Competitions

Below is a list of some writing competitions by closing date then by regularity, followed by competition websites. If you find any of the information out of date, I’d be very grateful if you would email me. I would always recommend you checking for the current guidelines before writing something to suit in case anything has changed since posting on this page.

If you would like your competition listed please email me the details as per the format below (one line per competition with website and email links either embedded and / or separate) ideally ensuring that it starts with the type of competition it is and highlighting the month it closes. Thank you.

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JANUARY

Children’s: Frances Lincoln.
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 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 or free editing!).
Flash Fiction: Fiction Desk, Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
Flash Fiction: The Fiction Desk Annual Flash Fiction Competition has a deadline of 31 January. The first prize is £200, with four runner-up prizes of £25. Stories 250 to 1,000 words. The entry fee is £3 for one story, or £7.50 for three stories submitted together. Full details and online entry forms can be found at http://www.thefictiondesk.com/submissions/flash-fiction-competition.php.
Flash Fiction: Each week on theironwriter.com, four writers agree to compose a five hundred word story involving the same four elements. Please remember to give your story a title. The stories can be in any genre except erotica. The writers will not know what the four elements are prior to committing to the challenge. There is a four-day time limit to complete the story. I email the elements early Thursday morning, my time. The story is due at midnight, Sunday, your time. Each author retains full and complete copyright of their story submitted to The Iron Writer for this competition. However, it is understood each story will remain on this website indefinitely. The Iron Writer will not publish any submission outside this website without express permission from the author. So, if you are up to the challenge, please email me at HERE and we can schedule when you are willing to participate. Please include your main blog or website. I will link your story to your site. You may participate as often as you want.
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 / 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: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (formerly the Whidbey Writing Competition). This contest from Whidbey Writers Workshop in the USA is open worldwide and is for fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and writing for children or young adults. Up to 1,000 words. I’m told they have a rather strange way of selecting a winner for this one. The judge reads submissions until he or she finds one that ‘knocks his/her socks off’. Never mind that the next one might have divested the judge of his/her pants and woolly vest, the remaining entries are tossed aside without so much as a glance. However, you can submit you entry again if it isn’t selected (try to get it in early, as entries are read in order of submission).  Closing: Monthly.  Prize: $50.  Entry Fee: Free to enter.  Comp Page: whidbeystudents.com/student-choice-contest.
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: Bronte Society Creative Competition invites you to write a poem, short story or illustrate a scene from a Brontë novel. Judges Margaret Drabble, Simon Armitage, Victoria Brookland. 3 x £500 first prizes, deadline 31 January. See bronte.org.uk/bronte-society/creative-competition.
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (formerly the Whidbey Writing Competition) is a contest from Whidbey Writers Workshop in the USA is open to US writers only for fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and writing for children or young adults. Up to 1,000 words. They have a rather unusual way of selecting a winner for this one: the judge reads the submissions until he or she finds one that ‘knocks his / her socks off’. So, do you have what it takes to not only knock his / her socks off, but also his / her pants and woolly vest?  Closing: Monthly.  Prize: $50 (providing there has been a sock-knocking entry).  Free to enter.  Comp Page: whidbeystudents.com/student-choice-contest. Once you win, that’s it; you can’t enter again but they recommend submitting to the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts Soundings Review instead.
Non-fiction: Nature writing essays welcomed for the Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. The deadline is early January.
Novel: Lightship First Novel Prize: Have you written a literary or genre novel? Enter the beginning of it into Lightship’s First Novel Prize for a chance to win a publishing contract with Alma Books 1st prize £1,000 closing date 31st January.
Novel: The Word of Mouth Prize will focus on novels that people just can’t stop talking about. We’re looking for fiction that is brilliantly written but accessible, has depth but isn’t dense and is innovative but identifiable. We’d love to find novels with that must-read quality, which would be perfect for book club discussions. These are the kind of books that can become a word of mouth phenomenon, and which Conville & Walsh are known for representing. Deadline 31st January. Prize £1,000. See http://www.convilleandwalsh.com/index.php/literary/prize, or email wordofmouth@convilleandwalsh.com for details.
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.
Novels: Other novel competitions include booklinethinker.com/hookline.
Plays: Bruntwood (OPENS 31st January).
Plays: The Drama Wales One-Act Play was ON HOLD – I’ll let you know if this changes.
Plays: The Long Play is a competition for writers living in the East Midlands, UK. To enter please refer to the guidelines below, download an application form and send it to info@newperspectives.co.uk with ‘LONG PLAY’ in the subject line’ or return it by post to ‘Long Play’, New Perspectives, Park Lane Business Centre, Park Lane, Nottingham, NG6 0DW. The deadline for submissions is usually early January. More details on www.newperspectives.co.uk.
Poetry: Benchmark writing competition is a national writing competition which is run as a fundraiser for Willow Burn Hospice in County Durham. Earlier this year Rachel Cochrane wrote and produced an online radio drama ‘Benchmark’ which was inspired by ‘In Loving Memory’ plaques on benches. Following on from this, was launched the ‘Benchmark’ writing competition with the first prize of a good quality garden bench. They welcome both prose and poetry. Entry fee £5 with 40% going to the hospice. Deadline: mid January. Further information from: http://www.rachelcochrane.com/about-benchmark-writing-comp.
Poetry: Hungry Hill Writing’s poetry competition has a deadline for entries of early February. More details from www.hungryhillwriting.com.
Poetry: Kent & Sussex Poetry Society Open Poetry Competition has a First Prize: £1000, 2nd: £300, 3rd: £100, 4th: 4 x £50. Entry fee: £5 per poem. 3 or more poems: £4 each. Closing date: 31st January. Entries to: The Competition Organiser, 13 Ruscombe Close, Tunbridge Wells TN4 0SG. Put name and address on separate sheet – not on poem or enter online and pay by Paypal. For more details, go to: kentandsussexpoetry.com.
Poetry: other poetry competitions include Haiku Calendar, Hippocrates, Leaf Press, Strokestown, Writing / Writers’ News magazines (monthly), haikusoc.ndo.co.uk, slipstream-poets.co.uk, bevlit.org.
Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Short stories: Benchmark writing competition is a national writing competition which is run as a fundraiser for Willow Burn Hospice in County Durham. Earlier this year Rachel Cochrane wrote and produced an online radio drama ‘Benchmark’ which was inspired by ‘In Loving Memory’ plaques on benches. Following on from this, was launched the ‘Benchmark’ writing competition with the first prize of a good quality garden bench. They welcome both prose and poetry. Entry fee £5 with 40% going to the hospice. Deadline: mid January. Further information from: http://www.rachelcochrane.com/about-benchmark-writing-comp.
Short stories: Home-Start Bridgwater Short Story Prize has a January deadline.
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
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: 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: Writer Selection has a 31st January deadline and 200-2000 word count. Prizes £150, £50, £25. Entry is free and all entrants receive a year’s membership (normally £10).
Short stories: The James White Award seeks science fiction stories from non-professional authors. Writers have the opportunity to win cash and publication in a leading UK sci-fi magazine. Open to non-professional authors only (see the website for what classifies a professional author). Stories up to 6,000 words. For science fiction stories. Broad interpretations of the genre are welcome. One entry per author. No fan fiction. International writers welcome. Original and unpublished works only. Stories cannot have been previously entered into the James White Award in any other year. Deadline: 31st January. Free entry. Prize: £200 and publication in Interzone, the UK’s leading science fiction magazine. See http://www.jameswhiteaward.com/rules for details.
Short stories: Other competitions include Bury St Edmunds, Chudleigh, Fiction Desk, Glimmer Train (different category each month), Home-Start Bridgewater, Mslexia, National Galleries Scotland, Nottingham Writers’ Club, Writing / Writers’ News magazines (monthly), flair4words.co.uk/news.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

FEBRUARY

Children’s: Kelpies Prize.
Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
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 / Short Stories: Inkitt.com is a website where aspiring authors release their most brilliant stories to watch their first steps and first words and first huge gusts of flame pouring from their gullets. Starting from early February, they run free competitions with all the entries being posted on their site.
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: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
Mixed: sumlitsem.org, scpsw.co.uk, gracedieuwriterscircle.co.uk.
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
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.
Novels: Started in 2014, the Bath Novel Award has a closing date of 28 February and a top prize of £1,000. They’re also on Twitter.
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. NB. The entry fee is $45 so give this very careful consideration.
Novels: other competitions include Acorn Independent Press Crime Novel, Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger.
Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
Poetry: Other poetry competitions include Hungry Hill Writers, Norwich Writers’ Circle Annual Open, Straid Collection Award, Writing / Writers’ News magazines, templarpoetry.co.uk/awards, wardwoodpublishing.co.uk (Lumen/Camden Poetry Comp).
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Script: The Imison Award and comedy.co.uk/sitcom_mission.
Short stories: The Annual Atlantis Short Story Contest: Cash prizes ($450, first prize is $300) and in-depth feedback await unpublished writers. No theme or genre restrictions. Maximum 2,500 words. Entry fee: starts from $10 (depends on level of feedback wanted when the story does not place) Regular deadline: February 25th. Early Bird: December 18th (discounted entry fee), Info: http://www.atlantis-shortstorycontest.com. Contact e-mail: inquiry@atlantis-shortstorycontest.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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
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: BBC, Cremona, Emerald Flash Fiction, Glimmer Train (different category each month), and Writing Magazine.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

MARCH

Children’s: PrintExpress.co.uk is running a free children’s short story competition. They say, “Our competition has no entry fee, is open to those between 5 and 13 (we have two age brackets – 5 to 9, and 10 to 13) and the winner will receive £50 in book tokens, and £175 in book tokens for their school. Here are the entry details: – Stories should be no more than 500 words; – Stories must be an original piece of fiction; – The deadline is midnight on March 31st, 2017; – Stories can only be entered by a parent, teacher or guardian on behalf of a child; The full rules and details are here: http://design.printexpress.co.uk/the-print-express-childrens-short-story-competition.”
Children’s: there is also the Academy of Children’s Writers, and Crystal Magazine.
Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
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: Flashbang is now open to entries: flashbangcontest.wordpress.com. Sponsored by CrimeFest. £2 entry fee. 150 words maximum. Deadline 1st March. First prize is two passes to CrimeFest. Shortlisted and winning stories published online. Full details are here.
Flash Fiction: Erewash has a free flash fiction competition. Deadline noon (UK time) 21st March. Full details here.
Flash Fiction: The Berkhampstead Writing Competition has a 31st March deadline.
Flash Fiction: The Flash 500 Fiction Competition, established 2009, is a quarterly open-themed competition for fiction up to 500 words has closing dates of 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. Entry fee: £5 for one story, £8 for two stories. Prizes: £300 plus publication in Words with JAM, £100 and £50.
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 17(!) mixed writing competitions (deadline 24th May). Details in their competitions brochure. £7 per entry if attending, £9 if not.
Mixed: Words for the Wounded (W4W) is a new charity that raises money via writing prizes and donations for the rehabilitation of wounded servicemen and women. All proceeds will be passed to projects such as Battle Back, funded by Help for Heroes, which uses sports rehabilitation to help wounded service personnel gain independence and confidence. W4W launches its writing prizes on Armistice Day, November 11, and is calling for all non-writers, aspiring, and experienced writers to enter. Entries can be up to 400 words, written in poetry or prose, fiction or life story tale. Winners will receive a small cash prize and their entries will be published in the monthly writers’ magazine Writers’ Forum (writers-forum/com). Entry costs £4.50 and the deadline is March 11, winners will be announced on 6 June (D Day). They are also running an Independent Author Book Award for fiction or memoir over 45,000 words. For more information on these awards, see wordsforthewounded.co.uk or follow them on Twitter @Words_4_Wounded.
Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
Mixed: helenwhittaker.net/phpBB2 (shorts & poetry).
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.
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 31st March.
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: other March-deadline competitions include Dundee International Book Prize and The Next Big Author.
Playwriting: Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama. and sohotheatre.com (Verity Bargate Award).
Playwriting: Cambridge Theatre Challenge: Would you like to write a one act play for the stage and enter it in a competition where short listed plays are given full performance, judged by the audience, considered for publication and given a written assessment by a publishing company? The winning playwright will also receive a cash prize of £200. Every play will be read in its entirety by a minimum of two judges and entrants will receive two lots of feedback on request, at no extra charge! A shortlist of up to ten plays will be drawn up and posted on the Sky Blue website. Local actors and a production team will be assembled by professional directors to rehearse the plays for performance at the Junction Theatre in Cambridge early July where the audience will vote for the winner. Closing date for submissions is 30th March. Plays must be submitted on line and full details can be found on our website skybluetheatre.com/newplaywriting.php.
Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
Poetry: The Flash 500 Humour Verse Competition, established in 2010, welcomes any form of humour verse will be accepted, from a limerick to a poem of 32 lines. This is also a quarterly competition with closing dates of 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. Entry fee: £3 for the first poem, £2.50 for each poem thereafter. Prizes: £150 plus publication in Words with JAM, £100 and £50.
Poetry: The Neil Gunn Writing Competition is open for entries until early March. There are two sections open to writers worldwide – short story and poetry. This year there is a choice of three themes, all of which are quotes from Neil Gunn’s writing: · “For love is the creator and cruelty is that which destroys” · “The secret loveliness and laughter in things” · “The extra magic of distance” Full details of the competition including the entry rules and forms can be found at www.highlifehighland.com/neilgunn.
Poetry: other poetry competitions include Cardiff International, Fish Prize for Poetry, Literature Wales, MAG, Michael Marks (pamphlets), Northern Writers’ Awards, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: creative acrostic mini), davidburlandpoetryprize.com, treehousepress.co.uk (Three-in-One), towerpoetry.org.uk, firebirdpoetry.com, scottishbooktrust.com/familylegends.
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Scripts: euroscript.co.uk.
Short stories: The Neil Gunn Writing Competition ends early March. There are two sections open to writers worldwide – short story and poetry. This year there is a choice of three themes, all of which are quotes from Neil Gunn’s writing: · “For love is the creator and cruelty is that which destroys” · “The secret loveliness and laughter in things” · “The extra magic of distance” Full details of the competition including the entry rules and forms can be found at www.highlifehighland.com/neilgunn.
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
Short stories: Mslexia Women’s Short Story Competition. 1st prize £2,000. Closing date: mid-March. mslexia.co.uk/whatson/msbusiness/scomp_active.php.
Short stories: Graffiti Magazine Short Story Competition has a closing date 30 March. Entries must be in English and be the writer’s own unpublished work. They must not be on offer for publication or entered in any other current competition
. Maximum length 1,500 words. Each piece of work, with its title, must be in clear type on one side of A4 sheet(s). The name and address of the writer and the titles of all entries should be typed on a separate sheet of A4 paper. The prize-winner will be notified by post, if SAE provided, or by email if email address is provided. Entries are only accepted by post. Please keep a copy of your work, as entries will not be returned. The fee is £3 per story. Cheques/Postal Orders in sterling only, should be made payable to: Catchword Writing Group. All entries that arrive on time will be considered by the adjudicator, whose decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into concerning the result. Competitors wishing to be informed of the results should enclose an SAE marked ‘Results’ or provide an email address. Graffiti Magazine Writing Competition, c/o 33 Sandford Leaze, Avening, Gloucestershire GL8 8PB. Prize: £50. The winning entry and short listed stories will be published in Graffiti.

For more information / to subscribe to the magazine, email: graffiti.magazine@yahoo.co.uk.
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: Thresholds International Short Story Forum Feature Writing Competition. Free to enter, international, max 1500 words, 1st prize £500, closing date 27 March.
Short stories: The Bath Short Story Award opened for entries in October. This new international competition welcomes stories of up to 2,200 words on any theme or subject from published or unpublished writers. Prizes are as follows: 1st £500, 2nd £100, 3rd £50, and a local prize of £50. The competition closes March 30th. For further details see bathshortstoryaward.co.uk.
Short stories: Writers’ Village runs a quarterly short story competition which attracts entrants worldwide. Click here for the rules… and every entrant receives invaluable critique! Their spring deadline is 31st March.
Short stories: The Yellow Room Spring Short Story Competition has a max 1,000 words, any theme, first prize £100, closing date 31 March.
Short stories: Stringybark Erotic Short Fiction Award. International, max 1800 words. Closing date 31 March. Find out more about the award here.
Short stories: Lightship One-page Short Story Competition. Max 300 words. Closing date 31 March.
Short stories: Exeter Writers Short Story Competition. The first prize is £500, 2nd and 3rd are £250 and £100. There is also an additional prize of £100 for a writer living in Devon. Stories can be in any genre except for children, they can be up to 3,000 words and the entry fee is £5 per story. The closing date is 31st March. Rules/entry form: exeterwriters.org.uk or you can send a stamped self-addressed envelope (SAE) to Competition, 4 Albion Place, Exeter EX4 6LH.
Short stories: Short Fiction, The Visual Literary Journal. Annual Short Story Competition 1st prize £500 plus publication, max 5,000 words. Closing date 31 March.
Short stories: The Moth Magazine Short Story Prize. Judge Martina Evans, 1st prize €1,000 + publication, closing date 31 March.
Short stories: One of the UK’s largest and oldest writing groups, West Sussex Writers, is running its second national short story competition. With an open theme, generous word count and final judge, Pam Weaver. West Sussex Writers hopes to attract the cream of the UK’s short story writers. Max 3000 words. Closing date 31 March. 1st prize £200; 2nd prize £75; 3rd prize £50.
Short stories: Five Stop Story runs a quarterly short story competition (end March / June / September / December). Membership to the site is £25 but you get to enter up to five stories in each competition. Further details at fivestopstory.com/write.
Short stories: Other March short story competitions include Calderdale, Chapter One Romantic, Dark Tales, Fish Prize for Flash Fiction, Glimmer Train (different category each month), Meridian Writing, Mslexia, Northern Writers’ Awards, Rider Haggard, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all open: 750-words max / subscriber-only theme: last line ‘Out she walked with a spring in her step.’), and Wyvern.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

APRIL

Blogging: My Dream Blog Writing Contest is a contest for those who want to blog or already do. Take a look the contest page for more details. Deadline 20th 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.
Essays: see The Hourglass Literary Magazine Writing Contest in ‘Mixed’ below.
Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
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 Hourglass Literary Magazine Writing Contest has a 30th April deadline. (11.59pm US Central time). The fee is $15 for submitting up to three pieces to the Best Short Story and Best Essay categories, or $15 for three pieces in the Poetry category. Details and submit via https://hourglass.submittable.com. To get a feel for the competition, you can view the previous competitions (including the results) at https://hourglassonline.org/pastcontest. And there are two email points of contact: contest@hourglassonline.org or editors@hourglassonline.org.
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.
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: 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: see The Hourglass Literary Magazine Writing Contest in ‘Mixed’ above.
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 April deadline.
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 is an international contest open worldwide and is for short stories on any subject up to 3,000 words. Closing: April 15. 1st Prize: One week Writers’ Retreat or Workshop at Limnisa, their 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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: 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 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 fifth 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: see The Hourglass Literary Magazine Writing Contest in ‘Mixed’ above.
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: http://www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk is the home of the Exeter Story Prize which invites stories up to 10,000 words (no minimum), closing 30th April.
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 this page.

MAY

Children’s: bookweek.ca/information-artists
Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
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: Erewash has a 1,000 words maximum with free mini-crit feedback for all entrants. First Prize £50, Second Prize £25. Closing date: 2nd May.
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: 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.
Memoir: Lightship Short Memoir Contest. Tell your own story, or an episode of it. 1st prize £1,000, judge Rachel Cusk. Closing date 1 May. lightshippublishing.co.uk/competition/the_lightship_short_memoir_contest.
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: 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 May deadline 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 (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. 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: 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: 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: Email received from The Pen Company.co.uk: With the start of Spring fast approaching, The Pen Company have launched a competition to win a Graf von Faber-Castell Guilloche Fountain Pen in the colour of your choice. All the details to enter the competition can be found here: thepencompany.com/blog/competitions/spring-poetry-competition (deadline 1st May). We look forward to seeing your entry. Take care, Anna, Marketing Assistant, The Pen Company.
Poetry: You are invited to enter the 22nd 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: The Poetry London Competition is in its 14th year. Judge Pascale Petit. 1st Prize £1000, max 80 lines. Closing date 1 May. See poetrylondon.co.uk/competition.
The Poetry Box International Dark & Horror Poetry Silver Cup Trophy Award – Poetry Competition – Deadline: 1 May: The Poem/s Must Be Dark, Horror, Gothic, Gothic-Horror, Fantasy or Satire-Themed. Prizes: First Prize Winner – the elegant, generously-sized and engraved ‘The Poetry Box International Dark & Horror Poetry Silver Cup Trophy’ and the decorative ‘Winner’ Award-Winning Certificate. 2nd and 3rd Place Finalists – will receive decorative Award-Winning Certificates and Prize Cheques of £50 and £30 each respectively. The ‘Judge’s Special Commendation Award’ winning Entries will receive decorative ‘Judge’s Special Commendation Award’ Certificates and ‘Highly Commended Award’ winning Entries will receive decorative ‘Highly Commended Award’ Certificates. ALL Prize Winners and Finalists will receive a copy of the Special ‘Winners & Finalists’ Edition of ’The Poetry Box Dark & Horror Poetry Magazine Monthly’ which will include their published Winning Entry/ies. Entry Fees: GBP £5 for 1 Poem – GBP £10 for 3 Poems – GBP £14 for 4 Poems, up to a maximum of 4 Poems per Entrant. Entry Fees are Payable By Personal Cheque Drawn Against a British Bank Only to: LK Robinson – or – via Paypal to Account: NLKROBINS@aol.com. Entry Form available via The Poetry Box website ThePoetryBox.co.uk. Postal Entries, Entry Forms and Enquiries to The Poetry Box Magazine and Studio Address: The Poetry Box, ‘Ramshackles’ 2 Downview, Nyewood, Petersfield, Hampshire GU31 5JA, England. Tel: 01730 821030 Email: FairyTaleRhymes@aol.com.
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
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 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: 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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: 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 31st May. See bridportprize.org.uk.
Short stories: Michael Terence Publishing (MTP) Deadline 31st May, maximum word count 3,000. Early bird entry fee £6 until end February then £8 – prize fund of £2,000 with a top prize of £1,000 plus publication in the MTP Anthology (print book and eBook). English language, fiction or non-fiction (biography, memoir, true story etc.), open to all authors. Full details at https://www.mtp.agency/competition.
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 page.

JUNE

Children’s: The Commonword Diversity Writing for Children Prize has a 30th June deadline. See ihaveadream.org.uk and / or email w4c@cultureword.org.uk or phone +44 161 832 3777.
Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
Flash Fiction: Weekly challenge on theironwriter.com.
Flash Fiction: The Flash 500 Fiction Competition, established 2009, is a quarterly open-themed competition for fiction up to 500 words has closing dates of 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. Entry fee: £5 for one story, £8 for two stories. Prizes: £300 plus publication in Words with JAM, £100 and £50.
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: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
Flash Fiction: Lightship Publishing runs eight competitions; flash fiction, first chapter, one-page, memoir, poetry, poetry book, first act, short stories, all with a 30th June deadline. See lightshippublishing.co.uk and/or email admin@lightshippublishing.co.uk for more information.
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.
Memoir: Commonword Memoir Writing Competition. Deadline: 30th June. The search is on to find the best budding memoir or autobiography writer in the North of England in our latest competition for writers. Win £150 & have your fledgling Memoir or Autobiography ‘hothoused’ by Crocus Books. See cultureword.org.uk/commonword-memoir-writing-competition.
Mixed: 7 Day Creative Writing Challenge: Prizes: £250, £200, £100, £75, £50. Closing date: 5th July. £5 for one entry, or £7.50 including feedback. If you would like a chance of winning £250, all you have to do is to sign up for our 7 Day Creative Writing Challenge which goes live on the 5th July.
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: Segora International Writing Competitions. Vignette Competition, max 300 words. Short Story Competition, from 1,500 to 3,000 words. Poetry Competition, max 40 lines. Deadline for all competitions 8 June. Prizes: Short Story and Poetry £150, £50 and £30; Vignette £30 and £10 for commended or equivalent prize money in euro.
Mixed: The Creative Future Literary Awards showcasing the work of marginalised and disabled writers, theme The Spark in Flash Fiction (maximum 300 words) or Poetry (maximum 200 words), closing date 16th June. Entry fee: £5 per piece, £15 if critique required.
Mixed: Marple (shorts & poetry)
Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
Mixed: Cinnamon Press Writing Awards (for novellas, poetry and short stories).
Mixed: The Cowley Literary Award is a global short story competition, fiction and non-fiction, $5,000AUD prizes, max 4000 words, closing date 30th June. See australianartsales.com.au/cowley-award.
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: Lightship Publishing runs eight competitions; flash fiction, first chapter, one-page, memoir, poetry, poetry book, first act, short stories, all with a 30th June deadline. See lightshippublishing.co.uk and/or email admin@lightshippublishing.co.uk for more information.
Mixed: globalfeelgoodcompany.com/competition (opens May, closes 30th September – see ‘September’ for full details).
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
Non-fiction: another non-fiction competition is greberwritingaward.com/submissions.htm
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: Submission to the non-fiction and fiction Shirley You Jest Book Awards opens mid May (closes mid July). I’m one of the sponsors!
Novels: Lightship Publishing runs eight competitions; flash fiction, first chapter, one-page, memoir, poetry, poetry book, first act, short stories, all with a 30th June deadline. See lightshippublishing.co.uk and/or email admin@lightshippublishing.co.uk for more information.
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: Opportunity for non-published mystery / suspense writers aged 50+. http://www.greatstorieswithheart.com/the-write-time. The Write Time: a unique writing competition for previously unpublished authors aged 50+. If you have always dreamed of being a published author, here is an opportunity that you won’t want to miss. We have launched a writing competition for the over 50s, exclusively for Mature Times readers. “The Write Time” competition offers the winner a two-year digital publishing contract, with full editorial and marketing support, and a generous royalty on all sales. We are looking for compelling fiction for adults from a previously unpublished author. “Previously unpublished” is defined as a writer who has never had a publishing contract for a short story collection, novella or full-length novel, which offered royalties and did not require any payment from the writer. So, even if you have self-published your writing, you are still eligible to enter. Here at Corazon Books, our motto is “great stories with heart”, so we are looking for writing with engaging characters and an involving plot. We know that there is a wealth of talent out there, particularly among the over 50s. If you have written a novel and are seeking a publishing contract, now is “the write time” to submit your work! Work can be submitted in the genres of family saga, historical, medical, mystery and suspense, and romance (contemporary or historical). Entries should not contain descriptions of excessive violence or erotica/graphic sex scenes. The accepted word-length for entries is novellas of 20,000 – 50,000 words and novels of 50,000 to 100,000 words. For the first round of the competition, entrants should send a 200-500 word synopsis and the first three chapters of their novel/novella. Entrants who pass this first round of submissions will be asked to send the complete novel in September this year. The winner will be announced in November. Andrew Young, editor of Mature Times, says: “We know many of our readers are budding writers, as we’ve had some excellent pieces submitted for publication in Mature Times. This is a great opportunity to become a published author in your own right.”
Novels: other June deadline competitions include Impress Prize, and Lightship International First Chapter.
Plays: Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting has a 1st prize of £16,000. Open to anyone resident in the UK and Ireland. The play must an original, unperformed and unproduced piece of work, an hour long or more in playing time. Closing date 3rd June. See writeaplay.co.uk/about.
Plays: Adrienne Benham Award: £2,000 prize now accepting applications: Theatre Centre offers the Adrienne Benham Award, a £2,000 seed commission, to support the work of a promising playwright interested in exploring the Theatre for Young Audiences sector, but who has little experience in the field. The award is intended to steer gifted writers towards young audiences by giving them a seed commission and attachment to Theatre Centre as they develop an original idea for young audiences. Prize: £2,000 seed commission and attachment. Deadline: 7 June at 12 noon. Further information (including the full criteria and application form) available from the Theatre Centre website.
Plays: Write Lines: New Writing for Young Audiences Conference: Do you write plays for young audiences, or do you want to? Celebrating 60 years of working with writers to produce outstanding theatre for young audiences, Theatre Centre hosts a day-long conference for writers and theatre professionals on 20th June. The keynote speech will be delivered by playwright Bryony Lavery. Other guest speakers include playwrights Amanda Dalton, Rob Evans, Philip Osment and Evan Placey; and industry professionals Anthony Banks (NT), Jonathan Lloyd (Polka Theatre) and Purni Morell (Unicorn Theatre). Reserve your place today!
Plays: Ace Drama have a Beatles-themed ‘Ticket to Write’ contest ending 25th June.
Plays: angletheatre.co.uk/discovered.html.
Plays: Lightship Publishing runs eight competitions; flash fiction, first chapter, one-page, memoir, poetry, poetry book, first act, short stories, all with a 30th June deadline. See lightshippublishing.co.uk and/or email admin@lightshippublishing.co.uk for more information.
Poetry: Wirral Festival of Firsts Open Poetry Competition has a closing date of 1st June. First Prize: £200, Second Prize: £75, 3 runner-up prizes of £25. For poems on any subject, of no more than 40 lines. Submissions can be made online or by post. Postal submissions should include a separate sheet with the entrant’s name, address and the titles of the poem(s) and a cheque or postal order for £3 per poem or £10 for 4 poems payable to: “Festival of Firsts”. Postal submissions to: FOF Poetry Competition, 71 Alderley Road, Hoylake, Wirral CH47 2AU. See website festivaloffirsts.com for all the competition rules and online entries.
Poetry: Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition. International, max 60 lines. Closing date 14th June. The festival itself runs mid-October to early-November.
Poetry: Sticky Bun Writers Poetry Competition. First prize £50. Two other cash prizes. Prize-giving in Sheffield. Judge: Helen Mort. Closing date June 15th. Poems up to 40 lines without name on. No entry form but include cover sheet with name, address, email or phone no. and poem titles. £3 a poem or 4 for £10. Cheques, made out to Sticky Bun Writers, to The Competition Organiser, 84 Knowle Lane, Sheffield S11 9SJ
Poetry: Mslexia (for women poets – sorry, guys): Poetry Competition and Pamphlet Competition.
The deadline for both competitions is mid-June. Full details of how to enter both competitions are on our website at mslexia.co.uk/poetrycompetition and mslexia.co.uk/pamphletcompetition respectively.
Poetry and Short Stories: WildWords runs two competitions a year to a theme and a maximum of 1,000 words (poetry and prose). The deadlines are 21st June and 21st December.
Poetry: Second Light Poetry Competition for Long and Short Poems by Women is judged by Moniza Alvi, £300 first prize, closes 25th June. See secondlightlive.co.uk/news.shtml#Comp13.
Poetry: The Battered Moons Poetry Competition opens from mid March to all UK residents aged 18 or over and accepts poems on any topic and style of up to 40 lines. Guest judges will read all the poems. The three winners and four commended poets will be invited to read their poems at the Poetry Swindon Festival in early October. Winning and commended poems will appear in the Battered Moons pamphlet and website. First prize, £700; second, £200; third, £100, plus four commendations of £25 each. Entry fee: £5 for the first poem and £3.5 thereafter. Closing date for entries is end June. On-line and postal entries accepted. For further information and to enter online, visit http://batteredmoons.com. Part of Poetry Swindon Festival. Supported by Arts Council England.
Poetry: The Flash 500 Humour Verse Competition, established in 2010, welcomes any form of humour verse will be accepted, from a limerick to a poem of 32 lines. This is also a quarterly competition with closing dates of 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. Entry fee: £3 for the first poem, £2.50 for each poem thereafter. Prizes: £150 plus publication in Words with JAM, £100 and £50.
Poetry: Poetry Space Competition. Max 40 lines. 1st prize £250 + anthology, closing date 30th June. See poetryspace.co.uk/2013/01/poetry-space-competition-2013.
Poetry: Lightship Publishing runs eight competitions; flash fiction, first chapter, one-page, memoir, poetry, poetry book, first act, short stories, all with a 30th June deadline. See lightshippublishing.co.uk and/or email admin@lightshippublishing.co.uk for more information.
Poetry: The Keats-Shelley Prize for Essays and Poems on Romantic Themes – open to all. Prize Chair: acclaimed novelist Salley Vickers. £3,000 prize money. Winning poems and essays will be published in The Keats-Shelley Review. Essays are invited on any aspect of the work and lives of the Romantics and their circle. Closing date 30th June.
Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
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: Creative Competitor, Earth Words, Edwin Morgan, Keats-Shelley Prize, Margaret Reid, Ted Walters, United Press, Writing Magazine.
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Scriptwriting: Lightship Publishing runs eight competitions; flash fiction, first chapter, one-page, memoir, poetry, poetry book, first act, short stories, all with a 30th June deadline. See lightshippublishing.co.uk and/or email admin@lightshippublishing.co.uk for more information.
Scriptwriting: Ted Walters.
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 May 16th and USD $49* until the Final Entry Deadlline of June 13th.
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 and Poetry: WildWords runs two competitions a year to a theme and a maximum of 1,000 words (prose and poetry). The deadlines are 21st June and 21st December.
Short stories: The V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize for best unpublished short story of the year. The winning author will be awarded a prize of £1,000, and the short story will be published in Prospect online and in our annual magazine, the RSL Review. The closing date for entries is 13th June, and all submissions should be posted with the £5 administrative fee to: V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, Royal Society of Literature, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA For further information, please email Molly Rosenberg (molly@rslit.org) and / or see website rslit.org/v-s-pritchett. Stories must be 2,000 to 5,000 words long, printed on one side of an A4 in double-spaces and sent to the London address above.
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
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: Fantasy Faction have a fantasy short story competition which ends June 30th. Thanks to Sophie E Tallis for that one! 🙂
Short stories: Lightship Publishing runs eight competitions; flash fiction, first chapter, one-page, memoir, poetry, poetry book, first act, short stories, all with a 30th June deadline. See lightshippublishing.co.uk and/or email admin@lightshippublishing.co.uk for more information.
Short stories: Writers’ Village runs a quarterly short story competition which attracts entrants worldwide. Click here for the rules… and every entrant receives invaluable critique! Their summer deadline is 30th June.
Short stories: Words Magazine runs two Short Story Competitions a year which are free to enter, open to writers internationally, and have closing dates of 30th June and 31st December. See wordsmag.com.
Short stories: British Fantasy Society Short Story Competition. 5000 words max, 1st prize £100 + year’s BFS membership + publication. Judge Allen Ashley, closing date 30th June.
Short stories: Five Stop Story runs a quarterly shwort story competition (end March / June / September / December). Membership to the site is £25 but you get to enter up to five stories in each competition. Further details at fivestopstory.com/write.
Short stories: GKBC (Giving Kudos to Brilliant Content) is running a free crime-writing competition with a deadline of 30th June. See gkbcinc.com/the-gkbcinc-short-story-competition.
Short stories: The Booktown Writers’ Annual Short Story Competition invites 1000-3000 words, cash prizes + anthology. Closes 30th June. See booktownwriters.co.uk/competition.html.
Short stories: The H.E. Bates Short Story Competition (run by Northampton Writers Group, usually opens in June with a 30th November deadline, and for 2015 had me as Head Judge. 🙂 Prizes: £500, £100, £50. Entry Fee: £6 for the first story, £10 for two and £5 per story thereafter. Full details on http://www.hebatescompetition.org.uk.
Short stories: The Writers Reign Short Story Competition is hosted by the Writers Reign website and offers authors the chance to win cash prizes as well as online publication. Stories in this competition are in response to a theme. All writers must respond to the theme “I have a dream.” This cannot be used as the story title. Stories to be between 1000 – 1500 words. Stories to have a positive ending. No strong sex, violence or swearing. Open to all writers. Stories must be original and not previously published. Closing date: June 30th. Prizes: £100, £50, £25 and 3 x £10. Fees: £3.50 one entry, £6 two entries. See http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/writers-reign-short-story-competition or http://www.writersreign.co.uk/WritersReign-Competition-2013.html for details.
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.
Short stories: Other June deadline competitions include Aeon Award (quarterly), Countryside Tales, Creative Competitor, Cwrtnewydd Scribblers, Earlyworks, Erewash, Glimmer Train (different category each month), Lightship Publishing, sandralit, Ted Walters, Words Magazine, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: writing for children – dog tales / subscriber-only theme: passport, glove, tuba), Writers Bureau, and Calderdale.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

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.
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 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 or free editing!).
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 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: 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 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 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: We are pleased to be able to announce that the Winchester Poetry Prize will be an annual competition, and entries for the 2017 prize are now open. The prize will be judged by Sarah Howe who will read all the entries and will be present at the prize-giving event at the Winchester Poetry Day on Saturday 14 October 2017. First prize will be £1000, second prize £500 and third prize £250. Winners and long-listed poets will be invited to read at the special prize-giving event in Winchester. Winning and commended poems will also be published in a competition anthology to be launched on the day. Festival chair, the poet Stephen Boyce said: “The response to our inaugural Poetry Prize in 2016 was very gratifying and we were impressed with the quality of the poems received. It was decided almost at once that one of our aims would be to promote and foster the most exciting talent with this open award and that, although the festival itself takes place every two years, we will run the competition annually. We look forward to hearing from poets from around the country, and further afield.” The competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over and entries may be on any subject in any form or style and no longer than 40 lines. Entry fee is £5 for the first poem and £4 for subsequent entries. Closing date is 31st July 2017. Full details of how to enter are on the Winchester Poetry Festival website (http://www.winchesterpoetryfestival.org/#!poetryprize/ac4ks). The Winchester Poetry Prize is run in partnership with Hampshire Cultural Trust.
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: 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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: 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: The H.E. Bates Short Story Competition (run by Northampton Writers Group, usually opens in June with a 30th November deadline, and for 2015 had me as Head Judge. 🙂 Prizes: £500, £100, £50. Entry Fee: £6 for the first story, £10 for two and £5 per story thereafter. Full details on http://www.hebatescompetition.org.uk.
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: The New Writer Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launches every April. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
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.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

AUGUST

Biography: Tony Lothian Prize.
Children’s: The Helmdon (Northamptonshire)-based Bookmarks Festival takes place late August. As part of the festival they run two short story competitions; one for adults, one for children. There is a prize of £50 in National Book Tokens for the winning entry, as well as other notable entries being displayed on the day, and it is free to enter (deadline 4th August). Details on bookmarksfest.moonfruit.com/#/short-story-competitions/4575565307.
Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
Flash Fiction: Flash Fiction Writing Competition: Prizes: £150, £100, £75. Closing date: 14th August. Entry fee: £3 or Free to Creative Competitor Premier1 Write, Learn and Publish members. Using the photo at the website for inspiration, write a complete story in 700 words or less.
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 (horror): “I am contacting you from Popcorn Horror. We are a small company based in Glasgow who support independent horror film makers. Currently we are running a creative writing competition with the aim of encouraging more writers to become involved in the horror community. We are looking for Horror Stories told in 100 words or less. These can fall under any sub-genre, or take the form of poetry. The best 30 entries will be compiled into a Popcorn Horror eBook, and the writers behind them will have their work promoted to Popcorn Horror’s active and loyal following. There is also a mystery ‘best of short horror’ prize package for our favourite overall entry. All of the information can be found at http://popcornhorror.com/events, and entries can be emailed to cara@popcornhorror.com. Please contact me if you need any more information. Thanks. Cara, Popcorn Horror. The deadline is 6th August.”
Flash Fiction: December House Flash Fiction Fest Competition has a 19th August deadline. It’s free to enter and they are looking for three pieces of less than 1,000 words each from each contributor. Theme: The 7 Deadly Sins. See http://www.flashfictionfest.com and http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/december-house-flash-fiction-fest-competition for details.
Flash Fiction: New quarterly writing competition. Closing date: August 28th. First prize . . . £100 glorious pounds and your story published on the winners page. Second prize . . . £75 sultry pounds and your story published on the winners page. Third prize . . . A nifty £50! And your story on the winners page. Plus, the first prize winner each quarter also wins the right to a feature article on our facebook page and promotion by our twitter and google+ social media sites! Only 500 words, any subject. Full details and rules: writingcompetition.org.uk. Entry fee: £4. See writingcompetition.org.uk.Thanks, Jeni. twitter.com/writing_comp and facebook.com/TheWritingCompetition.
Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition (see Indies Unlimited).
Flash Fiction: Weekly challenge on theironwriter.com.
Flash Fiction: Online literary magazine Eclectica have teamed up with Circalit and are looking for <800 word flash fiction / short stories by early August. Free entry.
Flash Fiction: Stringybark Flash Fiction and Micro Fiction Awards. <1,800 words. A$770 prizes cash + books. Closing date late August. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
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: Launched in 2009, Gemini Magazine is open to flash fiction stories up to 1000 words. Any genre or theme. All stories must be original work and previously unpublished. Open to all writers of any age or nationality. Multiple entries permitted. Deadline: 31st August. Prizes: $1,000, $100, 4 x $25. All winners will be published in the Gemini Magazine. Fee: $4 for the first story and $3 for each additional entry. See http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/gemini-magazine-flash-fiction-competition and http://www.gemini-magazine.com/contest.html for more details.
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: Tethered by Letters’ Summer Flash Fiction Contest. “We are 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: August 31. 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 Exiles Club, Fort Worth, USA invites poetry, short stories and literary criticism for their journal. They just have one yearly deadline of 15th August and while you can submit at any time during the year, they don’t start the judging process until after the deadline. Entry is free. See https://www.inexsilio.com/submit for details.
Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
Mixed: Aesthetica Magazine invites poetry 40 lines max, fiction 2000 words max. 2 x £500 prizes, winners and finalists will be published in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual. Closing date 31st August. See aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
Mixed: The Liverpool International Open Short Story, Poetry and Playwriting Competition. Rules of Entry: The Competition’s Ten Commandments are as follows: l Entries must arrive on or before the 31st August, preferably before. Il Results of all of the three winners, the three runner-ups and the third placed will be available after the 1st October. The three winners, runner-ups and the three third placed will all be notified by our Competition Judge by phone post or email shortly after. lll Identifying names (only) must not appear on any of the entries of the Short Story, Poetry or Playwriting categories, but please ensure that your name and the titles of your work are either on your ‘Entry form’ or on a short ‘Covering letter’. Please take the time to write your details down clearly on your entry form or covering letter, it makes my job a lot easier. IV Poems may be on any subject or theme, in any style or form. All poems must be type written and must not exceed 40 lines. V. Short Stories may be on any subject or theme and must be type written, double spaced and no more than 2000 words. VI One Act Plays may be on any subject or theme and type written, double spaced and on one side of the page only, including a cast of no more than four characters. Good presentation and a list of characters and any other relevant information must be included. 20 Minutes. Vll Important! Two copies of each and every short story, poem and play must be submitted with your Entry Form or Covering Letter please. Vlll All entries to be typewritten on plain white A4 paper in a standard black typeface on one side of the page only, and first or second class postal entries only please. lX If the rules do not say that you can – then you can’t; and all copyright shall remain with the original Authors. Please do not send me the only copy of your work because it will not be returned. X Please do not send entries by Recorded or Special Delivery. Please make sure the correct postage is paid. Entries with insufficient postage will not be accepted from Royal Mail. Please do not use sticky tape to make an impregnable package. Mr Tommy McBride, Group Secretary and Founder Member, The University of Liverpool Creative Writing Society for Lifelong Learning, 50 Onslow Road, Elm Park, Liverpool, Merseyside L6 3BB United Kingdom. E-mail: thomas.mcbride2@sky.com. Website: liverpoolwriters.wix.com/liverpool-writers.
Mixed: Malahat (poetry, fiction, non-fiction), , 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) and other opportunities inc. feature articles, monologues, reviews, poems, rants & raves.
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: Earlyworks Press Memoir & Journalism Competition, Biographers Club, and Park Publications.
Novels: Brigantine Media started a ‘Publish or Perish’ writing contest in 2015 that “combines marketing muscle with literary skill. It’s Shark Tank meets American Idol. There is no fee to enter and we’re hoping to attract writers who are serious about marketing their books. We’re offering a $2,000 advance and a publishing contract.” As well as your manuscript, they want your marketing plan! Deadline 15th August. Details from http://www.publishorperishcontest.com.
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: 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: 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: other August deadline competitions include Nemesis Publishing Debut, Moth Publishing (Northern Crime Competition).
Plays: ovationtheatreawards.webs.com.
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 and short stories: www.saveaswriters.co.uk ‘Writing the City’ invites poems and short stories, with urban theme. The writer and the urban landscape have been inseparable partners across time, culture and genres. We invite poems and short stories with a strong sense of city as setting, past, present, real or imagined. Prizes for each category: £100/ £50/ £25, with a trophy for best Canterbury-themed writing. Publication in an anthology for winning entries. Judges: Poetry: Gillian Laker. Short stories: Maria C. McCarthy. Awards evening late October as part of Canterbury Festival Umbrella. Entry Fee: £3 per poem, or £8 for 3; £4 per short story. Prizes + publication. Deadline 31 August.
Poetry: Tethered by Letters’ Summer 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 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: August 31. 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: 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 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.
Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
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 with August deadlines include: Delhi London Poetry Foundation, Lorca Translation, Salopian Poetry Society, Todd Swift, Writing Magazine, BBC Proms and Nottingham Open Poetry Competition.
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Scriptwriting: Ovation Theatre Awards.
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: The Costa Short Story Award is open to published and unpublished authors writing in English and resident in UK or Ireland since 1 November 2009. £3,500 first prize, £750 x 2 runners up, free to enter. 4,000 words max, closing date 2nd August.
Short stories: Online literary magazine Eclectica is looking for <800 word flash fiction / short stories by 9th August.
Short stories: http://www.dwighthurst.com/contest details results of an August-deadline competition they ran in 2015, and encourages you to check their Twitter page for upcoming competitions.
Short stories: UK-based Fantastic Books Publishing is running a short story competition for sci-fi / fantasy stories 700-1,500 words. Prizes £100, £50, £25. Winners + 7 runners up will feature in their anthology. % to cancer research charity. The deadline is mid August. Details here.
Short stories: The H.E. Bates Short Story Competition (run by Northampton Writers Group, usually opens in June with a 30th November deadline, and for 2015 had me as Head Judge. Prizes: £500, £100, £50. Entry Fee: £6 for the first story, £10 for two and £5 per story thereafter. Full details on http://www.hebatescompetition.org.uk.
Short stories: Horror Writing Competition: Prizes: £300, £200, £100. Closing date: 1st August. Entry fee: £4 per submission. Could you capture the entire atmosphere of a horror story? Could you write such compelling fiction that it makes the reader tingle with anticipation and experience genuine fear? Do you think that you could dip into the bloody thirsty mindset of a serial killer or write with conviction about unspeakable horrors and things that go bump in the night?
Short stories: www.saveaswriters.co.uk ‘Writing the City’ invites poems and short stories, with urban theme. The writer and the urban landscape have been inseparable partners across time, culture and genres. We invite poems and short stories with a strong sense of city as setting, past, present, real or imagined. Prizes for each category: £100/ £50/ £25, with a trophy for best Canterbury-themed writing. Publication in an anthology for winning entries. Judges: Poetry: Gillian Laker. Short stories: Maria C. McCarthy. Awards evening late October as part of Canterbury Festival Umbrella. Entry Fee: £3 per poem, or £8 for 3; £4 per short story. Prizes + publication. Deadline 31 August.
Short stories: The Scarlet Stiletto Crime Short Story Competition has a 31st August deadline and a $10 cost, although the prize money totals $7,000! See http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/scarlet-stiletto-awards-crime-short-story-competition and http://www.sistersincrime.org.au/content/scarlet-stiletto-awards-crime-short-story-competition-turns-20 for details.
Short Stories: Tethered by Letters’ Summer Short Story Contest. We are 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: August 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: In conjunction with The Writers’ Workshop, one of the UK’s largest editorial consultancies, totally4women launches their first writing competition. Write a short story (1,500 words maximum) entitled ‘Snapshot’. The closing date is 5th August. The winner and the two runners-up will be notified by email by 16th August. Winning entry: a day ticket to The Writers’ Workshop Festival of Writing on mid-September worth over £200. Winner and two runners-up: your story published in a prime slot on totally4women.com for one month and associated promotion of you as the author!
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
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: One of the biggest prize pots (sadly just to one person) is the Manchester Fiction Prize at £10,000! Entry is a steep £15 so you have to be sure your story is the best thing you’ve ever written, and then of course you’re only relying on the judge’s opinion that it is. 🙂
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. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
Short stories: Short Story (crime) competition run by The Cremona, a 4 star Bournemouth B&B. First prize: weekend B&B for two (sharing) plus £50 cash. Deadline 31st August. Full details at cremona.co.uk/index.php?page=competition.
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.
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.
Short stories: Other competitions include Aesthetica Magazine, Emerald Flash Fiction, Glimmer Train (different category each month), New Eastbourne Writers, Wellington, The Write Place, Writing Magazine, For Books Sake, Brighton Cow.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

SEPTEMBER

Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
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: Russian Life magazine is running a short story competition asking writers to respond to a picture prompt. winners will receive publication as well as aRussian Life prize pack. Short stories up to 500 words and they must respond to the image prompt. To see the image, visit the Russian Life website. Two stories per author are permitted. Stories must not have been previously published in any form and to be written in English. Closing date September 1st. The winning entry will be published in Russian Life magazine and will also win a Russian Life Prize pack valued between $50 to $100. Free entry. See http://www.russianlife.com/blog/fictioncontest and http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/russian-life-fiction-contest for details.
Flash Fiction: The Flash 500 Fiction Competition, established 2009, is a quarterly open-themed competition for fiction up to 500 words has closing dates of 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. Entry fee: £5 for one story, £8 for two stories. Prizes: £300 plus publication in Words with JAM, £100 and £50.
Flash Fiction: Open Short Story Summer Competition Closing date: 26th September. Prizes: Six prize winners, two categories of entry: ‘New Writer’ Category and ‘Open’ Category. Prizes for both categories are: £60 First, £40 Second, £10 Third, plus we will make a charitable donation (amount starts at £25). Entry Fee: £3 for one entry, £5 for two, £2.50 thereon. Max 2,000 words, no minimum. There is no theme for this competition, you can write anything you like. There is no minimum word count although the maximum is 2,000 words. As we thoroughly enjoy the variety found in entries from both novice and experienced writers we have decided this year ‘New Writer’ and ‘Open’ will be our two categories of entry. Please see Rules of Entry to determine which category you should enter. Click on this link: erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2013….
Flash Fiction: The winner of The Harry Bowling Flash Fiction Prize will receive £100 and the chance for their story to be published on the MBA Literary Agents and Harry Bowling Prize websites. Submit stories of 750 words maximum, the title is not included in the word count. Flash fiction entries must also have an urban setting. Closing date 30th September. See harrybowlingprize.co.uk for details.
Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
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.
Graphic Novel: Chapter One.
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month, Ideas Tap (Sky Arts 18-30s), Glass Woman Prize (shorts & non-fiction), abervalley-arts.co.uk/competition, Salt (short stories, flash fiction, poetry).
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: Foreign Flavours, Glass Woman Prize, The Society of Women Writers & Journalists International Online ‘Life Writing’ Competition.
Non-fiction: The Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism. Open contest. Essay 1500 words max. £2,000 prize. £10 entry fee. Judges William Boyd, Kamila Shamsie, Scarlett Thomas. Closing date 15th September. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
Novels: The Mslexia Women’s Novel Competition has a closing date of late September.
Novels: The Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing is “committed to discovering talented new writers – open to all unpublished writers”. Submit the synopsis of a novel (not more than 500 words) and the first chapter(s) of the novel (not more than 5,000 words). Recommended that entries are for substantially developed novels (although not required to be fully finished), so that the winner can get most benefit from the editorial consultation included as part of their prize. The winner will also receive £1,000, an exclusive lunch and an editorial consultation with a top agent, publisher and novelist. Closing date 30 September. See harrybowlingprize.co.uk for details.
Novels: Historical Novel Society International Award: first 5000 words of unpublished novel in any historical genre (deadline 30th September). Thanks again to The New Writer magazine for these details.
Novels: Mslexia (Unpublished women novelists), Beak Books and harrybowlingprize.co.uk.
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: 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.
Novella: The Paris Literary Prize is an international novella competition for unpublished writers. Any topic is welcome. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
Playwriting: The Courtyard (King’s Cross Award for New Writing).
Playwriting: The Trinity College London International Playwriting Competition encourages new playwriting for young performers and audiences – submit one-act play for young performers, opens 9 September. Entry for Trinity’s third annual International Playwriting Competition is now open, and there are amazing prizes on offer to aspiring playwrights worldwide. The winning playwright in each category will be awarded a cash prize of £1,000 and will travel to London to see their plays performed at the Unicorn Theatre. There are also prizes for Highly Commended plays and special awards for the Most Promising Young Playwrights. Thanks again to The New Writer magazine.
Playwriting: New Writing South are now accepting submissions, from aspiring playwrights aged 16-25, for our fifth year of Chichester Young Playwrights.
Poetry: ‘The News’ Poetry Competition opens September. Enter your 24-line poem for the Association of Christian Writers news-themed poetry competition. £3 entry fee. Publication in ‘Christian Writer’ magazine for first-placed entry (subject to editor). Deadline: 21 November.
Poetry: Havant Literary Festival (mid/late October) Open Poetry Competition. First Prize £200. Closing date 1st September. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
Poetry: The Cheshire Prize for Literature is for a previously unpublished poem or collection of poems, free to enter and for poets with a Cheshire connection, 100 lines max, closing date 1st September. See chester.ac.uk/literatureprize.
Poetry: Second Light Poetry Competition for Short and Long Poems. Closes early September.
Poetry: Ryedale Book Festival Story and Poetry Competitions for Yorkshire, Humberside, Teesside residents has a closing date of 15th September. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
Poetry: The Live Canon International Poetry Competition has a 21st September deadline. The first prize is £1000 and all short listed poets have their work published in an anthology and performed at the prize giving event at Greenwich Theatre.
Poetry: Geoff Stevens Memorial Poetry Prize: two winners will have a poetry collection published by Indigo Dreams Publishing and receive 25 copies. Submit selection of 10 poems, max 36 lines. Entry fee £18 per block of poems. Closing date 28 September. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for these details.
Poetry: The Flash 500 Humour Verse Competition, established in 2010, welcomes any form of humour verse will be accepted, from a limerick to a poem of 32 lines. This is also a quarterly competition with closing dates of 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. Entry fee: £3 for the first poem, £2.50 for each poem thereafter. Prizes: £150 plus publication in Words with JAM, £100 and £50.
Poetry: The Book Prize – The Poet In You Competition: To win a copy of this book sent us a short essay on your favourite poem – telling us why this particular poem ‘spoke to you and what it said in less than 500 words. Send by post or email to the TNW editorial office marked ‘Poet’ – closing date: 30th September. The Poet in You by Jay Ramsay is published by Compass Books and can be ordered from Amazon—price £11.99/US$24.95. ISBN: 978-1-84694-025-5. See The New Writer magazine website for details.
Poetry: Poetry Kit Summer Poetry Competition: poems on the relevant theme. There are no style or length restrictions but it should be stressed that a short poem is just as likely to be selected as a longer one. 1st prize £100. Online entry only. All entries must be received before midnight 30 September. First prize £100 and the winning poem plus those sellected for special commendation will be published at the Poetry Kit website. Entry fees: 1 poem £3.50, 3 Poems £8, 5 poems £10. Competition Judge: Lesley Burt. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
Poetry: Swansea and District Writers’ Circle is holding their first open poetry competition and invites you to send them your entries. The Swansea and District Writers’ Circle Poetry Competition is a national competition for poems written in English. The poems must be a maximum of 42 lines on any subject and is open to entrants 18 years of age and over. First Prize: £50 + £50 worth of poetry books and a year’s membership of Swansea & District Writers’ Circle. Second Prize: £30 plus a year’s membership of Swansea & District Writers’ Circle. Third Prize: £20 plus a year’s free membership of Swansea & District Writers’ Circle. Competition closes 30th Sept. Entries cost £3 with a maximum of two additional entries at £2 each poem. Cheques payable to ‘Swansea and District Writers Circle.’ Winners will be notified by email or by post on 15th November. Results will be published on their website and the ‘Swansea and District Writers’ Circle’ Face Book page by 18th November.
Poetry: globalfeelgoodcompany.com/competition – see ‘Mixed’ for full details.
Poetry: Westhope Poetry Competition – deadline 1st September. Poems in English, any subject, up to 40 lines, two copies required please (if sending by post). Prizes: £200, £100, £50, £25, Entry fee £4 for first poem, £2 for subsequent poems, no limit. Postal entries to Westhope College, Craven Arms SY7 9JL. Enquiries: Tel: 01584 861 293.
Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
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.
More September poetry comps: Marple International, Tom Howard / John H Reid, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: write a Petrarchan sonnet), Nottingham Poetry Society, Poetry Society (Stanza Poetry Competition), Flipped Eye Venture (pamphlets)
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Scriptwriting: Southend Playwriting Festival run in February at two theatres in Essex (Southend and Chelmsford) and we are looking for script submissions between now and 30th September. More can be seen on their website: www.southendplaywritingfestival.co.uk.
Scriptwriting: Red Planet Pictures is a Bedford-based (UK) company owned by ex-Eastenders scriptwriter and creator of Hustle, Holby Blue and Moving Wallpaper, Tony Jordan. It runs a yearly competition with an end-September deadline. The ‘opportunities’ page has a link for unrepresented writers which says “As Red Planet is deeply passionate about the advancement of new writing talent, we are keen to hear of new ideas. Could we therefore ask you to submit a brief synopsis/treatment of your idea, marked for the attention of Simon Winstone, Head of Development? Should we like your idea, we will contact you and request the script. This way we can manage the reading between our development team and not hold on to scripts…”.
Scriptwriting: The Courtyard Theatre and globalfeelgoodcompany.com/competition – see ‘Mixed’ for full details.
Short stories: The Cheshire Prize for Literature is open to residents of Cheshire, Warrington, Wirral and Halton including those who have ever lived or worked in the area. The prize is for a short story, top prize £2,000. Max 1,500 words. Closing date 1st September. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for that one.
Short stories: Another 1st September deadline is the ‘Casting The Net Short Story Competition’. Max 3,000 words, any genre, check the website for the theme, and it’s free to enter! See http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/casting-the-net-short-story-competition and http://www.puffinreview.com/content/content/new-short-story-competition for details.
Short stories: Ryedale Book Festival Story and Poetry Competitions for Yorkshire, Humberside, Teesside residents has a closing date of 15th September. Also closing that day are The Short Story Competition has max 5000 words) and Future Voices Competition, a new short fiction anthology, judged by a panel of leading publishers and literary agents, which is seeking the freshest up-and-coming voices in interactive writing, with a cash prize for the winning three entries. Thank you to The New Writer magazine for those.
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
Short stories: The Asham Award has a £2,700 prize money pot plus anthology publication. Entry fees: £15 (£10 concessions). Closing date 21st September. The stories must be on the theme Journey and can be set in the past or the present. Stories must be no more than 4000 words in length. Entrants must be female and can be of any nationality and from any country providing that they are over 18 and currently resident in the United Kingdom. They should not have had a novel or book of short stories for adults previously published. Thanks again goes to The New Writer magazine.
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: Open Short Story Competition (Summer) Closing date: 26th September. Prizes: Six prize winners, two categories of entry: ‘New Writer’ Category and ‘Open’ Category. Prizes for both categories are: £60 First, £40 Second, £10 Third, plus we will make a charitable donation (amount starts at £25). Entry Fee: £3 for one entry, £5 for two, £2.50 thereon. Max 2,000 words, no minimum. There is no theme for this competition, you can write anything you like. There is no minimum word count although the maximum is 2,000 words. As we thoroughly enjoy the variety found in entries from both novice and experienced writers we have decided this year ‘New Writer’ and ‘Open’ will be our two categories of entry. Please see Rules of Entry to determine which category you should enter. Click on this link: erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2013….
Short stories: The Greenacre Writers Short Story Competition has a 30th September deadline. Entries may be made by post: you can e-mail for an entry form or click here to enter and / or see their website. They also run a two-day festival mid-May – see Events.
Short stories: The H.E. Bates Short Story Competition (run by Northampton Writers Group, usually opens in June with a 30th November deadline, and for 2015 had me as Head Judge. 🙂 Prizes: £500, £100, £50. Entry Fee: £6 for the first story, £10 for two and £5 per story thereafter. Full details on http://www.hebatescompetition.org.uk.
Short stories: Another 30th September* deadline is the Prolitzer Prize for Prose Writing. Max 3,500 words. £4 for the first entry, £3 additional entries. 1st prize – £140. Two runners up prizes of £30 each, and runners up will also be considered for publication. Genre and theme is open but judges are looking for work that encapsulated the spirit of the Prole magazine. * Entries welcome from 1st April. See http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/prolitzer-prize-for-prose-writing and http://www.prolebooks.co.uk/page8.html for details.
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 4,000 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. 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: Writers’ Village runs a quarterly short story competition which attracts entrants worldwide. Click here for the rules… and every entrant receives invaluable critique! Their autumn deadline is 30th September.
Short stories: Another 30th September deadline courtesy of The New Writer magazine is The Yellow Room Autumn Short Story Competition: up to 1,500 words and Flash Fiction to 300 words. Prizes for Short Story Category: 1st £100, 2nd £50, 3rd £25. Prizes for Flash Fiction Category: 1st £50, 2nd £25, 3rd £15. Entry Fee: £5 for one story or for 2 flash pieces. The winning stories will be published in The Yellow Room Magazine.
Short stories: Chorley & District Writers’ Circle have launched their annual national short story competition with cash prizes and online publication for the winners. It is open to anyone living in the UK. The competition is for a short story of no more than 2,500 words on the theme of Betrayal. How you interpret this is up to you. First prize is £100, with runners-up prizes of £50 and £30. The three winning entries will be published in Aware, the Circle’s annual collection of writing, and will be showcased on the Circle’s own website, http://www.chorleywriters.org.uk and on the competition sponsors’ websites, http://www.fictionfeedback.co.uk and http://www.opencirclebooks.com. Entry to the competition costs £4 per story, or £7 for two or £10 for three. Writers can enter as many stories as they like. Members of Chorley & District Writers’ Circle are entitled to one free entry. The deadline for the competition is 30th September. The circle reserves the right to cancel the competition in the case of a low level of entries. Stories will be judged by renowned critique and editing service Fiction Feedback. For further information visit http://www.chorleywriters.org.uk. Entries can be made by email, to be sent to mail@chorleywriters.org.uk or by post to: Aware Competition, 3 Dale View, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 3QJ. Cheques should be made out to Chorley & District Writers’ Circle and submitted by post – entrants who send their story by email should include a note to be sure we can match them up. Stories, which must be typed, must not carry the author’s name. However, entrants must include a cover sheet stating their name, address, email, telephone and the title and first line of their story or stories. While winners and shortlisted entrants must be prepared for their work to be published on the web and in print, copyright remains with the authors at all times. Stories that have been previously published online are eligible (the author must still hold all rights) unless they have won first prize in another competition. Stories previously published in print are not eligible. Chorley & District Writers’ Circle meets the last Tuesday of every month in the upstairs function room at The Hartwood, on the A6 near Chorley, Lancashire. For more information about the Writers’ Circle, please contact the Chair, Dea Parkin, on mail@chorleywriters.org.uk or dea@compedge.net or call 01257 233614 or see our website http://www.chorleywriters.org.uk.
Short stories: Short Sentences is a free-to-enter 1,000-word max competition run by Bloomsbury and has a different theme every two months (deadlines 30th September then 30th November) . See http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/short-sentences-crime-fiction-short-story-competition and http://shortsentencecompetition.wordpress.com/rules-and-submissions for details.
Short stories: For all historical short story enthusiasts Snapshots of History: Stories from the Past is a bi-annual journal dedicated to historical short story writing. It includes an ongoing competition for subscribers’ stories, which can be set in any time up to the end of WWII, and can include themes such as adventure, intrigue, traditional romance, or simply life stories from a previous age. Deadline 30 September, see the website: snapshotsofhistory.co.uk for full details and examples of previously included stories.
Short stories: globalfeelgoodcompany.com/competition – see ‘Mixed’ for full details.
Short stories: Five Stop Story runs a quarterly short story competition (end March / June / September / December). Membership to the site is £25 but you get to enter up to five stories in each competition. Further details at fivestopstory.com/write.
Short stories: The New Writer Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launched every April. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
Other short stories: Aeon Award (quarterly), fantasybookreview.co.uk, Glass Woman Prize, Glimmer Train (different category each month), The Short Story, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: ghost story / subscriber-only theme: sci-fi), SWWJ (life writing – judges Sophie King & Katie Fforde), Zurich Writers Workshop.
Songwriting: songwritingcompetition.com.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

OCTOBER

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.
Children’s: The Times/Chicken House.
Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
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: 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 Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launches every April. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
Flash Fiction: Bare Fiction Prize welcomes entries for their inaugural Poetry, Flash Fiction & Short Story Awards. You can find more details, enter or download a postal entry form here: http://www.barefictionmagazine.co.uk/competitions.
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.
Graphic novel: myriadeditions.com.
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
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. 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. The play must be no more than 20 minutes long and require no more than three actors. Closing date: 10th October. 2. Retreats Playwriting Competition: We are seeking one outstanding 10 minute play to be put on in Oxford, England in January. The play must be no more than 10 minutes long and require no more than three actors. Closing date: 10th November. See http://www.almostrandomtheatre.co.uk/competitions. My thanks go to Margaret Taylor for the info.
Poetry: ‘The News’ Poetry Competition opens September. Enter your 24-line poem for the Association of Christian Writers news-themed poetry competition. £3 entry fee. Publication in ‘Christian Writer’ magazine for first-placed entry (subject to editor). Deadline: 21 November.
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
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: Bare Fiction Prize welcomes entries for their inaugural Poetry, Flash Fiction & Short Story Awards. You can find more details, enter or download a postal entry form here: http://www.barefictionmagazine.co.uk/competitions.
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, 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 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: 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 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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
Short stories: Bare Fiction Prize welcomes entries for their inaugural Poetry, Flash Fiction & Short Story Awards. You can find more details, enter or download a postal entry form here: http://www.barefictionmagazine.co.uk/competitions.
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: 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: 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. 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: Avogel, Balsall Writers, 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: The H.E. Bates Short Story Competition (run by Northampton Writers Group, usually opens in June with a 30th November deadline, and for 2015 had me as Head Judge. 🙂 Prizes: £500, £100, £50. Entry Fee: £6 for the first story, £10 for two and £5 per story thereafter. Full details on http://www.hebatescompetition.org.uk.
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 NAWG Open Writing Competitions have 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. 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.
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 Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launches every April. £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)
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

NOVEMBER

Auto/biography: The New England Book Festival Competition – see below.
Children’s: The New England Book Festival Competition – see below.
Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
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: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
Flash Fiction: Empirical Magazine started a monthly flash fiction (<1000-word) competition.
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 / 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 (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: Words for the Wounded (W4W) launching its first writing prize on Armistice Day, November 11, with a March deadline – see below.
Mixed: The New England Book Festival Competition – see below.
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
Mixed: hud.ac.uk/mh/english/grist/competitions/index.htm (shorts & poetry).
Mixed: The annual The New Writer Prose & Poetry Prizes: Short Story / MicroFiction / Non-Fiction / Single Poem / Poetry Collection. Closing date 30th November. You can enter at: thenewwriter.com/entryform.htm.
Non-fiction: New Welsh Review, in association with WWF Cymru and the CADCentre, runs the New Welsh Writing Awards and has a closing date of early November. For more information regarding the competition, and full terms and conditions, visit www.newwelshwritingawards.com or contact admin@newwelshreview.com. You can also find out more by using the Twitter hashtags #newwelshawards and #welshwish. For information for this listing, please contact sales@newwelshreview.com.
Non-fiction: The New England Book Festival Competition – see below.
Novels: societyofauthors.org/betty-trask.
Novels: The New England Book Festival has issued a call for entries to its annual program honoring the best books of the holiday season. The competition is currently accepting entries in the following categories: non-fiction, fiction, biography / autobiography, children’s books, young adult, how-to, cookbooks, science fiction, photography / art, poetry, spiritual works, compilations / anthologies, gay, unpublished stories and wild card (for books that don’t neatly fit elsewhere). All entries must be in English. Books published on or after January 1, 2010 are eligible. Deadline submissions in each category must be received by 25th November.
Playwriting: livetheatre.com.au/html/cms/35/one-act-playwriting-competition-noosa has an AS$6,000 prize pot and a mid-November deadline.
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. The play must be no more than 20 minutes long and require no more than three actors. Closing date: 10th October . 2. Retreats Playwriting Competition: We are seeking one outstanding 10 minute play to be put on in Oxford, England in January. The play must be no more than 10 minutes long and require no more than three actors. Closing date: 10th November. See http://www.almostrandomtheatre.co.uk/competitions. My thanks go to Margaret Taylor for the info.
Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
Poetry: The Magic Oxygen Literary short story and poetry competition closes 30th November. Prizes are £1,000, £300, £100 and £50 with an entry fee of just £5. In addition “we will be planting a tree in Kenya for each entry, so every entrant is a winner!”
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 November deadline poetry competitions include Cafe Writers, Countryside Tales, Cinnamon Press Writing Awards, The New Writer, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: nostalgia), theploughprize.co.uk.
Science-fiction: Aeon Award (quarterly), Writing Magazine.
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Short stories: The Erewash Writers’ Group competition website is running two free entry competitions and these close early November. Enquiries to erewashwriterscomps@hotmail.co.uk.
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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
Short stories: The Green Lady Award for Fiction, an annual competition. Short story up to 3,000 words on a specific theme (see their website for details). Looking for innovative interpretations. (“We prefer shorter, highly compact stories.) All genres. The work must be your own, and previously unpublished in print or online. First prize £50. Second prize £25. Selected entries will be published in an anthology. The entry fee is £5 – maximum of 3 stories may be submitted – and the deadline is 30th November. Details from http://www.greenladypress.com/#!competition/c18g4.
Short stories: The Magic Oxygen Literary short story and poetry competition closes 30th November. Prizes are £1,000, £300, £100 and £50 with an entry fee of just £5. In addition “we will be planting a tree in Kenya for each entry, so every entrant is a winner!”
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.
Short stories: Short Sentences is a free-to-enter 1,000-word max competition run by Bloomsbury and has a different theme every two months (deadlines 30th September then 30th November) . See http://www.shortstorycompetitionhq.com/short-sentences-crime-fiction-short-story-competition and http://shortsentencecompetition.wordpress.com/rules-and-submissions for details.
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: The H.E. Bates Short Story Competition (run by Northampton Writers Group, usually opens in June with a 30th November deadline, and for 2015 had me as Head Judge. 🙂 Prizes: £500, £100, £50. Entry Fee: £6 for the first story, £10 for two and £5 per story thereafter. Full details on http://www.hebatescompetition.org.uk.
Short stories: The FREE Commonwealth Short Story Prize is being run by Commonwealth Writers, a cultural initiative from the Commonwealth Foundation. Cash prizes are on offer for the winning writers, and prizes for translation are also available. Short stories 2,000-5,000 words. Genre, theme and setting is open. Writers must be citizens of a Commonwealth country. Writers do not need to currently reside in that country. Entries must be original and unpublished with the exception of personal blogs and personal websites. English entires only. Translations of short stories written in languages other than English are eligible if submitted by the writer (not the translator) and provided the translator is a citizen of a Commonwealth country. One entry per writer. Opens 1 October, closes 30 November. Free entry. One winner is chosen from each regional category – 1. Africa, 2. Asia, 3. Canada and Europe, 4. Caribbean and 5. Pacific. One regional winner will be selected as the overall winner with four runners up from remaining regions. Overall winner will receive £5,000. Remaining four regional winners £2,500. If the winning short story is a translation into English, the translator will receive additional prize money: £2,000 for the overall winning story and £1,000 for a regional winning story. Details on: http://www.commonwealthwriters.org/prizes/commonwealth-short-story-prize/entry-rules.
Short Stories: ServiceScape runs a free yearly short story / non-fiction competition with a 5,000-word maximum. See https://www.servicescape.com/short-story-award for full details.
Short stories: other competitions include Ashby Writers Club (Mary Gornell Memorial), Bridgehouse Publishing, Emerald Flash Fiction, Glimmer Train (different category each month), The New Writer, Park Publications, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: flash fiction <500 words / subscribers only).
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

DECEMBER

Children’s: The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices and theredtelephone.co.uk.
Children’s: Write Now is a relatively new (2012) competition for authors of children’s books. See writenowcompetition.com/FAQs for more information. They’re also on Twitter (@WriteNowPrize).
Children’s: Bloomsbury Spark. Deadline: 1st December.
Bloomsbury Spark is a one-of-a-kind, global, digital imprint from Bloomsbury Publishing dedicated to publishing a wide array of exciting fiction eBooks to teen, YA and new adult readers. See bloomsbury.com/uk/bloomsbury-spark for details.
Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
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: we are 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 Summer 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: December 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. Contact Info: Joe Reinis, jreinis@tetheredbyletters.com.
Flash Fiction: The Flash 500 Fiction Competition, established 2009, is a quarterly open-themed competition for fiction up to 500 words has closing dates of 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. Entry fee: £5 for one story, £8 for two stories. Prizes: £300 plus publication in Words with JAM, £100 and £50.
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: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
Mixed: Established in 2014, the Magic Oxygen Literary Prize, is a unique writing competition for short stories and poetry, and is open to writers across the world and fondly referred to as MOLP. Deadline: 31st December. See http://www.magicoxygen.co.uk (then click on ‘Literary Prize’) for details. You can also email Olivia Musto, Personal Assistant, Magic Oxygen Literary Prize, press@magicoxygen.co.uk. Phone: +44 (0)1297 442824.
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.
Playwriting: New Perspectives has a £1000 prize fund for their Dream Up script competition which ends mid-December. Open to any writer living in the East Midlands area of England, the theme is ‘Starting out in the East Midlands’ and should last no longer than 10-15 minutes with a maximum of four characters. See newperspectives.co.uk/STEPUP for more details.
Poetry: Tethered by Letters’ Spring 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 Summer 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: December 15. Entry Fee: $5 per entry OR $12 for three entries. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission. Contact Info: Joe Reinis, jreinis@tetheredbyletters.com.
Poetry and Short Stories: WildWords runs two competitions a year to a theme and a maximum of 1,000 words (poetry and prose). The deadlines are 21st June and 21st December.
Poetry: The Flash 500 Humour Verse Competition, established in 2010, welcomes any form of humour verse will be accepted, from a limerick to a poem of 32 lines. This is also a quarterly competition with closing dates of 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. Entry fee: £3 for the first poem, £2.50 for each poem thereafter. Prizes: £150 plus publication in Words with JAM, £100 and £50.
Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prize: £100 plus a new edition of Chamber Thesaurus. Entry Fee: £4 each or or £6 for entry plus a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter online or by post. Details at: writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
Poetry: Other poetry competitions include Anthony Hecht, Holland Park Press, le.ac.uk/engassoc and Writing Magazine (WM: subscriber-only theme: waiting for the post).
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Screenwriting: screenplay-competition.com.
Something different for scriptwriters: Ventriloquist Duologue Scriptwriter Silver Cup Trophy Award. For a Ventriloquist Duologue for Adults and the First Prize Medal Award – For a Ventriloquist Duologue for Children. Deadline 14th December. For Further Details On How To Enter – Please Visit the ‘Duologue competition’ page on The Ventriloquist Club of Great Britain website: http://www.theventriloquistclubofgreatbritain.com/duologue-competition-2013.php.
Short stories: Another 1st December deadline is: The annual Mississippi Review short story competition is hosted by The University of Southern Mississippi. This prize is currently accepting entries for short stories and poetry. Writers are offered the opportunity to win cash and publication. Short stories between 1000-8000 words. Multiple entries welcome. Original and unpublished works only. Closes 1st December. Cash prizes from a $1000 prize pool. Winning authors will be published in following edition of Mississippi Review. All entrants will receive a copy of the magazine. $16 per entry. Details on https://mississippireview.submittable.com/submit.
Short stories: Tethered by Letters’ Fall Short Story Contest. We are currently accepting short stories of any genre ranging from 1,000 to 7,500 words. The short story contest winner will be published as the featured short story in the Summer Quarterly Journal. Five 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: December 15. Prize: $250 and publication in the quarterly journal. Entry Fee: $10 per entry. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission. Contact Info: Joe Reinis, jreinis@tetheredbyletters.com.
Short stories: The Annual Atlantis Short Story Contest: Cash prizes ($450, first prize is $300) and in-depth feedback await unpublished writers. No theme or genre restrictions. Maximum 2,500 words. Entry fee: starts from $10 (depends on level of feedback wanted when the story does not place) Regular deadline: February 25th. Early Bird: December 18th (discounted entry fee), Info: http://www.atlantis-shortstorycontest.com. Contact e-mail: inquiry@atlantis-shortstorycontest.com.
Short Stories and Poetry: WildWords runs two competitions a year to a theme and a maximum of 1,000 words (poetry and prose). The deadlines are 21st June and 21st December.
Short stories: Words Magazine runs two Short Story Competitions a year which are free to enter, open to writers internationally, and have closing dates of 30th June and 31st December. See wordsmag.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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
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: Words Magazine final Short Story Competition of the year closes on December 30th. The Prizes are: 1st – £50, 2nd – £25. Entry is FREE and all entries will be considered for publication in future issues of their quarterly magazine sold in aid of the RNLI – the charity that saves lives at sea. See their website: www.wordsmag.com, Email: admin@wordsmag.com. You can order a free PDF copy at http://www.wordsmag.com/freecopy.htm. For help with your writing see: http://www.wordsmag.com/guides.htm (I’ve also put this link on this blog’s Writing 101 (tips) page).
Short stories: Writers’ Village runs a quarterly short story competition which attracts entrants worldwide. Click here for the rules… and every entrant receives invaluable critique! Their winter deadline is 31st December.
Short stories: Five Stop Story runs a quarterly short story competition (end March / June / September / December). Membership to the site is £25 but you get to enter up to five stories in each competition. Further details at fivestopstory.com/write.
Short stories: The Bath Short Story Award opened October for entries – see ‘March’.
Short stories: Glimmer Train (different category each month), Willesden Herald, westcountrywriters.com, Words Magazine, Writing Magazine.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

WEEKLY

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.
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: Each week on theironwriter.com, four writers agree to compose a five hundred word story involving the same four elements. Please remember to give your story a title. The stories can be in any genre except erotica. The writers will not know what the four elements are prior to committing to the challenge. There is a four day time limit to complete the story. I email the elements early Thursday morning, my time. The story is due at midnight, Sunday, your time. Each author retains full and complete copyright of their story submitted to The Iron Writer for this competition. However, it is understood each story will remain on this website indefinitely. The Iron Writer will not publish any submission outside this website without express permission from the author. So, if you are up to the challenge, please email me at HERE and we can schedule when you are willing to participate. Please include your main blog or website. I will link your story to your site. You may participate as often as you want.
Mixed: Needle in the Hay runs weekly and monthly competitions (“awards”). See needleinthehay.net/submission-guidelines for their guidelines. Thanks to Jason Fink for pointing me in that direction.
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 occasionally closes to submissions (I guess because they’re overwhelmed), but they are currently open.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

MONTHLY

Flash Fiction: I 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 or free editing!).
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!). This looks like it’s on hold for now, I will keep checking.
Flash Fiction: Empirical Magazine runs a monthly flash fiction (<1000-word) competition.
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.
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
Mixed: iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community; it’s a great opportunity to receive professional feedback as well as contribute to developing your profile and platform. The prize is a fantastic Cornerstones masterclass mini-critique on the winning writer’s first pages of their story, up to 2000 words. This is designed to give the writer a professional critique on how to improve the opening as well as hints to consider throughout their writing. Simply upload an ebook (novels or collections of short stories) to iWriteReadRate. Every month we’ll select five to take part in the competition. All the writer needs to do is promote it with their networks and aim to get as many votes for their ebook as possible. At the end of each month the ebook with the most votes wins the prize.
Mixed: Needle in the Hay runs weekly and monthly competitions (“awards”). See needleinthehay.net/submission-guidelines for their guidelines. Thanks to Jason Fink for pointing me in that direction.
Mixed: Pockets and Creative Print Publishing have different themes each month, Opening Editions (free) and NUS Literary Society has competitions for poetry, prose and plays.
Novels: novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html has monthly competitions (April-Sept) with a different genre each month.
Poetry: 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 after the 15th for one month will go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine. Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). You can enter by post or online with the details at: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Scriptwriting: Scripped has a variety of script contests including a monthly one.
Short stories: Hayley Sherman has a monthly short story competition.
Short stories: Brighton COW (currently on hiatus), Coast to Coast, Glimmer Train (different category each month), Writing / Writers’ News magazines and Opening Editions.
Short stories: Bound Off now take submissions via Submishmash.
Short stories: Darker Times Fiction is a monthly short story competition for stories of 3,000 words and less in the horror genre or on the subject of ‘darker times’. It’s open to UK and international writers and ends on the last day of each month and costs £5 / $8 a time.
Short stories: The Global Short Story Competition is a monthly event hosted by Inscribe Media. There is no theme or set genre. 2000 word maximum word count. Writers must be 16 years or over. Maximum 4 submissions per month. Closing Date: The last day of every month. Prize: Monthly first prize – £100, Monthly runner up – £25, Annual Grand Prize – £250. Entry Fee: £5 per story (up to 4 per month). Details from http://www.inscribemedia.co.uk/global-short-story-competition.html.
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: Heather Marie Schuldt runs a short story contest, 500-750 words max., on her blog, with the same deadline (25th of the month).
Short stories: fivestopstory.com/write: 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 yearly league table and you can become a member for £25 which entitles you to 3 free entries per month.
Short stories: LinkedIn’s Aspiring Writers Group runs a monthly short story competition. You do have to be a member of LinkedIn (free) and the writing group itself (a closed group but you can ask to join) to enter the competition.
Short stories: Seam TV runs monthly short story competitions.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

QUARTERLY

Flash fiction: Massacre Magazine, Wow Women on Writing, and writingcompetition.org.uk.
Poetry: Flash 500 Fiction Competition.
Short stories: Aeon Award, Cheer Reader, Dark Tales, Emerald Flash Fiction, Five Stop Story, Flash 500 Fiction Competition, and Writers’ Village.
NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

ONGOING

Children’s: Dal Burns‘ children’s writing competition ‘Write Across America‘.
Children’s: Little Star Writing is a site where you can “get published, enter competitions, win prizes, play games, improve literacy skills, receive certificates and HAVE FUN!”.
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’.
Flash fiction: The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest is international; open to anyone who loves arranging words into the beautiful literary art of poetry and/or writing a story that’s worth telling everyone, for a chance to win cash prizes totalling $1,275. Prizes: Writing: $500, $250, $100: Poetry: $250, $125, $50. Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com/rules.html for details on how to enter.
Flash fiction: One Forty Fiction and Wow Women on Writing.
Flash Fiction / Short Stories: Inkitt.com is a website where aspiring authors release their most brilliant stories to watch their first steps and first words and first huge gusts of flame pouring from their gullets. They run free competitions with all the entries being posted on their site.
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: What The Dickens magazine lists “competitions and give-aways which are all free to enter”.
Mixed: Metamorphose run different competitions so check http://metamorphoselit.com then click on ‘Contests’ for the latest details.
Mixed: The Pen Cove Award (see ‘January’).
Mixed: sterlingmag and sundayat6mag.wordpress.com
Mixed: You can apply for a three-month residency on the Mslexia blog (women only).
Non-fiction: tales2inspire.com/HOME.html (free :))
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.
Poetry: The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest is international; open to anyone who loves arranging words into the beautiful literary art of poetry and/or writing a story that’s worth telling everyone, for a chance to win cash prizes totalling $1,275. Prizes: Writing: $500, $250, $100: Poetry: $250, $125, $50. Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com/rules.html for details on how to enter
Poetry: Poetic Republic is an ongoing online poetry competition in which the entrants are also the judges.
Scriptwriting: bbc.co.uk/writersroom/links5.shtml.
Short stories: Creative Writers’ Circle competitions are open to all and are free.
Short stories: The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest is international; open to anyone who loves arranging words into the beautiful literary art of poetry and/or writing a story that’s worth telling everyone, for a chance to win cash prizes totalling $1,275. Prizes: Writing: $500, $250, $100: Poetry: $250, $125, $50. Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com/rules.html for details on how to enter
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: An on-going competition for submissions of 500 words or fewer on any theme. First prize is £100 plus publication on our website and promotion via our social media sites (twitter, google+ and facebook). Second prize is £75 and publication on the website, third prize is £50 and publication on the website. Entry is just £4. Launched June 1st, 2013. writingcompetition.org.uk Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/TheWritingCompetition?ref=hl Twitter: twitter.com/writing_comp.
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.

COMPETITION WEBSITES

Flash Fiction: Creative Times has a list of their top 10 paying flash fiction competition sites. There are also some listed on nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/competitions.html.
Mixed: Be a Better Writer has a list of (mostly American) current and future competitions.
Mixed: Book Marketing Maven has a list of a few.
Mixed: Duotrope is a great resource for competition and submission opportunities.
Mixed: FanStory lists a variety of ongoing competitions and is a site where you can “share your writing and learn from the feedback that you will receive on everything you write. That includes poetry, stories, book chapters and scripts. When you post your writing you will get feedback that will determine your place in the rankings. FanStory.com is a popular writing site for writers of all skill levels”.
Mixed: Fiction Addiction lists a few competition sites.
Mixed: firstwriter.com/competitions has a great list of competitions but you have to subscribe (not free) to the site to access the full details.
Mixed: Indies Unlimited has a list of some competitions.
Mixed: Ideas Tap has a great list of allsorts.
Mixed: Jacqui Burnett’s Writer’s Bureau has a list of a variety of forthcoming and ongoing competitions.
Mixed: Carole Burdock’s bi-monthly magazine Kudos.
Mixed: Loquax.com lists thousands of competitions including writing comps.
Mixed: The National Association of Writers Groups (based in the UK) lists their competitions on nawg.co.uk/competitions/open-competitions.
Mixed: West Country Writers has a bijoux collection of competitions. 🙂
Mixed: Words Magazine has a variety of competition information.
Mixed: The Poets & Writers website include contests, grants and awards.
Mixed: prizemagic.co.uk has a variety of competitions.
Mixed: Trafford Publishing lists them a month per page.
Mixed: free literary monthly magazine Words with Jam have regular competitions.
Mixed: Write Link also lists forthcoming competitions.
Mixed: Writers Reign lists short story, poetry, non-fiction, performing arts, rolling competitions, children’s writing competitions and book writing awards.
Mixed: writingcontests.wordpress.com lists various competitions.
Novels: apostrophebooks.com/fictionfasttrack.
Poetry: Poetry Kit, poetrylibrary.org.uk/competitions, Writers Reign.
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.
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.
Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
Scriptwriting: hollywoodscriptexpress.com/screenplay_contests.html, scriptfactory.co.uk/go/Default.html, writesofluid.co.uk/screenwriting-competitions.html, and thespiannet.com/writing_contests.shtml.
Short stories: BookTrust has a wonderful list of over 50 short story competitions.
Short stories: Christopher Fielden has a great list of multi-national short story competitions.
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: Writers Reign‘s short stories competitions page lists by deadline date.
Short stories: other sites include Poetry Kit (“shorts & other comps”) and Words Magazine.
Short story collections: 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.

Disclaimer: Morgen can take no responsibility for the accuracy of this information. It is intended as a guide only. Do not part with any money before checking the validity of the outlet.

16 thoughts on “Competitions”

Quillers says:
February 28, 2012 at 3:31 pm


Morgen thanks for the link. My comps calendar has now moved to: https://writingcalendar.wordpress.com/

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morgenbailey says:
February 28, 2012 at 3:47 pm


Duly amended, thanks Sally. 🙂

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kimatsafkhet says:
April 6, 2012 at 9:43 pm


nice, Morgen – how well compiled! Thank you for all the hard work!

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morgenbailey says:
April 6, 2012 at 9:56 pm


Hi Kim. Thank you very much… and I have more to add. 🙂

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Sophie E Tallis says:
April 6, 2012 at 10:36 pm


Great list, Morgen, well done! Just one addition here, Fantasy Faction have a short story competition which ends June 30th 2012: http:fantasywritingcontest.com/
😀

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- morgenbailey says:
  April 6, 2012 at 11:07 pm
  
  
  That’s great, thank you, Sophie. Duly added. 🙂
  
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  - Sophie E Tallis says:
    April 6, 2012 at 11:19 pm
    
    My pleasure! 🙂
    
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FazalAliButt says:
June 15, 2012 at 6:00 pm


I Appreciate your these efforts for the writers like me who are new in the writing business.
I’ve put your blog in my favorites. looking forward to getting more from you in future too. Thinks

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- morgenbailey says:
  June 15, 2012 at 6:04 pm
  
  
  You’re very welcome. I post something at least three times a day so there’s plenty to look forward to. 🙂
  
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Ida Chiavaro says:
July 1, 2013 at 8:10 am


This could possibly be the most useful collection of information on the whole world wide web… Thanks

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- morgenbailey says:
  July 1, 2013 at 8:12 am
  
  
  Thank you very much, Ida.
  
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darkrebecca says:
January 2, 2015 at 11:48 am


Wow, Morgen, that’s a lot of work you’ve put into listing the compos. Thank you, it’s much appreciated.

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- morgenbailey says:
  January 2, 2015 at 11:54 am
  
  
  You’re very welcome, Rebecca. I have more to add but am bogged down with ‘proper’ work at the moment to go through all the info. I’ll hopefully add them in the next few weeks.
  
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sonya says:
January 26, 2015 at 2:06 pm


Wow, this is brilliant. Thank you!

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- morgenbailey says:
  January 26, 2015 at 2:07 pm
  
  
  You’re very welcome, Sonya.
  
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Captain Black says:
April 21, 2015 at 9:40 am


One for your ongoing section, if you would be so kind.
http://www.nawg.co.uk/3805/

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