Birmingham Writers’ Group

Chorley & District Writers’ Circle launch their annual short story competition with prizes totalling £180.

The theme this year is a little bit different: ‘Chaos in Lancashire’. We are looking for a setting in or strong connection to any part of Lancashire.

Maximum word count is 2,000.

Closing date: 4 Oct 2015

Judge: Shortlist will be judged by the competition’s sponsors: editorial consultancy Fiction Feedback www.fictionfeedback.co.uk

Prizes: £100, £50 and £30

Entry fee: £5 for one story, £9 for two or £13 for three.

The three winning stories will be published in the Circle’s annual collection of writing, Aware. Shortlisted entrants’ names and story titles will be listed in Aware, and on the Circle’s website and Facebook page as well as on sponsor Fiction Feedback’s website. All rights remain with the author.

Submissions: can be made by email or post. Email: mail@chorleywriters.org.uk Post: Chorley & District Writers’ Circle, The Writing House, 3 Dale View, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 3QJ.

Please submit a separate cover page with your name, contact details including email and phone, story title(s) and first line(s). Please ensure the story manuscript itself does not feature your name. If emailing, please send the cover sheet and your story as two separate files attached to the same email.

Payment is by cheque to the above address or by PayPal. Please ensure you provide details to enable us to marry up your payment, however you make it, with your story submission.

We reserve the right to cancel the competition and refund entry fees if entries are insufficient to cover the prize fund.

See our website for more details including the PayPal button: www.chorleywriters.org.uk Any queries: dea@compedge.net

We hope you have fun writing a story with this intriguing theme.

People sometimes ask what criteria the stories are judged by. These are fairly equal considerations:

1)      Interpretation of theme

2)      Originality

3)      Quality of writing; narrative drive, pace and flow, characterisation, plot, technique

4)      Quality of prose; grammar, spelling and punctuation.

We hope that’s helpful and look forward to receiving your entry by October 4.

The National Literacy Trust has  just launched an exciting new Poetry Prize with Bloomsbury Publishing!

Enter your poems and one of them could feature in a poster campaign across the country.

There’s also an iPad and £250 of books up for grabs. All proceeds go to the work of the National Literacy Trust.

Open now, closes 31 August 2015 with an announcement of the shortlist on 2 October, National Poetry Day.

www.literacytrust.org.uk/poetryprize

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is open for entries. Now in its eighth year, the award is internationally renowned and judged by industry experts including Arifa Akbar, literary editor of The Independent and inewspapers.

Prizes include:

• £500 prize money – Poetry winner
• £500 prize money – Short Fiction winner
• Publication in the Creative Writing Annual
• A selection of books from Vintage and Bloodaxe
• Subscription to Granta
• A complimentary copy of next year’s Creative Writing Annual

To save 30% CLICK HERE and enter discount code SAVE-5.

You have until 31 August to send us your work.

OFFER ENDS WEDNESDAY 10 JUNE

You are invited to enter the Short Story Competition 2014 being run by the Bedford Writing Competition. This is a new competition with the aim of providing a platform for the finest in fiction writing. BWC is a non-profit making organisation and any proceeds will be donated to charity.

This year the competition is for short stories of up to 3000 words in length, on any theme. Prizes totalling £200 will be awarded to three stories judged to be the best by award-winning novelist Leigh Russell with ten of the short-listed entries being published on BWC’ s website.

To see the entry requirements for stories which should be submitted by 30th September 2014 please click here

We look forward to receiving your entries.

Good luck.

The BWC Organising Committee

Twice Man Booker Prize winning author, Hilary Mantel, will be judge for this competition.

First Prize £3000 and two Runners Up Prizes of £500

open for entries from May 1st to June 30th.

For more details, please see here

SHORT STORY COMPETITION, from Heather King

OPEN TO:   UNPUBLISHED AUTHORS

CLOSING DATE:   30 APRIL 2014

GENRE:   ANY BUT HORROR

WORD LIMIT:   1500 words

JUDGES:   SUE JOHNSON, HEATHER KING

PRIZES:   1ST £50     2ND £25    3RD £15

ENTRY FEE:   £5.00

OPENING SENTENCE:      ”She did not need a looking glass to know she must look a fright.”

Cheques made payable to Sue Johnson

Double space entry

Put contact details on separate sheet

Entries will not be returned, so please do not send your only copy!
Only postal entries accepted. Please ensure correct postage!

Send To:

‘Ridiculous’ Short Story Competition,

c/o 2, Teme Close,

Bromyard,

Herefordshire.

HR7 4TP

http://regencywriter-hking.blogspot.co.uk/

In 2014, Manchester Metropolitan University’s Cheshire Faculty is launching the inaugural MMU Novella Award, the first iteration of what will become a bi-annual literary prize. The competition will conclude with a one-day Novella Festival at the Cheshire Campus consisting of readings, talks and panel discussions. Novelist Jenn Ashworth will front the judging panel and decide the winner after a team of internal readers whittles down the submissions to a shortlist

Entries must be between 20,000 and 40,000 words long. The closing date for the competition is 23 May 2014

Details: http://www.cheshire.mmu.ac.uk/dev/novella/

Due to its success last year, the Belper short story competition will again form part of the wider Belper Arts Festival.

Entrants may submit, by 31st March 2014, an original, previously unpublished story on any subject or genre.

The maximum word limit is 2500. There is an entry fee of £5 per story.

The best story will recieve a prize of £200. Second prize is a £50 book voucher.

Contact Kathy or Joan for an entry form.

http://www.belperartsfestival.org/litMain.php

Note that Birmingham Writers Group member Simon Fairbanks won this competition last year – take a look at his winning entry at the page above!

Words for the Wounded’s 2nd writing prize is launched www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk – raising money to help in the recovery of wounded service personnel.

It has a 1st prize of £250, 2nd £100 and 3rd £50.

They ask for poetry, non-fiction or fiction up to a maximum of 400 words on the subject of The Journey. It can be physical, emotional or both.

The closing date is 11 March.

Have a look at the website and you can get all the details there.

There is also a W4W blog which includes writing tips which may be of interest (www.wordsforthewounded.blogspot.co.uk )