Birmingham Writers’ Group

Wells Festival of Literature hope you’ll be interested in their annual competition.  There are
almost £2,000 of prizes to win for Short Story, Poetry, and Crime Novel entries,
and with the Crime Novel the winner gets an introduction to an agent!

Judges are all successful authors – Sean Borodale, Della Galton, and Janet Laurence.

Full details are on the website, www.wellslitfest.org.uk.
You can enter on line or download an entry form to enter by post.

Don’t delay – deadline is 31 July!

We would like to let you know that The Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing, sponsored by
Headline and MBA Literary Agents, is calling for entries now.

New for 2014

This year we are very excited to announce that as well as our established novel writing prize
we are breaking new ground and have a fantastic new flash fiction prize.

The winner of our novel writing prize will receive a cheque for £1000, an in-depth
editorial consultation and exclusive lunch with publishing experts. While our
flash fiction winner will see their work published online and receive £100.

Recognised by the publishing industry, The Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing was launched
in 2000 and is an established award for talented new writers. Many of our
previous winners have signed successful publishing deals as the result of
winning this prize, including our two most-recent winners. We hope to
continue our successful track record of finding talented new storytellers, who
can inspire and entertain us, just as Harry Bowling did in his bestselling
novels.

Visit www.harrybowlingprize.co.uk for all the information you need about the prize, including details of how you
can enter, top tips on how to succeed and inspiring stories from previous
winners.

Entries close on 30 September 2013 and you can follow us on twitter (@harrybowling) or on
Facebook to keep up to date with all our latest news. The winner will be announced in February 2014.

The 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all writers, UK and non-UK based, 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Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4,000 words (There is no minimum).

The entry fee is £8 per story.

The closing date for entries is April 30th 2013.

Prizes:

1st £1000 plus £150 Waterstone’s gift card

2nd £700  plus £100 Waterstone’s gift card

3rd £400   plus £100 Waterstone’s gift card

17 further prizes of £100 will be presented to the writers whose stories appear on the shortlist.

All 20 shortlisted writers will have their stories published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 6.

The winning story will, also, be published in Bristol Review of Books magazine.

The 20 shortlisted writers will be invited to an awards ceremony in Bristol in October 2013 when the winners will be announced and the anthology launched.

Any shortlisted writers unable to attend the awards ceremony will be sent their prizes.

The awards ceremony will be part of the 2013 Bristol Festival of Literature.

Judging panel : Ali Reynolds (literary consultant, former Random House editor)

Bidisha (writer, broadcaster, critic) Anna Britten (author and journalist)

Chris Wakling (novelist, Creative Writing tutor)

Full details and rules at www.bristolprize.co.uk

To celebrate Belper’s first Literary Festival, as part of the wider Belper Arts Festival, they are launching a short story competition which offers aspiring writers the chance to have their work published for the first time. Entrants may submit, by 1st March 2013, an original, previously unpublished fictional 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 be published and will receive a prize of £200.00. To obtain an entry form, please contact Kathy kathyf100@hotmail.com

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 6^th and 7^th July 2013 where the audience will vote for the winner.

Plays must be submitted on line and full details can be found on our website http://skybluetheatre.com/newplaywriting.php

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 is launching its first writing prize 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 (http//writers-forum/com).

Entry costs just £3.50 and the deadline is March 11 2013, winners will be announced on 6 June (D Day).

Oscar-winning screen writer and author Julian Fellowes and his wife Emma are among W4W’s patrons. Julian says: “Emma and I feel strongly that we must never forget the debt we all owe to these brave men and women. We are honoured to be involved in this wonderful charity.”

Other patrons include Rt Hon Lord Ashdown, Lt. Col J. Dryburgh, authors Katie Fforde, Katherine McMahon, Louis de Bernieres , Sarah Challis and Mark Hodgson, Daisy Goodwin, paralympian Ann Wild OBE, Taryn Lee QC, artist Rowena Hampton, extreme sportsman  Hugh Williams Preece, Lt Ian Thornson and Founder/Director of the Winchester Writers’ Conference Barbara Large .

For more information, see www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk or follow them on Twitter @Words_4_Wounded

One of the UK’s largest and oldest writing groups, West Sussex Writers, is pleased to announce the launch of its first national short story competition.

With an open theme, generous word count and well-respected final judge – crime and comedy author Simon Brett – West Sussex Writers hopes to attract the cream of the UK’s short story writers.

Chair of West Sussex Writers, Sarah Palmer, said `We’re very excited to be running this, our first national short story competition. We hope to see entries from across all genres, and from beginners to more experienced writers.’

Maximum word count: 3000

Theme: Open

Closing Date: 31^st March 2013

Fee: £5 per entry

Prizes:  1^st prize £200; 2^nd prize £75; 3^rd prize £50

Final judge: Simon Brett

www.westsussexwriters.co.uk

Competition: opening paragraph of a short story – 300 words

Title: Bittersweet, deadline: 27th August, 2012
for a place on “Writing Fiction” by the sea… with Andrew Miller & Tobias Hill in Vejer, Andalucía: Sept 10-15 2012
See: www.arthouseholidays.com for details
Email: info@arthouseholidays.com

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition celebrates and champions creative writing, nurturing talent and bringing work to international attention. There are two categories for entry, Poetry and Short Fiction, and a selection of fantastic prizes including:

• £500 prize money – Poetry winner
• £500 prize money – Short Fiction winner
• Publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual
• Complimentary copy of the Aesthetica Creative Writing Anthology
• A selection of books from our competition partners

Deadline: 31st August

For more information, please visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting

email helena@aestheticamagazine.com

FromThe Asian Writer:

As we’re approaching our fifth anniversary I’m pleased to announce a new short story competition to showcase the best of Asian writing. We’re looking for short stories of up to 3,000 words in length on any theme but which include the word five. Winning entries will be presented in a published collection. £15 per entry, max three. All submitted entries must be new and original fiction.

PRIZES

All published writers will each receive an e-book version and printed version of the book (a cost towards p&p may be requested)

10 runners up will each win a copy of Happy  Birthday to Me: A contemporary collection of Asian literature

A signed copy of The Journey of Om by Chandru Bhojwani

1st Prize

An in-person Literary Consultancy session with The Writing Coach Jacqui Lofthouse (http://www.thewritingcoach.co.uk/about) worth £185

Email entries to editor@theasianwriter.co.uk with Short Stories Competition in the subject heading. Please include a short biography of no more than 75 words.

Closing date May 31st, 2012.