details on http://jdsmith.moonfruit.com (directed from http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk/p/competitions.html)
• Flash Fiction: The New Writer 17th Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launched April 2013. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• Graphic novel: myriadeditions.com.
• Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month, Caketrain and mkweb.co.uk (poetry & shorts).
• Mixed: The Prolitzer Prize for Prose writing 1st prize £130 + publication, max 2000 words fiction or non-fiction. Closing date usually 1st October. Thanks again to The New Writer magazine for the info.
• Non-fiction: Vivid Scribe is about one thing – writing about popular culture in thoughtful and meaningful ways. And that’s what we want you to do. Write an essay in Vivid Scribe style and submit it to the Vivid Scribe Pop Culture Essay competition for your chance to win cash and publication. Closing date: October 1st 2013. Essays 1200 – 3000 words on popular culture. Topics can be broad but must fit into one of the following categories: movies, TV, music, comics, books. Fee: $7.50 per essay. Prize: $50 plus publication. See http://www.vividscribe.com/vivid-scribe-pop-culture-essay-competition for details.
• Novels: The Flash 500 Novel Opening Chapter & Synopsis Competition, established 2013, is an annual competition, opening for entries on 1st May and closing on 31st October.  The judges for this competition will be the senior editors at Crooked Cat Publishing. Entry fee: £10. Prizes: £500 first prize, plus a runner’s up prize of £200.
• Novels: iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.
• Novels: societyofauthors.org/mckitterick.
• Playwriting: Almost Random Theatre is running two competitions – 1. Wellbeing Playwriting Competition: We are seeking one outstanding 20 minute play to be put on in Oxford, England in January 2014. The play must be no more than 20 minutes long and require no more than three actors. CLOSING DATE 10th October 2013. 2. Retreats Playwriting Competition: We are seeking one outstanding 10 minute play to be put on in Oxford, England in January 2014. The play must be no more than 10 minutes long and require no more than three actors. CLOSING DATE 10th November 2013. See http://www.almostrandomtheatre.co.uk/competitions. My thanks go to Margaret Taylor for the info.
• Poetry: Milton Keynes Writers’ Group runs a Speakeasy poetry and short story competition with a 31st October deadline. Click here for the entry form (submissions via post only).
• Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving too late (after the 15th) for one month go forward to the next. Prizes: 1st – £100. Runners-up – A Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Entry Fee: £5 each, £3 each thereafter. Includes a critique (sae required if entering by post). Comp Page: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
• Poetry: The New Writer 17th Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launched April 2013. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• Poetry: other October-deadline poetry competitions include Balsall Writers, Hastings International, Sentinel, TRYangle, Writing Magazine (WM: subscriber-only theme: sunrise), National Poetry Competition, societyofauthors.org/eric-gregory, raggedraven.co.uk and NAWG (see below).
• Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
• Scriptwriting: The Channel 4/Òran Mór Comedy Drama Award carries a prize of £5000 and is open to all writers resident in the UK. Submit script in one act and no more than 50 minutes in length and using no more than 3 actors. The winning entry will be selected by a panel of judges drawn from Òran Mór and Channel 4 and will be given its stage premier in March 2013 at A Play A Pie and A Pint during the Glasgow International Comedy Festival. The winning entry will also be produced as a 2-minute viral video. Closing date usually 1st October. Thanks again to The New Writer magazine for the info.
• Scriptwriting: Norwich Film Festival has a short script competition – up to 30 pages. Note that the submission fee is quite high (£25 pre June 30th, £35 pre August 31st, £45 pre October 31st) and the top prize is relatively low (£250) but high entry fee may mean less competition? http://www.norwichfilmfestival.co.uk/submit-your-film.
• Short stories: Foyles runs a short story competition – full details here. Closing date usually early / mid October.
• Short stories: The Writers’ Forum Short Story Competition is a monthly no-theme contest for stories between 1,000 and 3,000 words. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving too late (after the 15th) for one month go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine (and possible anthology). Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). Comp Page: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
• Short stories: Milton Keynes Writers’ Group runs a Speakeasy poetry and short story competition with a 31st October deadline. Click here for the entry form (submissions via post only).
• Short stories: Rubery Book Award is the longest established book award based in the UK for independent and self published books and the details of their short story competition are here.
• Short stories: Launched in 2012, the London Magazine short story competition is now open for entries. Writers are offered the chance to win cash prizes as well as publication in the magazine and online. Short stories up to 4000 words. Flash Fiction is not allowed (so I’d say 1,000 words+). Multiple entries per author are welcome. Open to international authors. Competition opens 1st September and closes 1st October, 2013. The winning story will be published in an issue of The London Magazine, both in print and online. The 2 runners up will be featured on the website. Entry fee: £10 per story. See http://thelondonmagazine.org/tlm-competition/the-london-magazine-short-story-competition-2013 and http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/the-london-magazine-short-story-competition for details.
• Short stories: The SSCHQ Crime and Mystery Flash Fiction Competition is a writing competition hosted right here at Short Story Competition HQ. Members of SSCHQ are invited to submit crime and mystery stories for the chance to win publication and promotion. Join for free here. Short stories up to 800 words maximum. Closing Date: 7 October, 2013. Free entry. Prize = publication. Details on http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/sschq-crime-and-mystery-flash-fiction-competition. Their Sci-Fi competition, Fantasy competition, Horror competition, Romance competition, and Literary competition have the same rules.
• Short stories: The H.E. Bates Short Story Competition (run by one of my writing groups) is now open with aMonday 4th November deadline and for 2013 has Della Galton as Head Judge.
• Short stories: Avogel, Balsall Writers, Chorleywood Literature Festival, Spilling Ink, TRYangle, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: adult fairy tale / subscriber-only theme: marriage / anniversary), Rrofihe, Raspberry & Vine, A Vogel Dormeasan, Ruth Rendell, Earlyworks, Aphrodite’s Dream, fiction-garden.co.uk, societyofauthors.org/tom-gallon-trust-and-olive-cook-award, Sunpenny Open Short Story, Words with JAM.
• 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. Heather Marie Schuldt runs a similar contest, although 500-750 words max., but with the same deadline.
• Short stories: Writing East Midlands / Lincolnshire Echo competition (only open to writers currently living in the East Midlands – Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Rutland, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire) with a ‘winner’ each month (submitted by 25th) with an October deadline and the overall winner wins £300. See here for more details.
• Short stories: Glimmer Train (different category each month).
• Short stories: The Third NAWG 2013 Open Writing Competitions has a closing date of 31st October. Short Stories can be any length from 500 to 2000 words. Poems can be any style, maximum 40 lines. Prizes for each category First: £250 Second: £100 Third: £50. Fourth and Fifth: A signed copy of The Writer’s Treasury of Ideas by Linda Lewis. Short Story – Judged by Linda Lewis, a successful short story writer and columnist for Writers Forum. Poem – Judged by James Nash. Entry fee for each category £5 or three poems for £10. (Cheques to NAWG, or pay on the website by PayPal). But NO EMAIL entries please ALL manuscripts must be received by post. An optional critique from both Linda and James is available for a further £3. * Important Note* When requesting a critique, please enclose an s.a.e. with the correct postage. Competition rules, full details and a downloadable entry form can be found on the National Association of Writers’ Groups website: nawg.co.uk or request full details by email: pamfish@ntlworld.com or by post: NAWG Competition Administrator, Maria O’Sullivan, 14 Lagoon Lodge, Tallington Lakes Leisure Park, Barholm Road, Tallington, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 4RJ Copyright remains with the author. Closing Date: 31st October. Details from http://www.nawg.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Open-Comp-entry-form20131.pdf.
• Short stories: The Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize for ages 18-25, interpret a Franklin quote in max 1500 words. 1st prize £750, closing date 31 October. See benjaminfranklinhouse.org/site/sections/news/literary_prize.html.
• Short stories: Another 31st October deadline is the ‘Bloody Parchment Horror Short Story Competition.Free to enter, max 3,500 words. See http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/bloody-parchment-horror-short-story-competition and http://bloodyparchment.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/2013-bloody-parchment-submission.html for details.
• Sammythebookworm.com has a short story contest (<5,000 words) with a deadline of October 31st. Details on http://mikecoville.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/rewarding-reads-short-story-contest-2013. Entry fee is $5 with a guaranteed $200 cash prize for first place. Contest sponsor IndieReader.com.
• Short story collections: iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.
• Short stories: The Bath Short Story Award opens in October for entries – see ‘March’.
• Short stories: The New Writer 17th Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launched April 2013. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• Short stories: Two October deadline short story competitions:http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/aura-estrada-short-story-contest-boston-review (1st Oct @ $20 per story!) and http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/vwf-short-story-competition (27th Oct @ $15 per story)