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Writing Competitions
Here is a
selection of writing competitions in closing date order. Please email details (no attachments, thank you) of any
competitions you are organising so we can promote them on NAWG's
website.
When
entering competitions do not forget to mention you found out about them on the
NAWG website.

For the annual NAWG / Writers' News competition click
here

For Poetry Competitions take a look at our Poetry
Competition Page

Monthly
or On-going Competitions
The Pages
Quarterly Open Short Story Competition &
Anthology
Submission Deadlines: The next deadlines are June
30th, September 30th and December 31st 2008.
Entry fee as usual is
only £4.00 which includes a basic critique. Each additional entry is
only £2.00.
Prizes are 1st £60.00 2nd £40.00 3rd £20.00. The winning story will be
published on our website, and all three winners plus three runners up
will be published in The Pages Anthology and receive one free copy each.
Cheques or Postal Orders made payable to: Adeola Sheehy-Adekale. Entries
to be sent to: Editor, The Pages, The Basement, 3 St. Michael's Road,
London, SW9 0SL. Email:
the-pages@hotmail.co.uk
Or visit:
www.the-pages.blogspot.com
for further information.

Invisible Ink Short Story
Competition
Twice yearly competition:
Closing dates 31 March and 30 September
Prize: £1,000 + publishing
opportunity
Short stories (2000 - 4000 words)
in general fiction suitable for a mainstream audience. Open to unpublished
prose writers.
Winner is chosen by READER
VOTES and shortlisted entrants receive feedback from readers via the
website. Entrants are invited (but not required) to support fellow writers
by purchasing the current competition anthology - all proceeds go to fund
future competitions and other ventures in new writing.
Full details and online entry
form at website.

Look out for the international "unpublished writers" competition which
started on March 3rd on bookhabit.com. It's free to enter and open to all genres
for works of 50000 words or more - top prize is $5000. Details can be found at
www.bookhabit.com/competition/

The PrimeProse Flash Fiction Award is an international quarterly competition
for original, previously unpublished fictional works of less than 500 words, in
English, in any style or genre.
The winners will receive cash prizes, but each and every entrant will receive
a critique of his work. The first-placed entries will be published online here
on the PrimeProse website but, that apart, the authors will retain all
copyrights.
www.primeprose.co.uk

www.spinetinglers.co.uk
Closing date: Monthly
Launched by writers in Northern Ireland to give aspiring horror and dark fiction
authors a chance to get their foot on the first rung of the publishing ladder.
Every month there will be a competition and the top five stories will be
selected and published on the website. The one judged best by their panel will
win £50.

www.festivalstories.co.uk
No
closing date
Have
you been to Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight Festival, the Wickerman Festival, or
maybe WOMAD or the Big Green Gathering? Have you got an interesting story to
tell about your experience.
Do
you want to see your story in print?
Whether
they make us laugh or cry, we are looking forward to hearing about all your
moments from the festivals. We
want the stories you’d want to tell round the fire in the evening, or read
whilst relaxing in the sunshine.
Stories
can be any length from just a few words, to several pages, but they must
enchant, delight or amuse us.
Great
prizes to be won for the best stories
and publication in a book, which
will be available at the festivals.
RULES
 |
Entrants
must take responsibility to ensure that their entries are entirely original
and do not breach any existing copyright or other rights. |
 |
Entrants
are responsible for ensuring that their entry does not infringe any rights. |
 |
Entrants
grant the competition organisers the right to use their submissions in part
or in entirety, and grant the competition organisers the right to edit or
change entries in any way deemed necessary for publication. |
 |
The
prizes on offer are subject to the terms and conditions of the companies
issuing the prize. |
 |
Entrants
will not be entitled to payment for their entries. |
 |
No
correspondence will be entered into concerning the judge's final decision. |
 |
Entrance
into the competition will be deemed to be acceptance of the above rules and
conditions. |
Do
you have any good pictures from the festivals? We'd love to see them too.
To
enter your story, or pictures, please send them to:
stories@festivalstories.co.uk
pictures@festivalstories.co.uk

This Is Travel/Daily Mail
Reviews
Closing date: Monthly
Prize: £1,000 towards your next holiday
Entry Fee: FREE
This is Travel and the
Daily Mail want to hear from you! Whether you want to have a good old rant about
that Fawlty Towers style hotel, rave about a little bakery in Spain or share
travel tips with other readers, here's your chance to be a travel reporter!
Suffered poor service
while on holiday? Made a complaint but still waiting for a response now you're
home? TV's consumer champion Russell Amerasekera is on hand to help. He'll tell
you what to do - and if that doesn't work he'll fight your corner with the
travel giants himself!
www.thisistravel.co.uk

www.firstwriter.com's
fully searchable database of writing competitions contains details and contact
information for writing contests from around the English-speaking world,
including dozens which are
FREE
to enter

The Reader Classic Rescue Prize
No closing date
If the world's libraries were burning
which book would you save?
Write and tell us which classic (for
these purposes, that's simply any book originally published more than 75 years
ago) you would like to save for future generations. It might be a book that
everyone knows - from the Odyssey to Emma - or it might be something that you
think has been unjustly forgotten - Mrs Oliphant's Autobiography, for example.
It could be a book which has fallen out of print or it could be selling hundreds
every month. Fiction, biography, poetry, thought, the category doesn't matter:
the main criteria for your choice should be that you think it's a book the world
cannot afford to lose.
A Classic Rescue review will be published
in each issue of The Reader and the winner will receive 15 great titles from the
Oxford World's Classic series. Keep your review to a maximum of 850 words,
including plenty of quotations to give our readers the feel of the thing, and
send it, marked Classic Rescue, to:
The
Reader
English Department
University of Liverpool, L69 7ZR

The
Scribble magazine
quarterly short story competitions
Ongoing competitions with
no closing date
For short stories on any subject, to a maximum length of 3,000 words. Prizes of
£75, £25 and £15 in each issue. These are Entry fee is £3 per story, with
FREE
unlimited entries for
annual magazine subscribers. Entry forms are not required.
Website:
www.parkpublications.co.uk
Postal address; Park Publications, 14 The Park, Stow on the Wold, Glos. GL54 1DX
E-mail
(enquiries only):
parkpub14@hotmail.com

www.eternalquality.net
invite written works up to 1000 words in length
Submissions
may be made at anytime and are valid for one month's contest
Each
person can submit up to five entries
All
written material is currently accepted in English, German and Spanish. Volunteer
translators are encouraged to help people of any language submit essays and
poems.
The
Awards are a creative playground. We invite you to be free to play and create
what you feel, on the theme of the eternal qualities
Awards start
on the first and close on the last day of each month. There are no deadlines,
only cycles!
Awarded participants are
announced by the 10th of the following month

Writers'
Forum short story competitions
Closing
date: Each month
www.writers-forum.com

Fledgling
Press Limited Competition
Closing date: End
of each month
Further information at
www.canyouwrite.com

Linkway's
Open Competition Story, Article or Poem
Closing date: End
of each month
SAE to: The Shieling, The Links, Burry Port, Carms SA16 0HU

Secret
Attic
Closing
date: monthly
Entry is
FREE and you can win a prize.
The top
twenty entries will be published in a printed booklet. www.secretattic.com

The David Thomas Charitable Trust Prizes
Closing date:
Monthly
Writers News and Writers Magazine run several competitions for
the David Thomas Charitable Trust. Story categories include: ghost, adult fairy,
love, country, sea, crime, children's. There are several different poetry
categories and This Britain in poetry, prose and pictures.
Full details can be found in Writers' News magazine or from The
David Thomas Charitable Trust, PO Box 6055, Nairn IV12 4YB.
Full details of the Writers'
News and Writing Magazines competitions are also available on their
website: www.writersnews.co.uk

The Seventh Quark
Three separate competitions:
Quarterly
Story Prize (2000-4000 words)
Bi-Monthly
Shorter Story Prize (under 2000 words)
Frantic
Flash Competition.
More details
Email seventhquark@tribe13.co.uk

AUTHOR NETWORK MONTHLY COMPETITION
Different theme each month.
More details at www.author-network.com

“Micro-Stories”
www.txtlit.co.uk competition is open to anyone but must be entered as a
text message from a mobile phone. The theme for August is crime. To enter
simply text crime followed by a space and then the story in no more than 154
further characters to 88010. (Text messages can be no more than 160
characters, hence the restriction.)
The entry fee is £1 plus the cost of a standard text
message as charged by your mobile network operator. There is no limit to the
number of entries but we advise against over doing it. We plan to run
competitions every month indefinitely. The Theme for September will be
romance.
We are offering a first prize of at least £50 which we
will increase depending on the popularity of the competitions.
Rules are as follows:
 |
Competitions are open to anyone of any age who has
access to a mobile phone serviced by a UK mobile network provider |
 |
Entries must be the original work of the entrant
and must not have previously published or broadcast nor simultaneously
entered for another competition |
 |
Entry fees are £1 per entry which will be billed
through your mobile phone account. You will also be billed for a
standard text message for each entry by your mobile phone service
provider. Failure to seek the bill payers permission will invalidate the
entry |
 |
There is no limit to the number of entries that
anyone can make for a competition |
 |
Competitions will run monthly and will begin at
00:01 hours on the first day of the month and close at midnight on the
last day of the month |
 |
Competitions can only be entered from a mobile
phone by texting the given keyword, which changes monthly, followed by
the entry to 88010 |
 |
Entries for single sms competitions can be no
longer than 160 characters including spaces, punctuation, carriage
returns AND the competition keyword |
 |
A first prize of at least £50 will be paid to the
winner of each monthly competition. Prizes will be assessed regularly
depending on the popularity of the competitions |
 |
Results will be published on the txtlit website as
soon as possible after the close of the competition. Prize winners will
be notified via their mobile phone |
 |
Copyright remains with the author, however, by
entering the competition you give permission for your entry to be
published on the txtlit website and to appear without payment in any
publicity material for txtlit.co.uk or in any future publications
compiled by www.txtlit.co.uk
or its associated companies. In such circumstances every effort will be
made to see that the author is credited for their work |
 |
The judge's decision is final and no correspondence
will be entered into |
 |
Submission of entries will indicate acceptance of
the rules and conditions |
Please look at the website for further information, or
contact
admin@txtlit.co.uk

The Green Story?
The Green Story is a creative writing
competition, where each month you can read the previous
chapters and then write what you think the next chapter
should be by submitting your own entry, or read and then
vote on the latest entries.
www.thegreenstory.co.uk
There are adult,
children and teenage categories and the competition will last for ten months /
chapters. Each month budding new writers can submit their entries, which are
then voted on by the public, and at the end of every month the winning entry
becomes the next chapter, and once the story is complete it'll be published - on
recycled paper, of course!
So if you fancy your
chances of appearing in print, getting involved in the 2008 National Year of
Reading, or doing your bit for the environment (we've called it the Green
Story for a reason), then click on the link above and submit your entry.

Global Short Story Competition
Closing day for each competition is the last day of
the month
The first prize is £100
More info:
www.globalshortstories.net
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April 2008
THE PETER POOK
HUMOROUS NOVEL COMPETITION
(To
celebrate the 90th anniversary of the birth of Peter Pook on 25th
April 1918
and
to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death on 8th
September, 1978)
Closing Date for Entries: 25 April, 2008
This
is a FREE competition, in two parts, aimed at finding a modern successor to the
late PETER POOK. A new edition of standard size (120mm x 180mm) paperback
Pooks is being published by Emissary Publishing with captivating new cover
designs by Richie Perrott.
The winner of
the competition will be announced on 8th September 2008 and published
by Emissary Publishing within one year.
PART
ONE
Based
on the premise that all good writers should also be diligent readers Part 1
of the
competition takes the form of three simple questions, the answers to which can
be reached by reading “Going Through The Motions” by Lesley Bown, last winner of
the Peter Pook Humorous Novel Competition published by Emissary. To obtain a
copy you may beg (from a friend!), borrow (from the library), or buy (from your
local bookseller or direct from Emissary Publishing).
PART
TWO
Having
completed Part 1, you should now proceed to Part 2 which requires you to submit
a synopsis and first chapter/chapters (maximum 5,000 words), of a humorous
novel, of any genre, style, location, subject, so long as it is funny, well
plotted and well written; slapstick comedy written in a slapstick manner will
not enhance your chances of winning.
We are looking
particularly for a three-dimensional, main character, and a fresh, modern
approach. What we do not want is a carbon copy of someone else’s style.
The novel
should be between 50,000 and 55,000 words long, should not contain scenes of
explicit sexual behaviour or gratuitous violence. We are looking for family
style humour for adults.
The decision of
the judges is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
Entry Forms and
full rules from: The Peter Pook Novel Competition, Emissary Publishing, P.O. Box
33, Bicester OX26
4ZZ

Mslexia 2008 Women's Poetry Competition
Closing date 25 April.
Judge: Carol Ann Duffy. First three prizes £1000, £500,
£250. 22 other finalists will win £25 each and all winning poems will be
published in Mslexia.
Women only
Competition rules at
www.mslexia.co.uk/menu/stop_press/poetry_comp.html 
Earlyworks Press Sixty Word Sagas. £100 in prizes: 1st prize £60, 2nd £30,
3rd £10.
Closing date April 30th 2008
Rules and conditions:
* The competition is open to anyone over 16.
* Closing date April 30th 2008
* Entry fee £3 UK. Payment in pounds sterling. Postal orders, or cheques
payable to Kay Green, or the use Paypal buttons on site.
* Stories must be the work of the entrant, previously unpublished, and not
simultaneously entered for other competitions.
* Length: Sixty words.
* Each entry must be marked *Sixty Word Sagas* and have the title(s) of
story(ies), author’s name, address, and/or telephone number/email address.
* Judges’ decision is final. No discussion will be entered into.
* Copyright remains with the author although Earlyworks Press reserves the
right to publish winning entries on the website.
* Submission of work will be taken as acceptance of rules and conditions.
* Paper entries are not returnable and cannot be acknowledged without an SAE
marked for that purpose. Send paper copy to Earlyworks Press, Creative Media
Centre, 45 Robertson Street, Hastings, Sussex TN34 1HL.
* Email entries in the body of an email (not in an attachment, please) to the
address on site at
www.earlyworkspress.co.uk
www.earlyworkspress.co.uk
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May
2008
Write Lines
Closing date 1 May
Lymm Festival Annual Creative Writing Competition and this year's theme is A –
Z. Writers of all ages are invited to submit their written interpretation of
this theme on one side of one sheet of A4 paper, in poetry, prose or playscript,
fact or fiction – or any combination of these. £300 in prizes is on offer, and
the fee is £3 (£1 for writers under 16).
All submissions judged anonymously.
For full details and (essential) entry form, send SAE to: A - Z, c/o 39
Fairfield Road, Stockton Heath, Warrington, WA4 2UR or visit the Lymm Festival
website for downloadable entry form
www.lymmfestival.org.uk
All entries will be available to read during Lymm Festival from 26 June to 6
July and winners will be invited to an informal prize-giving on 28 June.

1st FISH PIE OPEN POETRY COMPETITION
Closing date: 7th May 2008.
Prizes: 1st £100, 2nd £30, 3rd £10.
Entry Fee: £2 per poem, £5 for three; 30 lines maximum, any style welcome.
Winners will be notified by e-mail or
telephone. A list of prizewinners will be available from:
wordonthewall@yahoo.com.
Prizes will be awarded on Friday 23rd May
as part of the Bridlington Arts Festival.
Prize-winning poems will be displayed on the ‘wordonthewall’ boards at Yogi’s
Bar, Promenade, Bridlington.
RULES
The competition is
open to anyone aged 18 and over; Poems may be on any subject and in any form or
style; All poems submitted must be the original work of the entrant; They must
not have been published, not be currently submitted or accepted for future
publication, not be simultaneously entered for other competitions, nor be
translations of other poets’ work; They must not previously have been awarded a
prize in any other competition; Poems must be in English, and not exceed 30
lines; Each poem must be typed or neatly hand-written on a separate sheet of A4
paper; All poems are judged anonymously and must not bear your name or address
or any other form of identification; On a separate sheet of A4 you should write
your name, address, telephone number and e-mail, together with the titles of the
poems submitted; For confirmation that your entry has been received, please
enclose a stamped addressed envelope marked RECEIPT; similarly, for a list of
results enclose a stamped addressed envelope marked RESULTS.
Entrants may
submit any number of poems on payment of the appropriate fee: £2 per poem, £5
for 3 poems. Cheques and Postal Orders (in sterling only) should be made payable
to “Bridlington Writers Group”. Entries should be addressed to: Fish Pie, 7 Hill
Street, Bridlington YO16 4JS. Entries must be received no later than 7 May 2008.
Please keep a copy of your poems, as manuscripts cannot be returned. No
alterations can be made to a poem once it has been submitted.
The copyright of
all poems will remain with the author, but the Festival reserves the right to
display winning and commended poems on the WordsOnTheWall boards at
Yogi’s Bar.
No competitor may
win more than one prize. The decision of the judge is final and no
correspondence will be entered into. The Festival reserves the right to change
the judge if necessary or to withhold prizes at the judge’s discretion. Entrants
will be deemed to have accepted these conditions of entry, and entries not
complying with these rules will be disqualified.

Mom Writer's Literary Magazine is currently accepting submissions for our
first-line writing contest
Closing date: 16th May
$10.00 entry fee
It may be creative non-fiction or fiction and should be between 700 - 1,200
words. The first line must be "I knew what I was supposed to be doing, but my
desires distracted me..."
The work submitted will be judged by MWLM Editors, and we will choose one
grand prize winner to receive $100! Please see our website for more details:
http://www.momwriterslitmag.com/. Pam Vanden Bos, Mom Writer's
Literary Magazine Intern.
www.momwriterslitmag.com

SEGORA Short Story Competition
Closing date 29 May
Entries may be on any theme, not previously published or prize winners and must
be written in English. Word count: 1500 to 3000.
First prize: £100 or equivalent in euros. Additional prizes may be awarded at
the discretion of the competition organiser.
The judge is Dr. Phoebe Lambert who has taught literature and creative writing
within adult and further education and has a particular passion for the craft of
short story writing, and the special nature of this important art form.
www.poetryproseandplays.co.uk

NAWG / Writers' News Joint Short Story
Writing Competition with the theme of “Blessings”
The deadline is 31st May 2008
There is no entry fee (one entry per person) and the competition
is open to all.
Judging will take place by 29th July and results announced in
both Writers’ News and Link, and on both NAWG and Writers’ News
websites.
First prize: Your choice of Writers’ News Home Study
course plus a crystal trophy to hold for one year.
Second prize is a subscription to Writers’ News and third
prize is a book token. All winners will receive certificates.
The winning entry will also be published in the 2008 NAWG
Anthology and in Writers’ News.
ALL PRIZES PROVIDED BY WRITERS’ NEWS
RULES
1. Entry is open to any writer over the age of sixteen. There
are no entry forms or entry fees, but entries should be posted to The Third
Writers’ News/NAWG Short Story Competition, Warners Group Publications plc,
5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD, to arrive by the closing date of 31st
May 2008.
2. Stories should be between 1,200 and 1,500 words, typed in
double spacing on single sides of A4. Manuscripts should be accompanied by a
front sheet stating name, address, daytime phone number and (if possible) e-mail
address. Entries must be the original and previously unpublished work of the
entrant, and should not have been submitted for publication elsewhere nor for
any other competition at the time of entry. We regret that entries to this
competition cannot be returned.
3. Writers’ News will provide the first prize winner with
a free Writers’ News Home Study course of the winner’s choice plus a
Crystal Trophy to hold for one year; second prize is a subscription to
Writers’ News; third prize is a book token. All winners receive certificates
and the winning entry will be published in Writers’ News and in NAWG’s
2008 Anthology and may be posted on the Writers’ News website.
Writers’ News and NAWG also reserve the right to publish
second and third prizewinning entries.
4. Judges will be appointed by Writers’ News and judging
decisions will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
5. Copyright of all entries remains vested with the entrant.
www.writersnews.co.uk www.nawg.co.uk
To download a flyer for your writer's group click
here 
Charnwood Arts' miniWORDS 2008 competition.
Saturday 31st May 2008
There are three categories in this year's competition:
1) miniSTORIES - a narrative in prose or verse in 50 words or
less.
2) miniVERSE - any verse form you choose so long as the word
count is
between 25 and 75 words.
3) HAIKU - any form of haiku from traditional to contemporary
western
forms including the 'zip'.
Each category carries a £250 first prize winner. Second and
third place, commended and highly commended will also be awarded in each
category (although there will be no prize for this). Entry is completely free
and
you may enter each category up to three times each.
Visit the website now for full details and to enter using the
online submission form:
www.miniwords2008.sharedspace.org

Yeovil Literary Prize:
Opportunities for Novelists, Poets & Short Story Writers
Closing date 31 May
NOVELISTS – do you find
it hard to discover a prize with a category for you? Look no further. The Yeovil
Literary Prize is open to novelists as well as poets and short story writers.
Novel - The Betty Bolingbroke-Kent Award. Synopsis and 3 Chapters (combined
maximum 15,000 words). Judge: Margaret Graham. First prize £1,000. Entry fee
£10.
Short Story. maximum 2,000 words. Judge: Judith Allnatt. First prize £500. Entry
fee £5.
Poetry. maximum of 40 Lines. Judge: Julian Stannard. First prize £500. Entry Fee
£5; £8 for 2; £10 for 3.
The Western Gazette Literary Award - for the best entry in any category from
Somerset, Dorset or South West Wiltshire, a trophy + £100
More info:
www.yeovilprize.co.uk

2nd Annual Ted Walters International Short Story and Poetry Competition 2008
Closing date:
31st May 2008
1st prize Short
Story Category: Competition Winner £200, Runner up will receive £50
1st Prize Poetry
Category: Competition Winner £200, Runner up will receive £50
Fee: £3.00 for the first
short story or poem, £2.50 for each after that
The University of Liverpool
Creative Writing Society for Lifelong Learning will donate £1 from each and
every poem and short story entered to the Macmillan Cancer Support, which is
once again our chosen charity for the second year running
Competition entry form and rules are available from:
thomas.mcbride2@sky.com

Micro-Fiction Competition 2008
Closing date 31st May
2008
Submission
guidelines: Leaf invites micro-fiction of up to 300
words on any subject
Entry fees:
 | £3 per single submission
|
 | £10 for four submissions
  |
Enter by post or online
Over all winner receives £200
Runner-up receives 10 Leaf Books
All selected entries will be published in a
competition anthology
Winner will
be announced end of July 2008

The
City of Derby Short Story and Poetry Competition
Closing date of 31 May
The competition is based in the city of Derby in England and is run
annually. Open to entrants throughout the world. Judges Alex Keegan,
Paul Groves.
Full details at the website:
www.cityofderbywritingcompetition.org.uk
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June
2008
The Bridport Prize 2008
Closing date 30 June
The richest OPEN writing prize in the English language. Short Stories:
First prize £5000. Poems: First Prize £5000.
Maximum 5000 words for short stories. Maximum 42 lines for poems. The
Prize is open to anyone, including non-UK applicants over 18 years.
Entry fee is £6 per poem or story.
All other details at website and you can also enter online at
www.bridportprize.org.uk

Cinnamon Press Writing
Awards
Deadlines 30 June
Novel/Novella: 1st prize -
£400 + publishing contract. Submit 10,000 words.
Short Story: (2– 4,000)
words 1st prize - £100 & publication + runners up anthology. Fee for
all genres - £16 (poetry & story fee includes winners’ anthology).
Entries by post + sae &
details - name, address, email, working title, nom de plume - to:
Meirion House, Glan yr afon, Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd,
LL41 3SU.
Details
www.cinnamonpress.com

The Writers Bureau Poetry & Short Story Competition 2008
The closing date is 30th June.
Entering is easy. Simply visit the competition website at
www.writersbureau.com/competition where you can read last year's
winning entries and then download an entry form. Alternatively, you can
copy and paste your entry directly into the online form.
Prize: £1000
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July
2008
Mere Literary Festival Short
Story Competition
Closing date
7 July
The senior judge this year
is prize-winning novelist and short story writer Marion Molteno. Her novel,
A Shield of Coolest Air, won the David Thomas Award and If You Can Walk You
Can Dance was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Her third
novel, Somewhere More Simple, was published last year.
Stories, on any topic but
with a maximum count of 2,500 words, could win cash prizes of £300, £200,
£100, plus 3x Runners-up of £20.
There are also Local and
Junior awards.
Entry forms with full
details are available by post (with sae please) from MLF, Lawrences, Old
Hollow, Mere, Wilts. BA12 6EG or on line at
www.merelitfest.co.uk - the festival’s new website.

Doris Gooderson Short Story
Competition
Closing
date: 15th July 2008
Wrekin
Writers have launched the 2008 Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition,
inviting writers to submit short stories not exceeding 1200 words, for
an entry fee of £3 or £10 for 4 entries.
Prizes
are £80, £40 and £20 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd
respectively.
The
closing date for entries is 15th July 2008, and full rules
and entry forms are available from the website at
www.wrekinwriters.co.uk Alternatively you can send a stamped
addressed envelope to:
The Competition Secretary
29 Christine Avenue,
Wellington,
Shropshire,
TF1 2DX
Last
year’s competition attracted over 130 entries from all over the world.
Winning entries maybe published on the Wrekin Writer Website.

The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing
Contest
Deadline: July 31, 2008
Winners will be announced on August 31, 2008
Open
to everyone whether experienced or not. This competition welcomes anyone who
loves to arrange words into beautiful art or to write a short story that is
worth telling. And to all who have the ability to dream. Write your best short
story or poem for a chance to win cash prizes. All works must be original.
www.dreamquestone.com
Guidelines:
(1) Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject, style or form, single or
double line spacing, neatly hand printed or typed.
And/or
(2) Write a short story five pages
maximum, single or double line spacing, on any subject or theme, creative
writing, fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal
entries and screenwriting). Must also be neatly hand printed or typed.
Multiple poem and story entries are accepted
Prizes:
Writing Contest
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First Prize: $500 |
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Second Prize: $250 |
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Third Prize: $100
|
Poetry Contest
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First Prize: $250 |
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Second Prize: $125 |
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Third Prize: $50 |
Entry fees:
Writing Contest entry fee is: $10 per short story
Poetry Contest entry fee is: $5 per poem
To send
entries by mail:
Include title and story or poem, your name, address, phone, email, brief
biographical info. (Tell us a little about yourself) on the coversheet, add a
self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation. Mail entries/fees
payable to: Dreamquestone.com
Dream Quest
One
Poetry &
Writing Contest
P.O. Box 3141
Chicago, IL
60654
Visit
www.dreamquestone.com
for further
details, to print out an entry form or to enter online

Kenneth Grahame Society – Short Story
Competition
Closing date: July 31st
2008
As part of the Kenneth
Grahame Society's celebration of the centenary year of The Wind in the
Willows, a short story competition is being held to echo some of beauty
of Kenneth Grahame's classic. This is a unique opportunity for creative
writers everywhere to write a short story in the same style as The Wind
in the Willows and have it published. It is, similarly, a unique
opportunity for academic writers to use creative writing as an
alternative approach for presenting some new insights into the book. And
it is an opportunity for all to pay homage to their favourite book and
add to The Wind in the Willows canon.
Prizes
1st £500 2nd £150 3rd £100
If there is a good response and sufficient
strong entries, a number of further entries, along with the top three,
will be published in a collection of short stories at the end of the
year. These entries will be awarded a £50 prize and a copy of the book.
There is no entry fee.
Title/Theme
The title is open, but the
story is to be written as a sequel, prequel or countertext to The Wind
in the Willows.
Guidelines and Formats
The length of the short
stories should be approximately 5000 words - similar to the average
length of the chapters in The Wind in the Willows. (Entries of 4500-6000
words will be accepted.)
The cover page should
clearly state the title and number of words, and provide essential
contact details - name, address, email address and phone number.
Entries should be printed
on A4 paper with double line spacing and wide margins. (No handwritten
entries, please.) After the judging of the entries, authors of the
winning short stories will be asked to submit their story in MS Word
format and append a brief biography.
Entries will be judged for
their plausibility and continuity as a Willows sequel (or prequel or
countertext), as well as for the quality of their storyline and style.
Entry Deadline and
Results
Entries must be recieved
by July 31st 2008. The winning entry will be announced and read at the
Kenneth Grahame Society's Willows celebrations in Fowey, Cornwall, on
September 6th-7th 2008.
Entries should be posted to:
Nigel McMorris
Kenneth Grahame Society
37 Ashtree Hill
Tandragee
Co Armagh
Northern Ireland BT62
2HP
E:
badger@kennethgrahamesociety.net
W:
www.kennethgrahamesociety.net

HISSAC Annual Open Short
Story Competition 2008
Closing
date 31 July
HISSAC is the Highland & Islands Short Story Association, which
seeks to lend support to writers and has members from all over the
world; entrants need have no connection whatsoever to Scotland & we
actively encourage writers to enter, no matter where they live. Chairman
of judges is novelist & 2006 Scotsman/Orange Short Story Winner 2006,
Clio Gray
First prize £300, 2nd & 3rd
prizes of £50
Theme is open; we like
unusual, but no stories for children, please
Max. word count 2,500.
Entry fee £4 per entry or £10 for 3
Cheques to “HISSAC”
Winners notified at the end
of Sept 2008, and winner & runners-up will be published on the website.
No entry form needed but please include a cover sheet with story title &
contact details; all entries should be single sided and double spaced,
preferably in a 12 point font
Postal entries only please
to HISSAC, 20 Lochslin, Balintore, Easter Ross, Scotland IV20 1UP
Email:
info@hissac.co.uk
www.hissac.co.uk
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August
2008
The
£2,000 Biographers’ Club Prize
The
deadline for entries is 1st August 2008.
Sponsored
by the Daily Mail
Entry fee: £10 (cheques
made payable to the Biographers’ Club).
Supports
uncommissioned first-time writers working on a biography. This year’s judges are
Nicola Beauman, publisher of Persephone Books and author of Cynthia Asquith
and Morgan: A Life of E.M. Forster; Richard Davenport-Hines, whose books
include biographies of Proust and Auden; and Andrew Crofts, prolific ghostwriter
and author of the forthcoming novel The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride.
Applicants
should submit a proposal of no more than 20 pages, including a synopsis and
10-page sample chapter (double-spaced, numbered pages), CV, a note on the market
for the book and competing literature, to the prize administrator: Anna Swan,
anna@annaswan.co.uk
or by post to 119A Fordwych Road, London NW2 3NJ.

4th Annual UK Trade Union Competition
Closing date: 30th August
The 4th annual short story competition open to members of all UK
Trade Unions.
Entry forms available from: Wordsmag (Union Comp), PO
Box 13574, London W9 3FX
More info:
www.wordsmag.com/tradeunion.htm

The Wellington Town Council
(Shropshire) Short Story Competition
Closing
date
31st August 2008
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First Prize overall £150 |
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Second Prize overall £100 |
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Third Prize overall £75 |
Best Story submitted by a
Shropshire resident: Glass Trophy – retained by winner
Entries should be typed on (one side of) A4 paper
- double spacing please - and not exceed 4,500 words
Entry fee: £3.00
The
competition rules and the entry form are available on:
www.wellington-shropshire.gov.uk

Short Story
Competition 2008
Twyford Writers
are proud to
announce their fourth annual short story writing competition based
on the theme:
Chemistry
Closing date:
30th August 2008
Competition
Rules:
1. All entries
must be previously unpublished and entirely the entrants’ own work
and must be no longer than 3,500 words. Simultaneous submissions are
allowed.
2. Each story
must be accompanied by a £3.50 ($6.90) entry fee (Cheques/Postal
Orders made payable to ‘Twyford Writers’).
3. Prizes shall
be awarded as follows: 1st £200, 2nd £100, 3rd £50
3. Entries must
be in English on single sides of A4 paper, page numbered and
preferably double-spaced.
4. Each entry
must be |