Open Competitions 2025 Results
Liz Ashcroft • 1 December 2025
Results of the 2025 OPEN competitions - Short Story & Poetry
The NAWG OPEN competitions have now been judged. CASH PRIZES for 1st 2nd and 3rd in each category are being awarded. HERE ARE THE RESULTS:
Short Story
1st Simon Rees-Jones - ‘Shot at Dawn’
2nd Charles Kitching - ‘Never Mock the Clown’
3rd Jan Keegan - ‘Life Imitating Art’
Poetry
1st Simon Rees-Jones - ‘The Camera Clicked’
2nd Elin Lewington - ‘A Wild Green Thing’
3rd Gwyneth Box - ‘I Dream of My Mother’
Thank you to all those who entered. The winning entries will be published in our anthology, The Write Path 2025.
The Write Path 2025 anthology is now available in paperback from Amazon, and ebook format from many digital book platforms (including Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Everand, Thalia, Smashwords, and many more!). It comprises the winning entries and judges’ reports from our members’-only competitions, along with the first, second, and third place winners of our open poetry and short story competitions, and the winners of our 250-word Spooky flash fiction competition. The ebook version (ISBN: 978-1-7384361-8-7) is priced £2.99, and the paperback version (ISBN: 978-1-7384361-7-0) is £7.99. For more information, click the Books2Read link and then select your preferred retailer: https://books2read.com/twp2025 And if you missed any of the previous anthologies, check out the links below: 2024: https://books2read.com/twp2024 2023: https://books2read.com/twp2023 2022: https://books2read.com/twp2022 2021: https://books2read.com/twp2021 2020: https://books2read.com/twp2020 2019: https://books2read.com/twp2019 My thanks go to everyone on the committee and the judges for their help with gathering everything together to enable me to produce the anthology, and to Liz for her proofreading assistance! Simon Whaley
New 250-word flash fiction competition theme of LOVE - Hurry - closes on 10th February!
Join by 31st January 2026 and get a special membership deal. Want to write that novel, poetry collection or script? If so join us. We help to set up and run writing groups and provide support for individual writers, to help writers develop and improve their work. For this year only, join early for a reduced price – £30 for groups, £15 for individual membership, and £10 for students. Membership runs until 30th June 2026. See the joining page for details. Benefits include: 15 free members only writing competitions. Group anthology competition. Discounts on workshops and writing events. Support for new writing groups. Monthly online meet ups for individual writer members. Members' magazine. E-Newsletter. Members only website area. Support for self-publishing. Join by 31st January to take advantage of this special offer.
Members can go to the Members Only page (you'll need the password) and read stories that were a little too long to fit in the normal Link magazine - see the section marked 'Fiction Special' --> HERE