Results of Morgen’s 100-word competition: April 2018

Hello everyone. Last month I received 24 entries from 12 authors, six of whom had sent three stories (recommended). One was disqualified for only being 99 words. Fortunately the author had submitted two other stories so I had those to choose from. It was actually my least favourite of the three and as well as a word missing, there was a typo (though instead of through… easily done!). Another was disqualified for having a non-hyphenated number (ninety nine rather than ninety-nine) which then made it a 99-word story. Sorry but it’s a typo. Again, the author had sent in two other stories so still had a chance to be placed. Another author who had submitted three (always recommended) had a 102-word story. There was a hyphenated word (well-known) which could have been counted as two words (it isn’t) but no apparent reason for the other excess word.

The winning stories are ones that I reacted most favourably to; usually the winner making me go “Wow”. They were clever, surprising, eek-making (in a good way), or gave me a warm fuzzy feeling (without being sickly).

You may have chosen a different order or indeed not placed one or more of them so if you entered and didn’t find your story / stories here, don’t lose heart. You probably only just missed out so do enter new stories this month*, next month, whenever you like (but not in advance!). It’s an ongoing competition and free, so you could win at any time. There were new and familiar names this month so anyone could win… it’s all dependent upon whether your story grabs me, for whatever reason (whether it be clever, funny, unusual, quirky, or sweet).

Apart from the top three and highly commended, there are some ‘Honourable Mentions’. They don’t win anything but they were so close to being Highly Commended that I wanted them to know how close they came. It’s still something for them to put on their CVs.

*The theme for May is ‘the kite’ and you can submit your entries (and do send three) at any time up to midnight (UK time) on Thursday 31st May.

So without further ado, below are the successful entries this month.

*

First place (winning free access to three of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £60 / $60) or a free edit and critique of up to 2,000 words (worth £14 / $18):

D J Shine with ‘The Green Bucket’

I held the green bucket so close that the smell of earth washed up my nostrils, making me wrinkle my nose. I had used my thumb to put seeds into that earth and spent ages placing stickers of smiling princesses and clowns around my bucket. It was a magic world of happiness. I cried when Dad said I couldn’t take it into bed with me.
The sun did send love through the window but the earth didn’t hear it.
Dad spotted the grape in my bucket and said it was a miracle. It’s not a miracle it’s from the fridge.

*

Second place (winning free access to two of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £40 / $40) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,500 words (worth £11 / $14):

Laura Besley with ‘Blue on a Red Day’
‘Grandma, why is Mummy crying?’
‘She’s feeling a little blue, darling.’
I look down at the chopped up strawberries and raspberries in my bowl. ‘But that can’t be true, Grandma. Today’s a red day.’
Grandma slowly dries up the cup in her hand. ‘Not everyone believes the days of the week are colour-coded.’
‘I know. Peter Johnson says I’m silly, but Miss Anne always tells him off when he says that.’
Grandma sort of smiles. ‘Eat up.
‘But what does it mean?’
‘It means you feel sad.’
‘Is Mummy sad because the baby died?’
‘Yes, darling. That’s why she’s sad.’

*

Joint third place (each winning free access to one of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £20 / $20) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,000 words (worth £7 / $9) – in alphabetical order:

Angela Greenwood with ‘Animal Facts’
An ostrich lays gigantic eggs, while snakes don’t have any legs. An elephant’s nose is called a trunk and terrible smells come from a skunk. Bees are great at making honey, a hyena laughing isn’t funny. Zebra stripes are always black and wolves go hunting in a pack. A cheetah can run very fast, while a tortoise will always be last. Giraffes have the longest necks and geese will give you spiteful pecks. A lion gives a vicious bite, bats won’t fly unless it’s night. White rhinos have massive heads. But if a bear hugs you, you will be dead!

*

Lesley McLean with ‘The Moment’
The foxy seven year old swanked up to the teacher’s table, pivoted on the gaudy platform heels and announced to the class, New Shoes! She twirled then strutted down her catwalk, like a diva in drag. All eyes were on the fantastic footwear as she sat back down at her desk, grinning broadly.
It had taken tantrums and tears to acquire these magnificent creations. Mission accomplished, she owned the multi-coloured lace-up clumpertons. And to think, if she hadn’t mortified mother enough, she probably would have had to shamefully hide the horrid dowdy brown sensible Clark’s buckle shoes under her desk.

*

Highly commended (winning my Entering Writing Competitions course worth £20 / $20) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,000 words (worth £7 / $9) – in alphabetical order:

• Fiona M Jones with ‘A Hundred Words’
• Justin Rulton with ‘Discombobulated’
• Patricia Cooksley with ‘Jessie’s Surprise’

*

Honourable mentions (not winning anything but only narrowly missing out and still looking good on their CV) – in alphabetical order:

• Ishika with ‘A Loss of Innocence’
• Jennie Gardner with ‘A Stirring Tale’
• Karen Turner-Smith with ‘My Best Friend’
• Lestie Mulholland with ‘It’s a Dog’s Life’
• Shalom Galve Aranas with ‘Lira and the Arab Prince’

*

Congratulations, everyone. The entries for this month are already drifting in. Remember, you can send up to three per month so rather than miss out on a chance by sending one story, do submit more.

If you’ve enjoyed these stories and / or just want to leave a comment, please do so below and / or you can email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com., although I won’t (can’t) discuss forthcoming entries unless it’s a general query.

Calling Northants writers aged 8-12…

Are you, or (more importantly) a child you know, based in Northamptonshire? I’m delighted to be one of the judges of the Althorp Children’s 500-word story competition. (See details and poster below.)

To free eBook or not to free eBook?

There’s a lot of contention over whether to give away our books. Many authors (and others) say no, given the amount of work that goes into them, but if you have a series of books, listing the first for free is a great way to introduce yourself to new readers so they can buy the others… assuming your book is so good that they want to read more. And that’s the crux of the matter, we all need to put up the best quality we can. This is why we need people like me (editors) to buff our work to within an inch of its life.

So, whether you agree with freebies or not, below is a site that offers 30+ every day. Take a look. I bet (one of my ebooks for free!) that there will be at least one book to tempt you.

Poetry Writing Lessons for Children #guestpost by Robert Lynch

Today, I welcome a new guest, online writer Robert Lynch with poetry tips for children… of any age…

Many people love poetry but writing a poem is not simple. Students who are studying at school, college, or university used to attempt to poetry for various purposes. Children try to write poems for fun, to get away from their boredom, to contribute to school magazines, and so on. However, most of the time, they end up writing poor poems. Many students will have ideas but may not be able to write even a single line. It can happen if they are not familiar with writing poems based upon their lives.

Since writing poems seems to be difficult for them, they should ask poetry experts. Writing poems will aid the children to express their ideas, feelings, emotions, thoughts, etc. They can write amazing, stirring, thoughtful, and witty poetry that will astonish their friends, parents, and teachers. All you want to do is to understand how to prepare a poem, and know how to get started.

Here are some effective poetry writing lessons for children that will aid them to come up with good poems:

Read Poetry

Children who are interested in writing poetry should read some popular poetry so that they will understand how famous poets write. Reading poetry will help the children understand how these poets arrange their thoughts, ideas, and communicate their emotions to their readers. So, go to your school or college library, or search online in order to choose some books of poetry. You will be able to find a wide range of children’s poetry, and it will let you understand how to prepare poetry within your age range. Read some poems to realize how the lines of poems end, how they form rhythm, have an effect on the meaning of the poem, etc.

Recognize Your Goal

Children should primarily understand their goal of writing poetry. None of the students can write a good poem without knowing their goals. You cannot simply write a poem. You should have some ideas and thoughts with you to prepare a good poem. Children can write poetry for the reason that they would like to capture a feeling they have experienced. Your goal is to communicate with the readers and make them understand what you have to tell them. You can choose to write from experiences etched in your mind, some remarkable e achievements, an incident that you witnessed, and much more.

Avoid Clichés

When children are preparing to write a poem, they should think about something out of the box. They cannot make a good impression on people who read their poem if their it has no new elements. Readers need originality and freshness in poetry. If children love making their poetry interesting, they should keep away from common clichés. You have to keep in mind that people give importance to creative content and they will ignore your writing if it contains common clichés. When readers notice poetry without clichés, they will find that the writer has made a good effort to write original content.

Poem Structure

The poems that children write should have structure. If children desire to learn how to write poetry and how to become a successful poet, they should aim to understand the structure of a poem. If children write poems with no structure, none of the readers will be interested to read their poem. Hence, children should understand how should a poem be divided into lines, how to arrange their ideas into perfect lines, how to communicate their goals through ideal lines, etc. You have to find some superior ideas about selecting the exact structure for your poem.

Poetry Techniques

It can be observed that famous poets used to use poetry techniques in order to make their poetry excellent. They have the custom of adopting some poetry techniques that helps them to communicate their thoughts, ideas, knowledge, understanding and experiences. Poetry techniques will give children a good idea about how to write poetry, what to write about, how to get started, and pick the right words to add in the sentences. It will also lead you to identify how to get poetry ideas and convert them into poems.

Pick a Subject

Children can never write poetry without a proper subject. Hence, they should pick a subject before they write their poems. Picking a subject gives the children a perfect understanding about how to write poetry. There are many topics in the world to choose as your poetry subject such as death, love, nature, animals, friendship, politics, education, health, and much more. You can choose any topic but you have to come up with unique and original thoughts to make your writing authentic.

Choose a Pattern                                 

Children should know poetry patterns when they write poetry. It will aid the children to write in a manner to attract the attention of people with ease. Children should select free verse, rhyming couplets, or a usual poetry style. The ideas, thoughts, and words of your poetry should flow with the style that you have selected for your poetry, and you can also convert ideas into a completely new scheme if you choose a pattern to prepare your poem.

Other Tips

There are in fact many things that children should take care of while writing poetry. I recommend they stay away from sentimentality, but make use of images, bring into play metaphor and simile, exercise tangible words rather than abstract words, communicate a common theme, pass up ordinary ideas and thoughts, and finally, they should revise many times what is written. Children have to be creative so that they can create creative poetry. As poets always observe the world another way, children should also observe the world differently so that they can have a different point of view.

Author Bio

Robert Lynch is a freelance writer who enjoys his career as it offers opportunities to improve his writing, as well as every facet of his life. Presently, he works for a professional custom essay online writing service which allows him to aid students in making their assignments look simple. Robert also loves to write articles for blogs, online magazines, and content for a variety of websites.

March’s 100-word FREE competition is open… Norman’s bunny!

Hello everyone. Yes, February’s theme of classical music is closed but March’s is now open and the theme for this month is ‘Norman’s bunny’, used in any way you like. Why did I choose this? I have no idea. It just came to me… as things often do. You can have a lot of fun this one.

The theme for April is ‘fool’ which of course you can start work on but don’t send them to me until April 1st at the earliest.  And remember, you can send up to three stories per month (individually or at the same time). It’s worth doing because some people have missed out because of errors (usually not 100 words exactly) in the only entry they send so they are immediately disqualified.

There are lots of rules so please read the 100-word competition page carefully but the two most important are:

1. Your story must stick to the theme (which varies each month).
2. Your story must be no longer or no shorter than 100 words. This excludes the title which can be as long or as short as you like. Any stories of less than or greater than 100 words will be disqualified so please check before submitting. Hyphenated words (e.g. well-known) count as one word so 99-word stories because of a hyphenated word will be disqualified. This may sound harsh but it’s then fair on everyone. Also bullet points do not count as words so do not include them in your word count. Neither do ellipses (e.g. ‘and… we’ counts as two words), ages, e.g. ‘a two-year-old child’ also counts as one word (according to Word, which is what I use).

And the prizes?

• Prizes: you could win one or more of my online creative writing courses, or free editing and critique of your writing up to 2,000 words (worth up to £14 (€20 / US$22 / CA$ & AS$28)). See prize breakdown below. Alternatively you can choose one of my eBooks.

Good luck and I look forward to reading your stories.

Dark Minds charity short story collection currently just 99p!

Hello everyone. I know I don’t post very often about sale books (other than when mine were free) but this is one close to my heart. I am biased as I edited ten of the stories 🙂 but it’s a super cause. Please click on the link below (NB. changing to .co.uk to your country) and support these great charities, and the wonderful Bloodhound Books!

 

#RoaldDahlDay: 15 genius pieces of life advice from his books

My eNewspaper, the Morgen Bailey Daily, picked up on an article by the Telegraph newspaper highlighting 15 genius pieces of advice from Roald Dahl’s books. Anything to do with Roald Dahl catches my eye (a) because I was a huge fan of his stories and the Tales of the Unexpected TV series and (b) because my dad knew him. My dad was a photographer and Roald came into his shop one day to drop of a film to be developed. Although my dad had no clue who Roald was, my dad went on to take photographs for him (and, if I recall correctly, a video at Sophie’s fourth birthday party. So fond memories all round. I lost my dad early September 2001 and the 15th Anniversary of 9/11 came round which always reminds me of that time so happy and sad. And on that note… below is a screen print of the article so you can read it in full but the 15 are:

1. “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” – The Twits
2. “Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog.” – Matilda
3. “A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men.” – Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
4. “So please, oh please, we beg, we pray Go throw your TV set away And in its place you can install A lovely bookshelf on the wall…” – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
5. “Don’t gobblefunk around with words.” – The BFG
6. “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you.” – The Witches
7. “All you do is to look/ at a page in this book/ because that’s where we always will be. No book ever ends/ when it’s full of your friends”. – The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
8. <this appears to be missing>
9. <this appears to be missing>
10. “You can fake a mouth-smile any time you want, simply by moving your lips. I’ve also learned that a real mouth-smile always has an eye-smile to go with it. So watch out, I say, when someone smiles at you but his eyes stay the same. It’s sure to be a phony.” – Danny the Champion of the World
11. “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – The Minpins
12. “If I were a headmaster I would get rid of the history teacher and get a chocolate teacher instead.” – Roald Dahl Cookbook
13. “So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.” – Matilda
14. “Some people when they have taken too much and have been driven beyond the point of endurance, simply crumble and give up. There are others, though they are not many, who will for some reason always be unconquerable. You meet them in time of war and also in time of peace. They have an indomitable spirit and nothing, neither pain nor torture nor threat of death, will cause them to give up.” – The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
15. “When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty.” – Boy: Tales of Childhood 

Do go visit the Telegraph page, it’s well worth a visit.

July-deadline writing competitions

Hello everyone. Once a month (ish) I post the following month’s competition deadlines. I’m a bit late this month (been silly busy recently but my teaching finishes on the 11th so I hope to surface for air then) but here are the July deadlines taken from this blog’s Competitions page. Do let me know if there’s anything out of date or if you know of any others that haven’t been listed. Thank you!

JULY

• Children’s: Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Undiscovered Voices is a competition for unpublished and un-agented writers and illustrators living in the EU. The anthology will include twelve fiction extracts – from early readers up through young adult novels – and twelve black-and-white illustrations. The anthology will be published the following February and sent free of charge to editors, art directors and agents whose focus is children’s literature. Open for entries from 1 July to 15 August.
• Flash Fiction: I now run a free monthly 100-word competition (different theme each month – month-end deadline – you could win my up to three of my Online Courses each month) and 500-word challenge (where you challenge me to write a story, giving me the prompts – you could win up to 5,000-word free editing – deadline 15th of the month).
• 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: 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: Tethered by Letters’ Fall Flash Fiction Contest is “currently accepting flash fiction submissions of 55, 250, or 500 words in length. The flash fiction contest winner will be published as the featured flash fiction in the Fall Quarterly Journal. Three finalists will be considered for subsequent quarterly journal publications or a TBL monthly feature. Each finalist will also receive free professional edits on their submission. International submissions welcome.” Deadline: July 15. Prize: $50 and publication in the quarterly journal. Entry Fee: $4 per entry OR $10 for three entries URL:http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission.
• Flash Fiction / Short Stories: The Writer’s Notebook is a monthly, free to enter short story competition. Each month has a set theme, and each writer can submit up to 2 stories per month. A new theme opens on the 1st of each month, and the deadline for entries is the 28th of each month. Future themes are available to view on our webpage. The prize is publication of the short story in our Anthology at the end of the year, and an equal share of sale profits of said Anthology. It is an experimental idea for a free to enter writing competition, relying on social media to drive sales of the Anthology and increase the prize. Stories should be 400-1500 words. A short list of three stories will be published on our blog for our readers to vote for a winner. For more information please see http://thewritersnotebookgroup.blogspot.com.
• Flash fiction: An ongoing competition is the NAWG’s ‘100’ competition. The task is to write a 100-word story exactly (usually excluding the title) and when they have 100 stories in, the judge picks his / her favourite and awards £75 to the winner and £25 to the runner-up. Entry is £3 for the first story, £5.50 for two or £8 for three. Details on http://www.nawg.co.uk/3805.
• Mixed: Submission to the non-fiction and fiction Shirley You Jest Book Awards opens mid May (closes mid July). I was one of the sponsors in 2014!
• Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
• Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month, Matrix Magazine (poetry & fiction), Tenby Arts Festival (shorts & poetry), Arthritis Care (shorts & poetry), Wasafiri (poetry, fiction, life writing), Poundbury Voices (shorts & poetry with Dorset connection), Leaf Books (book reviews), Wells Lit Fest (novels, poetry, short stories), Slingink (shorts & poetry), Dream Questone.
• Mixed (novels & 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.
• Mixed: globalfeelgoodcompany.com/competition (opens May, closes 30th September – see ‘September’ for full details).
• Non-fiction: another non-fiction competition is Sportswriters.org.
• Novels: First Chapter Writing Competition: Prizes: £250, £200, £150, £100, £75. Closing date: 12th July. £4 per submission. Professional feedback is available for an additional £5.00 per submission. This competition is perfect if you have an unpublished novel and would like to enter the first chapter into our fantastic new competition. You can also have your submissions evaluated professionally for an additional £5.00 each. All we ask is that your first chapter has a maximum of 6000 words and that you are the author. Full details online.
• 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: Legend Press, the leading independent publisher in the UK has an annual bursary prize for writers called the Luke Bitmead Bursary. “The prize was set up in honour of Luke Bitmead. His debut novel was the first novel Legend Press published but sadly, after struggling with depression, Luke committed suicide. The award has been set up by his mother in partnership with us to support and encourage the work of struggling writers, and is the UK’s biggest prize for unpublished authors. This is an award that we are very proud to run and I am emailing you today to let you know about it in case any of your writers would be interested in entering. Submissions must be adult fiction, and only completed novels will be considered. Full guidelines can be found on our website. Closing: Submissions open 1st May until 1st August. Prizes: A publishing contract with Legend Press and a £2,500 cash bursary. Entry Fee: £10 per entry to support the prize.”
• Novels: Novel Rocket runs an annual Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile. Entries will be accepted in all genres beginning mid-January. The deadline for submission is different for genre categories according to the following schedule. In each case, entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on the 10th day of the month (April to September) listed on novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html. They also post a new writing-related article seven days a week, from author interviews to marketing discussions to articles about the craft of writing. NB. The entry fee is $45 so give this very careful consideration.
• Novels: Wells Lit Fest (novels, poetry, short stories) – Poetry and Short Story: First Prize £500, Second Prize £200, Third Prize £100.  In addition there is the Wyvern Prize of £100 for entrants living in the BA, BS, and TA postcodes. Crime Novel: The winning entry will be read by a major publisher and by a leading agent.  In addition there will be a cash prize of £100.  The judge may also arrange for an exceptional runner-up entry to be read by an agent or a publisher. Entry fees: Poetry and Short Story: £5 for each entry, Crime Novel: £10 for each entry. For an additional fee of £20, entrants may request comments from the judge. Deadline 31st July. For full rules see wellslitfest.org.uk/competitionrules.php.
• Novels: other July deadline competitions include The Greenhouse Funny Prize (in association with The University of York’s Writers’ Workshop Festival of Writing), Aurora Metro‘s The Virginia Prize.
• Plays: Sussex Playwrights.
• Plays: The 1st Liverpool International Open Short Story, Poetry and Playwriting Competition – see ‘Mixed’ above.
• Poetry: Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competition has a closing date of: 9th July.
 First Prize: £1000 and a residential writing course at Tŷ Newydd

. Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competitions opens March with a great first prize of £1000 cash and a residential course at
 Tŷ Newydd.

 Adults: First Prize  £1000 and a week at Tŷ Newyd
 Second Prize £500
. Third Prize £250. 

See website poetry-festival.co.uk for details of Young People and Children’s competition section. 

Winners have the opportunity to read their poems at next year’s Ledbury Poetry Festival.
 Go to poetry-festival.co.uk for further details of our poetry competition and to download an entry form, or telephone 0845 458 1743 and we will put a leaflet in the post for you. Entry fees: first poem £5, for each subsequent poem £3.
 Children and Young People enter free for first poem.

 Ledbury Poetry Festival runs early July. If you wish to join our email list and receive a programme in May email: boxoffice@poetry-festival.co.uk.
• Poetry: www.manechancesanctuary.org/writing has a poetry and short story competition, both with a 10 July closing date. Proceeds go to the horse sanctuary so you’re supporting a good cause, even if you don’t win.
• Poetry: Liberated Words Poetry Film Festival Competitions. Deadline: 30 July. Videopoetry or digital moving poetry amongst other names is, according to Tom Konyves: the poetic juxtaposition of images with text and sound. See poetrycan.co.uk for details.
• Poetry: The Portico Prizes. Deadline: 31 July. Manchester’s famous Portico Library is accepting poems on the theme of letters. Your poem could mention letters, be about sending letters, an extract of a letter, or actually about letters. There are two categories: One for under 18s (free to enter, judged by young writers James Mullard and Richy Campbell) and over 16s (£5 per entry plus £2.50 per extra) judged by published poets Mandy Coe and Sarah McLennan). See theportico.org.uk for details.
• Poetry: The 1st Liverpool International Open Short Story, Poetry and Playwriting Competition – see ‘Mixed’ above.
• Poetry: Tethered by Letters’ Fall Poetry Contest. We are currently accepting poetry submissions of all genres and styles—from traditional form to free verse. Length requirements are no more than three pages per poem, single spaced with double spacing between stanzas. The poetry contest winner will be published as the featured poem in the Fall Quarterly Journal. Three finalists will be considered for subsequent quarterly journal publications or a TBL monthly poetry feature. Each finalist will also receive free professional edits on their submission. International submissions welcome. Deadline: July 15. Prize: $100 and publication in the quarterly journal. Entry Fee: $5 per entry OR $12 for three entries. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission.
• 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 Mere Literary Festival’s Biennial Open Poetry Competition has a deadline of July 12th. See merelitfest.co.uk or send an sae to MLF, Lawrences, Old Hollow, Mere, Wilts. BA12 6EG. Proceeds to Mere & District Linkscheme (Re.Charity No: 1062328)
• Poetry: Wells Lit Fest (novels, poetry, short stories) – Poetry and Short Story: First Prize £500, Second Prize £200, Third Prize £100.  In addition there is the Wyvern Prize of £100 for entrants living in the BA, BS, and TA postcodes. Crime Novel: The winning entry will be read by a major publisher and by a leading agent.  In addition there will be a cash prize of £100.  The judge may also arrange for an exceptional runner-up entry to be read by an agent or a publisher. Entry fees: Poetry and Short Story: £5 for each entry, Crime Novel: £10 for each entry. For an additional fee of £20, entrants may request comments from the judge. Deadline 31st July. For full rules see wellslitfest.org.uk/competitionrules.php.
• Poetry: The New Writer Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launches every April. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• Poetry: other poetry competitions include Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, Buzzwords, LIPP, Tenby Arts Fest, Thynks Postcard, Vallum Mag, Writers Bureau, Writing Magazine (monthly), Essex Poetry Festival, Mslexia, Buzzwords Open Poetry Competition, Foyle Young Poets.
• Science-fiction: Literary science magazine Cosmos is looking for short stories by end July.
• Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
• Scriptwriting: The First Liverpool Writers Poetry, Script and Short Story Competition has a deadline of 31st July. See liverpoolwriters.wix.com/liverpool-writers#!competition/c1vm7 for details.
• Short stories: www.manechancesanctuary.org/writing has a poetry and short story competition, both with a mid-July closing date. Proceeds go to the horse sanctuary so you’re supporting a good cause, even if you don’t win.
• Short stories: The Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition from Wrekin Writers – maximum 1200 words, 1st prize £150, entry fee £3 per story, all profit (Entry Fees less Prize Money) to Severn Hospice, closing date 15th July. See sites.google.com/site/wrekinwriters/Home/competitions-1/doris-gooderson-2013-competition.
• Short stories:Tethered by Letters’ Fall Literary Contests. We are currently accepting submissions for our short story contest (1,000 to 7,500 words, open genre). TBL strives to publish writers with engaging stories, vivid characters, and fresh writing styles. All winners will be published in Tethered by Letters’ Quarterly Journal. All finalists will receive free professional edits on their submission and be considered for later publication. The prize is $250 (USDA) for the short story winner. Winner announced publicly on August 1st. Multiple entries accepted. International submissions welcome. Good luck to all our authors! Deadline: July 15th. Fee: $10 per story. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission.
• 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: H G Wells Festival Short Story Anthology. Stories must be between 1500 and 5000 words long. Entry fees are free for entrants aged 25 or under, and £5 per story for entrants aged 26 or older. Shortlisted stories will be published in the Anthology, at the judges’ discretion, and extracts may also be used online to publicise the competition. Closing date 20th July.
• 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: Scotland’s International Crime Festival Bloody Scotland (which runs mid-September) has a short story competition opens 19th June, closes 28th July.
• Short stories: 3-into-1 story competition has a 3,000 word limit, £1,000 top prize (then £500, £300, £200 and top 20 stories will be published in an anthology. Fee £7. Judges Michael Dobbs and Adèle Geras. No genre limit but you have to include a black queen chess piece, bunch of fresh flowers and a £10 note in the story. A portion of the entry proceeds goes to The Arthrogryposis Group charity and the deadline is 31st July.
• Short stories: The Sean O Faolain Short Story Competition is run by the Munster Literature Center and is offering writers the chance to win cash, publication and a writer’s residency.Stories up to 3000 words. All themes and genres. Writers of any age and any nationality are welcome. Multiple entries are welcome. All stories to be original and unpublished. Closing date: July 31st. Entry fee: €15, US $20 or £15. See http://www.munsterlit.ie/SOF%20Page.html for details.
• Short stories: Another 31st July deadline is The Carmel Bird Short Fiction Award, a short story competition run by Spineless Wonders. In this writing competition, authors have the chance to win cash and publication in anthology. Short stories up to 4000 words. Entry fee: AS$10. 1st Prize – $500. Winning and shortlisted stories will be published in the Spineless Wonders annual anthology along with stories by invited authors. See http://shortaustralianstories.com.au/submissions/the-carmel-bird-award for details.
• Short Stories: The First Liverpool Writers Poetry, Script and Short Story Competition has a deadline of 31st July. See liverpoolwriters.wix.com/liverpool-writers#!competition/c1vm7 for details.
• Short stories: Massacre Magazine runs a quarterly horror 250-word max short story competition. Deadlines end April, July, October, January. “We will pick one winner who will receive a £15/$20 Amazon voucher and have their story published in the summer issue of Massacre Magazine. Our decision is final, any moaners will be mangled.”
• Short stories: Wells Lit Fest (novels, poetry, short stories) – Poetry and Short Story: First Prize £500, Second Prize £200, Third Prize £100.  In addition there is the Wyvern Prize of £100 for entrants living in the BA, BS, and TA postcodes. Crime Novel: The winning entry will be read by a major publisher and by a leading agent.  In addition there will be a cash prize of £100.  The judge may also arrange for an exceptional runner-up entry to be read by an agent or a publisher. Entry fees: Poetry and Short Story: £5 for each entry, Crime Novel: £10 for each entry. For an additional fee of £20, entrants may request comments from the judge. Deadline 31st July. For full rules see wellslitfest.org.uk/competitionrules.php.
• Short stories: Other July deadline competitions include Glimmer Train (different category each month), HISSAC, Laurel House, Monologue With A Twist, Tenby Arts Fest, Writing Magazine, Wrekin Writers, Literature Wales, Hay Short Story, Munster, Narrative Magazine, Helene James, Writers of the Future (<17,000 words), Writers’ Clinic, Laurel House Creative Workshops, Alibi.
• Soundtracks: Mini Operas soundtrack competition opens 4th June closes late July.
• NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of the Competitions page.

Good luck!

Writing competitions: May 2016 deadlines

Hello everyone. If you’re looking to enter a writing competition (or even if you weren’t), there are some listed below, taken from this blog’s Competitions page. There are also regular (weekly, monthly etc) competition on that page so do take a look at those.

And if you’d like some advice on entering competitions, take a look at my online creative writing courses page for my ‘Entering Writing Competitions’… currently half price (using a coupon code)!

Now, here are the competitions that finish this month. Most competitions roll over from year to year but if you find any aren’t running this year, please leave a comment in the box below. Thank you.

MAY

• Children’s: bookweek.ca/information-artists
• Flash Fiction: I now run a free monthly 100-word competition (different theme each month – month-end deadline – you could win my up to three of my Online Courses each month) and 500-word challenge (where you challenge me to write a story, giving me the prompts – you could win up to 5,000-word free editing – deadline 15th of the month).
• Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – also see Indies Unlimited and ‘Short stories’ below.
• Flash Fiction: Weekly challenge on theironwriter.com.
• 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: 16th May is National Flash Fiction day and you can find some competitions (various dates) on nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/competitions.html.
• Flash Fiction: The Writing Competition is a short story competition hosted by Jeni Durlston-Powell. This writing contest offers writers the chance to win cash and publication, and is currently run quarterly (late Feb, late May, late Aug, late Nov). Short Stories up to 500 words. Titles to be limited to 10 words. Open theme and genre. Entry fee: £4. Prizes: £100, £75, £50. See http://www.writingcompetition.org.uk and http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/the-writing-competition-writing-competition for details.
• Flash Fiction: The Bridport Prize. Poems 42 lines max, short stories 5,000 words max, flash 250 words max. £15,000+ prize fund, closing date 31 May. See bridportprize.org.uk.
• Flash Fiction: Tethered by Letters’ Spring Flash Fiction Contest is “currently accepting flash fiction submissions of 55, 250, or 500 words in length. The flash fiction contest winner will be published in F(r)iction. Three finalists will be considered for subsequent quarterly journal publications or a TBL online monthly feature. Each finalist will also receive free professional edits on their submission. International submissions welcome.” Deadline: May 31st. Prize: $150 and publication in the quarterly journal. Entry Fee: $7 per entry OR $15 for three entries. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission. Contact Info: Joe Reinis, jreinis@tetheredbyletters.com.
• Flash Fiction / Short Stories: The Writer’s Notebook is a monthly, free to enter short story competition. Each month has a set theme, and each writer can submit up to 2 stories per month. A new theme opens on the 1st of each month, and the deadline for entries is the 28th of each month. Future themes are available to view on our webpage. The prize is publication of the short story in our Anthology at the end of the year, and an equal share of sale profits of said Anthology. It is an experimental idea for a free to enter writing competition, relying on social media to drive sales of the Anthology and increase the prize. Stories should be 400-1500 words. A short list of three stories will be published on our blog for our readers to vote for a winner. For more information please see http://thewritersnotebookgroup.blogspot.com.
• Flash fiction: An ongoing competition is the NAWG’s ‘100’ competition. The task is to write a 100-word story exactly (usually excluding the title) and when they have 100 stories in, the judge picks his / her favourite and awards £75 to the winner and £25 to the runner-up. Entry is £3 for the first story, £5.50 for two or £8 for three. Details on http://www.nawg.co.uk/3805.
• Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
• Mixed: Winchester Writers’ Conference has opened their mixed writing competitions (deadline 24th May). Details in their competitions brochure. £7 per entry if attending, £9 if not.
• Mixed: The Hourglass Literary Magazine Writing Contest has a 31st Maydeadline and runs three competitions: Best Short Story, Best Essay, and Best Poem. Awards: The winning entry in each category (short story, essay and poem) will receive US$1000 as prize money, apart from a symbolic artifact (clepsydra), digital stamp and diploma. The jury, comprising highly respected authors Sibelan Forrester, Jelena Lengold and John K. Cox has the right to give a special prize (US$ 500 for entry in each category). Ten Finalists in each category will be published in the first issue of the literary magazine. All published works will be financially compensated and finalists will be provided with one copy of the printed edition of the Hourglass Literary Magazine.  Deadline: 11:59, 31st May 2016 (US Central time). Entry Fee: $13.59, $20 for up to three pieces (except for poetry where up to three submissions are accepted for $13.59). Winning Entry Published? Yes. Accepts Simultaneous Submissions: Multiple submissions are allowed (as well as simultaneous submissions). Theme: There are no theme, or genre limitations and boundaries. Helpful Hints: “Manifesto” of the literary magazine can be found here – http://www.hourglassonline.org/about/ . Participants at any time may contact the editorial office via email: contest {at} hourglassonline.org. Names of finalists will be published on the Internet at: http://www.hourglassonline.org and/or the Hourglass Monthly Newsletter and also through our media sponsor (ELTA TV) at the official press conference scheduled for July 2016. Works can be sent in .doc, .docx, .rtf, .odt and .pdf format, with font size not exceeding 12 points. Contest is anonymous and will be blind judged. The submission page is http://hourglass.submittable.com.
• Mixed: The International Yeovil Literary Prize has a closing date of 31st May and there are three categories: THE NOVEL – Please send the synopsis with opening chapters (up to 15,000 words in total) : Prizes: 1st = £1,000; 2nd = £250; 3rd = £100. Fee £11. THE SHORT STORY – Up to a maximum of 2,000 words. Prizes: 1st = £500; 2nd = £200; 3rd = £100. Fee £6. POETRY – A poem with a maximum of 40 lines. Prizes: 1st = £500; 2nd = £200; 3rd = £100. Fee £6, two for £9, three for £11. The Yeovil Literary Prize can be entered online or by post. The judges are all professional writers and publishers. For details see the website (yeovilprize.co.uk) or write to: Yeovil Literary Prize, The Octagon Theatre, Hendford, Yeovil, BA20 1UX.
• Mixed: globalfeelgoodcompany.com/competition (opens May, closes 30th September – see ‘September’ for full details).
• Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
• Mixed (novels & 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.
• Non-fiction: another non-fiction competition is FBFT Sports Writing.
• Novels: Legend Press, the leading independent publisher in the UK has an annual bursary prize for writers called the Luke Bitmead Bursary. “The prize was set up in honour of Luke Bitmead. His debut novel was the first novel Legend Press published but sadly, after struggling with depression, Luke committed suicide. The award has been set up by his mother in partnership with us to support and encourage the work of struggling writers, and is the UK’s biggest prize for unpublished authors. This is an award that we are very proud to run and I am emailing you today to let you know about it in case any of your writers would be interested in entering. Submissions must be adult fiction, and only completed novels will be considered. Full guidelines can be found on our website. Closing: Submissions open 1st May until 1st August. Prizes: A publishing contract with Legend Press and a £2,500 cash bursary. Entry Fee: £10 per entry to support the prize.”
• Novels: Novel Rocket runs an annual Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile. Entries will be accepted in all genres beginning mid-January. The deadline for submission is different for genre categories according to the following schedule. In each case, entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on the 10th day of the month (April to September) listed on novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html. They also post a new writing-related article seven days a week, from author interviews to marketing discussions to articles about the craft of writing. NB. The entry fee is $45 so give this very careful consideration.
• Novels: Words With JAM is running a ‘First Page Competition’ where you can enter the first page of a finished novel, work in progress or page specifically written for the competition. Closing date 31st May. Prizes £500 / £100 / £50 with fee of £6 first entry, £4 per entry thereafter. See wordswithjam.co.uk/#/first-page-competition-2013/4573741026 for details.
• Playwriting: RealDeal Theatre is looking for 10-15 minute scripts for its new event, Popcorn Saturday!, short plays inspired by the movies, to be held late June to be held at Westminster Reference Library, off London’s Leicester Square. Entries to scripts@realdealtheatre.org.uk. A link straight to the entry details realdealtheatre.webs.com/scripts.htm.
• Playwriting: Lightship First Act Competition. Judges: Micheline Steinberg, Dave Whybrow, Anthony McCarten. Maximum 6,000 words, closing date 31 May. See lightshippublishing.co.uk/competition/lightship_first_act_competition.
• Playwriting: Pint-sized Plays. Scripts should be capable of being staged in a pub with a running time of 5-10 mins, closing date 31 May. See pintsizedplays.org.uk.
• Poetry: You are invited to enter the Annual Artists Embassy International Poetry Contest. Deadline: mid May. Cash Awards: First, Second & Thirds Prizes. For information and rules… http://www.dancingpoetry.com/dpfpoetrycontestrules.html.
• Poetry: Templar Poetry Pamphlet & Collection Awards closes for submissions on 7th May.
• Poetry: The Montreal International Poetry Prize has a top prize $20,000 CDN, single poem, max 40 lines. Closing date 15th May. See montrealprize.com.
• Poetry: The Welsh Poetry Competition. £4 entry per poem. Prizes: £400, £200, £100. The deadline is 26th May. Poems in English, 50 lines, unpublished. See welshpoetry.co.uk for entry forms and rules.
• Poetry: The second ‘Poems Please Me’ Poetry Competition has a deadline of 31st May. Entry is by subscription to the site and the example given is a ‘single’ at £12 which entitles you to three entries to the competition. See poemsplease.me/?page_id=118 for more details.
• Poetry: The fourth Battered Moons Poetry Competition is now open to all UK residents aged 18 or over and accepts poems on any topic and style of up to 40 lines. Main judge Alice Oswald and Cristina Newton will read all the poems. The 3 winners and 4 commended poets will be invited to read their poems at the Swindon Festival of Poetry early October. Winning and commended poems will appear in the Battered Moons pamphlet and website. First prize, £300; second, £150; third, £75. Entry fee: £3 each poem or £10 for 4. Closing date for entries is 31st May. Online and postal entries accepted. For further information and to enter, visit batteredmoons.com. Queries to Cristina Newton on cristina.ne.newton@gmail.com. Supported by Swindon Artswords, the Swindon Festival of Poetry, and Arts Council England.
• Poetry: David Burland International Poetry Prize – in either French or English – closing date 31st May, 1st prize £200 + website publication. See davidburlandpoetryprize.com.
• Poetry: The Bridport Prize. Poems 42 lines max, short stories 5,000 words max, flash 250 words max. £15,000+ prize fund, closing date 31st May. See bridportprize.org.uk.
• Poetry: The Frogmore Poetry Prize has been annual since 1987. You can win 200 guineas and 2-year sub to The Frogmore Papers. Max 40 lines, closing date 31st May. See frogmorepress.co.uk.
• Poetry: Tethered by Letters’ Spring Poetry Contest is “currently accepting poetry submissions of all genres and styles—from traditional form to free verse. Length requirements are no more than three pages per poem, single-spaced with double spacing between stanzas. The poetry contest winner will be published in F(r)iction. Three finalists will be considered for subsequent quarterly journal publications or a TBL online monthly poetry feature. Each finalist will also receive free professional edits on their submission. International submissions welcome.” Deadline: May 31st. Prize: $150 and publication in the quarterly journal. Entry Fee: $7 per entry OR $15 for three entries. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission. Contact Info: Joe Reinis, jreinis@tetheredbyletters.com.
• Poetry: The Wigtown Poetry Competition has a 29th May deadline. First Prize: Main Prize £1,500. Runner-up £400. Gaelic Prize £250. Scots Prize £250*. Eight additional prizes of £25 each. See the website for fee structure (first poem £6.50, less per poem for multiple entries). Winners will be invited to read their poems at the Wigtown Book Festival (late September to early October).  Winning poems will be published on the Festival website. For further details, rules and entry form, visit: wigtownbookfestival.com/poetrycomp. Also www.facebook.com/WigtownPoetryComp or telephone 01988 402036. * “Scotland’s International Poetry Prize, Open to All”
• 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: Other poetry competitions include Bridport Prize (also shorts / flash), Partners, Templar Poetry Pamphlet & Collection Awards, Writing Magazine (WM: subscriber-only theme: poetry for children), Stephen Spender.
• Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
• Scriptwriting: Mini Operas scriptwriting competition opens March closes May.
• Scriptwriting: The 10th Annual Screenwriting Challenge is a competition open to screenwriters around the world. There are 3 rounds of competition. In the 1st Round (June), writers are placed randomly in heats and are assigned a genre, subject, and character assignment (see examples of past assignments here). Writers have 8 days to write an original short screenplay no longer than 12 pages. The judges choose a top 5 in each heat to advance to the 2nd Round (July) where writers receive new assignments, only this time they have just 3 days to write an 8 page (maximum) short screenplay. Judges choose a top 25 from the 2nd Round to advance to the 3rd and final round of the competition where writers are challenged to write a 5 page (maximum) screenplay in just 24 hours (August). It’s easy to register.  First, download and read the Official Rules and Participation Agreement.  Once you have read, understood, and agree to the terms, you are ready to register by clicking here.  The entry fee is USD $39* until the Early Entry Deadline of mid-May and USD $49* until the Final Entry Deadline of mid-June.
• Short Stories: Tethered by Letters’ Spring Short Story Contest is “currently accepting short stories of any genre ranging from 1,000 to 7,500 words. The short story contest winner will be published in F(r)iction. Five finalists will be considered for subsequent journal publications or a TBL online monthly feature. Each finalist will also receive free professional edits on their submission. International submissions welcome.” Deadline: May 31st. Prize: $500 and publication in the quarterly journal. Entry Fee: $15 per entry. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission. Contact Info: Joe Reinis, jreinis@tetheredbyletters.com.
• 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: Curry Mallet History Festival Short Story Competition judge is novelist Amelia Carr, max 2500 words with the title The Reunion or The Journey or The Letter, 1st prize £100, closing date 17 May. See currymallet.org/short-story-competition.
• Short stories: The Bridport Prize. Poems 42 lines max, short stories 5,000 words max, flash 250 words max. £15,000+ prize fund, closing date 31 May. See bridportprize.org.uk.
• Short stories: The Fiction Desk Ghost Story Competition welcomes ghost stories from 2,000 – 5,000 words. Closing date: 31st May. (Annual competition). Prizes: First prize £500, second prize £100. Entry fee:  £6 for one story; £9 for two stories submitted together. For more details, see: thefictiondesk.com/submissions/ghost-story-competition.php.
• Short stories: Glimmer Train (different category each month), The Lorian Hemingway, Writing Magazine, Biscuit Publishing.
• Short stories: Hayley Sherman also 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: Saga is running a ghost short story competition. Max 3,000 words. Deadline: 31st May.
• Short stories: The New Writer Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launches every April. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this blog’s Competitions page.

Writing competitions: April 2016 deadlines

Hello everyone. If you’re looking to enter a writing competition (or even if you weren’t), there are some listed below, taken from this blog’s Competitions page. There are also regular (weekly, monthly etc) competition on that page so do take a look at those.

And if you’d like some advice on entering competitions, take a look at my online creative writing courses page for my ‘Entering Writing Competitions’… just £1 (using a coupon code) until 3rd April!

Now, here are the competitions that finish next month. Most competitions roll over from year to year but if you find any aren’t running this year, please leave a comment in the box below. Thank you.

APRIL

• Children’s: puffindigitalprize.co.uk.
• Children’s: Small but Mighty Writers runs free-to-enter writing competitions for authors aged 7-11 and 12-15, as well as being a ‘creative writing community for young writers’. Competitions currently close 1st January, 1st April, 1st July, and 1st October. The results will be released on the 14th of each of those months. 1st prize: A bundle of writing goodies and their entry published on their website. Two runners up: £5 book vouchers.
• Flash Fiction: I now run a free monthly 100-word competition (different theme each month – month-end deadline – you could win my up to three of my Online Courses each month) and 500-word challenge (where you challenge me to write a story, giving me the prompts – you could win up to 5,000-word free editing – deadline 15th of the month).
• 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: 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: The New Writer Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launches every April. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• Flash Fiction / Short Stories: The Writer’s Notebook is a monthly, free to enter short story competition. Each month has a set theme, and each writer can submit up to 2 stories per month. A new theme opens on the 1st of each month, and the deadline for entries is the 28th of each month. Future themes are available to view on our webpage. The prize is publication of the short story in our Anthology at the end of the year, and an equal share of sale profits of said Anthology. It is an experimental idea for a free to enter writing competition, relying on social media to drive sales of the Anthology and increase the prize. Stories should be 400-1500 words. A short list of three stories will be published on our blog for our readers to vote for a winner. For more information please see http://thewritersnotebookgroup.blogspot.com.
• Flash fiction: An ongoing competition is the NAWG’s ‘100’ competition. The task is to write a 100-word story exactly (usually excluding the title) and when they have 100 stories in, the judge picks his / her favourite and awards £75 to the winner and £25 to the runner-up. Entry is £3 for the first story, £5.50 for two or £8 for three. Details on http://www.nawg.co.uk/3805.
• Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
• Mixed: Winchester Writers’ Conference has opened their mixed writing competitions (deadline late May). Details in their competitions brochure. £7 per entry if attending, £9 if not.
• Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
• Mixed (novels & 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.
• Non-fiction: Writer’s Drawer is running a travel-writing competition ending mid April.
• Novels: Novel Rocket runs an annual Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile. Entries will be accepted in all genres beginning mid-January. The deadline for submission is different for genre categories according to the following schedule. In each case, entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on the 10th day of the month (April to September) listed on novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html. They also post a new writing-related article seven days a week, from author interviews to marketing discussions to articles about the craft of writing. NB. The entry fee is $45 so give this very careful consideration.
• Novels / Non-Fiction: Rubery Book Award First Prize is £1,000 (approx US$1,590 / €1,277) and the winning book is guaranteed to be read by a top London literary agent, plus a minimum of the three category winners each winning £100 (approx $159 / €127). Entry fee details and entry form all on the website: www.ruberybookaward.com. Deadline 30th April.
• Playwriting: The King’s Cross Award For New Writing. Up to two full-length plays may be entered per writer, unpublished and unperformed scripts only. £5,000 prize. Closing date 30 April. thecourtyard.org.uk/content/25/writers-group.
• Poetry: Poetry-Next-The-Sea Open Competition. Judge Heidi Williamson, max 40 lines, £100 first prize, closing date 6 April. poetry-next-the-sea.com/index.html.
• Poetry: UK’S First Bug Poetry Competition marking Buglife’s tenth year as the only conservation charity in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates, closing date 8 April.
• Poetry: Buxton Poetry Competition History and Heritage theme, all ages, judge Philip Wells, 40 lines max, closing date 8 April. derby.ac.uk/buxtonpoetrycompetition.
• 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: other poetry competitions include Nonsense Poetry & Flash Fiction, Ver, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: horror), poetrypf.co.uk, swconline.co.uk.
• Poetry & Short stories: Deddington Writers’ Group Open Writing Competition Short Story or Poem. Competition information and entry forms available from website end January or send SAE to: 7, The Daedings, Deddington, OX15 ORT. 1st prize: £100, 2nd: £50,  3rd: £25, awarded in both categories. Closing date 13 April. See deddington.org.uk/community/arts/writing or deddingtonfestival.org.uk.
• Poetry: The Royal Berkshire Poetry Competition open to all, 40 lines max, 1st prize £200, closing date 14 April. glowmagazine.me/poetry-competition.
• Poetry: Poetry on the Lake International Poetry Competition has a theme of ‘metal’. Top prizes of €200, judges include Anne-Marie Fyfe, closing date 22 April. See poetryonthelake.org.
• Poetry: Ver Poets Open Competition. 1st prize £600. 30 lines max, closing date 30 April. See verpoets.org.uk/news/competitions.
• Poetry: Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition. Prizes: £600, £250, £100. £100: The Ware Sonnet Prize. Anthology publication for winners and shortlisted poets (£3.50 pre-ordered). Closing date 30 April. Informal prize-giving ceremony at Ware Arts Centre in July. Fee: £4;  4 poems for £12, then £3 per poem (in the same submission). Length:  up to 50 lines. Sole judge: Susan Utting. Include contact sheet with usual details. Download flyer from website, or send SAE: The Competition Secretary, Ware Poets Competition, 21 Trinity Road, Ware, Herts. SG12 7DB or email: warepoets_competition@hotmail.co.uk and see poetrypf.co.uk/images/compware13.pdf.
• Poetry: Southport Writers’ Circle International Poetry Competition. First Prize £150, Second Prize £75, Third Prize £25 A maximum of 40 lines per poem is allowed. Closing date 30 April. See swconline.co.uk/n1/?cat=5.
• Poetry: The New Writer Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launches every April. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
• Screenwriting: oscars.org/awards/nicholl/apply.html is a screenwriting competition with a late Aprildeadline.
• Script: The Ticket to Write Beatles-themed Festival playwriting contest is now open for entries for the fourth year. “We are currently exploring several venues and slots in Liverpool to perform the selected plays.
  As usual the plays can be about the people, stories inspired by songs and song-titles or any genuine connection with The Beatles. The script should be 40 – 45 minutes long and able to be performed by a maximum of four actors. More characters are allowed if it is practical to multi-role. The winner gets a tasty £150 and it costs only £10 to enter. Entries must be in by early April. All plays will be assessed anonymously by a theatre professional and three will go forward to be performed. Professional judges and the audience vote will count towards the final result. All entries will receive a considered written critique from the assessor who will receive all of the £10 entry fee. A windfall has enabled us to fund the prize money.
  Full details are under ‘How To Enter’ on our website acedrama.co.uk.”
• Scriptwriting: The Nick Darke Award is open to all writers – stage play screenplay or radio play – prize fund £6,000. Closing date 29 April. falmouth.ac.uk/nickdarkeaward.
• Short stories: William Trevor / Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Competition 1st prize €3,000, closing date 5 April. mitchelstownlit.com/index.html.
• Short stories & Poetry: Deddington Writers’ Group Open Writing Competition, Short Story or Poem. Competition information and entry forms available from website end January or send SAE to: 7, The Daedings, Deddington, OX15 ORT. 1st prize: £100, 2nd: £50,  3rd: £25, awarded in both categories. Closing date 13 April. See deddington.org.uk/community/arts/writing or deddingtonfestival.org.uk.
• Short stories: The Limnisa Short Story Competition 2016 is an international contest open worldwide and is for short stories on any subject up to 3,000 words. Closing: April 15, 2016. 1st Prize: One week Writers’ Retreat or Workshop in 2016 or 2017 at Limnisa, our seaside location near Agios Georgios, Methana, Greece: http://www.limnisa.com. All inclusive: Full board, 7 nights accommodation in single room, optional daily yoga sessions, literary evening, use of all Limnisa facilities: beach, bikes, international library etc. OR five online sessions of personal tutoring. 2nd and 3rd Prize: 50 % discount on the Writers’ Retreat or Workshop (see above). OR a free online session of personal tutoring or feedback on written work. 2 Runners up: 25% discount on the Writers’ Retreat or Workshop (see above). Questions regarding entries should be directed to: entries@limnisa.com. Entry Fee: FREE. Please like and share our Facebook page. Competition Page: http://www.limnisa.com/#!competitions/mw0t7.
• 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: The Fowey Festival of Words and Music (formerly the Daphne du Maurier Festival) has announced the launch of the Short Story Competition. First Prize is £100 and Runner-up £75. Entry is £6.00 and entry form and full details at foweyfestival.com/the-du-maurier-festival-society-short-story-competition. The closing date is 19th April.
• Short stories: Glimmer Train (different category each month), The Moth-Altun Short Story Prize, Nonsense Poetry & Flash Fiction, Nottingham Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: horror / subscriber-only theme: food), francobritishcouncil.org.uk, west-linton.org.uk/content/pentlands-writers-group. Also see Deddington in ‘Poetry…’ above.
• 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: Young Writers’ Competition. The annual Young Writers’ Competition at Jane Austen’s House Museum is entering its fourth year and is now open for entries. Annalie Talent, Education Officer said ‘Next year is the 200th anniversary of publication of Pride and Prejudice and so we have made the theme of the competition First Impressions which was the original title of Jane’s best-loved novel.’ Entries should be short stories of 300-400 words and entrants can interpret the theme in any way they want. Entry is open to all UK school pupils in school years 7-11. There are two categories: years 7 and 8 and years 9, 10 & 11. The competition will be judged by Professor Kathryn Sutherland of St Anne’s College Oxford and the Museum’s previous Writer-in-Residence, Rebecca Smith. Closing date 26 April. See jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk for details.
• Short stories: first Annual Sara Park Memorial Short Story Competition. Theme Journeying, max 2000 words, closing date 30 April. redsquirrelpress.com/SquirrelCOMP.html.
• Short stories: The James Plunkett Short Story Award for new and emerging writing talent, open to all writing in English who have not had a short story collection published. 1st prize €2,000, max 3000 words. Next closing date 30 April. See ireland-writers.com/index.htm.
• Short stories: The Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all writers internationally over 16 years of age. Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4,000 words (There is no minimum). Entry fee £8 per story. Closing date 30 April. 1st prize £1,000. Second placed £700. Third £400. The next 17 runners up will receive £100 each. All 20 shortlisted will have their stories published in the next Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology and be invited to the prize-giving (in Bristol, South West England) in October. See bristolprize.co.uk.
• Short stories: Massacre Magazine runs a quarterly horror 250-word max short story competition. Deadlines end April, July, October, January. “We will pick one winner who will receive a £15/$20 Amazon voucher and have their story published in the summer issue of Massacre Magazine. Our decision is final, any moaners will be mangled.” 🙂
• Short stories: The New Writer Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launches every April. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of the Competitions page.