COMPETITION GUIDE 2017

Aim high and win big! Start planning your competition year with details of over 250 competitions closing during 2017

APRIL

Creative Comedy Project

500-word stories on a theme from ‘Anita and Me’ by Meera Syal

Prizes: £300, £150, £50 Free entry

Closing date: 1 April

http://writ.rs/anitaandme

Firstwriter International Short Story Contest

Short stories up to 3,000 words, any theme

Prizes: £200, ten special commendations will receive subscription voucher worth £20, publication for all winners

Entry fee: £6.50

Closing date: 1 April

www.firstwriter.com/competitions/short_story_contest/

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest

Highly enjoyable annual competition for

humorous and spoof poetry, up to 250 lines

Prizes: $1,000, $250, ten $100 Honorable Mentions

Free entry

Closing date: 1 April Adam Cohen, Winning Writers, Attn: Wergle Flomp Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060-3961, USA

adam@winningwriters.com

www.winningwriters.com/wergle

Leicester Writes Short Story Prize

Short stories up to 3,000 words

Prizes: £100, £50

Entry fee: £7, £3 Leicestershire writers

Closing date: 3 April

http://leicesterwrites.co.uk/short-storyprize-2017/

Colm Tóibín International Short Story Award

Short stories, 1,800-2,000 words

Prizes: €1000, €500, €350

Entry fee: €8

Closing date: 1 April

Colm Tóibín Short Story, c/o Focal @ Enniscorthy Library, Lymington Road, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, Ireland

http://writ.rs/colmcomp

Historical Novel Society New Novel Award

An outstanding unpublished historical novel

Prizes: £3,000

Entry fee: $35 non-members, $20 members

Closing date: 1 April TBC

http://historicalnovelsociety.org

Melita Hume Poetry Prize

Annual competition for a collection by

poets under 35 from Eyewear Publishing

Prizes: £1,000, publication

Entry fee: £20

Closing date: 2 April

www.eyewearpublishing.com

Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize

Unpublished short stories, 2,000-5,000 words

Prizes: Aus $7,000, $2,000, $1,000, 3 x $850

Entry fee: $25

Closing date: 10 April Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, Studio 2, 207- 229 City Rd, Southbank, Vic. 3006, Australia

www.australianbookreview.com.au

The Poetry Kit Spring Comp

Poetry of any length on any subject

Prizes: £100

Entry fee: £3.50, £8 for 3, £10 for 5

Closing date: 19 April

comps@poetrykit.org

www.poetrykit.org

Basil Bunting Poetry Award

Poems up to 40 lines

Prizes: £1,000, £750, £250

Entry fee: £7 for a single poem, £5 per poem for multiple entries

Closing date: 7 April Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts, Percy Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RY

ncenla@ncl.ac.uk

www.ncl.ac.uk/ncla/competitions/

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

Deliberately bad opening lines to novels,

comic writing inspired by Edward Bulwer-

Lytton’s notorious Paul Clifford opening,

‘It was a dark and stormy night…’

Prizes: Modest prizes, but a lot of interest

Free entry

Closing date: officially 15 April each year, actually 30 June

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, Scott Rice, Department of English, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192-0090 USA

srice@pacbell.net

www.bulwer-lytton.com

The Ruskin Poetry Prize

Open competition for poems up to 40 lines

Prizes: winners published in POEM magazine

Entry fee: £5, £3 each additional

Closing date: 17 April

http://writ.rs/ruskinpoetryprize2017

Bath Novel Award

For the first 5,000 words of a novel,

plus one-page synopsis

Prizes: £2,000, £500

Entry fee: £25

Closing date: 24 April

The Bath Novel Award, PO Box 5223, Bath BA1 0UR

entries@bathnovelaward.co.uk

http://bathnovelaward.co.uk

Erewash Writers Pets Aplenty Competition

Animal stories between 500 and 600 words

Prizes: Book, online publication

Free entry

Closing date: 20 April

EWG Pets Aplenty Competition, Parklands Connexion, Stanhope Street, Long Eaton NG10 4QN

erewashwriterscomps@hotmail.co.uk

erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com

The RA The Ruskin The Ruskin The Ruskin Pin Drop Short Story Award 2017

Short stories up to 4,000 words

Prizes: A reading by a special guest at an evening at the Royal Academy of Arts

Free entry

Closing date: 23 April

pindrop@pindropstudio.com

http://pindropstudio.com/

Red Shed Open Poetry Competition

For poems up to 50 lines

Prizes: £100, £50, £25 Wakefield postcode prize

Entry fee: £3, £2 each subsequent

Closing date: 29 April the Competition Organiser, Red Shed Open Poetry Competition, 3 Sandal Cliff, Sandal, Wakefield, WF2 6AU

www.currockpress.com

Geoffrey Whitworth Competition

Original one-act plays first performed in one-act play festivals organised by All England Theatre Festival, Association of Ulster Drama Festivals, Drama Associaiton of Wales and Scottish Community Drama Association

Prizes:the Geoffrey Whitworth Trophy

Free entry

Closing date: 30 April

Scottish Community Drama Association, Suite 88, Stirling Enterprise Park, Springkerse, Stirling, FK7 7RP; tel: 01786 440077

headquarters@scda.org.uk

http://scda.org.uk

Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition

Poems up to 50 lines

Prizes: £600, £300, £150, £150 sonnet prize

Entry fee: £4, £12 for four, £3 thereafter

Closing date: 30 April the Competition Secretary, Ware Poets Competition, 21 Trinity Road, Ware, SG12 7DB

www.poetrypf.co.uk/comps/ware17.pdf

RW First Chapter Competition

Submission package: three chapters,

synopsis, letter

Prizes: Submission review by literary agent Laura Williams

Entry fee: £15

Closing date: 30 April

www.retreatwest.co.uk

Crediton Short Story Competition

Stories up to 3,000 words on the theme

of ‘echoes’

Prizes: £75, a night’s stay at the Lamb Inn, Sandford, publication in Riptide, £30 runner up

Entry fee: £5

Closing date: 30 April

Credition Short Story Competition, Park House, Sandford, Crediton EX17 4NQ

stories@shakspeare.org

http://credfest.co.uk

Overton Poetry Prize

A sequence of poems up to 300 lines on the

subject of the poet’s choice

Prizes: Chapbook publication, 2 x £50

Entry fee: £10

Closing date: 30 April

www.lboro.ac.uk/store/overton

Exeter Story Prize

Short stories on any theme, up to 10,000 words

Prizes: £500, £150, £100, £200 Trisha Astley Award for the best humorous story

Entry fee: £10

Closing date: 30 April

Cathie Hartigan, 103 Old Tiverton Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 6LD

Tel: 07722 144357

creativewritingmatters@virginmedia.com

www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk

Grey Hen Poetry Competition

For poems, up to 40 lines, by women 60+

Prizes: £100, £50, £25, website publication

Entry fee: £4, £10 for three

Closing date: 30 April

Joy Howard, Grey Hen Press, PO Box 269, Kendal LS9 6QZ

Tel: 01535 645711

info@greyhenpress.com

www.greyhenpress.com

Momaya Press Short Story

Competition

Short stories up to 3,000 words on the

theme of dystopia/utopia

Prizes: $200, $100, $50, winners and shortlisted authors will be published in the Momaya Short Story Review

Entry fee: £8

Closing date: 30 April

www.momayapress.com

Tom Howard/John H Reid

Fiction and Essay Contest

Short stories, essays or other prose, up to

6,000 words. International entries welcome

Prizes: $1,500, five honourable mentions $100 in each category

Entry fee: $18

Closing date: 30 April

Adam Cohen, Winning Writers, Attn: Tom Howard Short Story Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060-3961, USA

adam@winningwriters.com

www.winningwriters.com/tomstory

Ver Poets Open Poetry

Competition

For poetry, up to 30 lines; open theme/form

Prizes: £600, £300, £100, publication in the Ver Prize anthology and on website

Entry fee: £4, £10 for three, £2 each extra

Closing date: 30 April

Gillian Knibbs, 181 Sandridge Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 4AH

Tel: 01727 762601

gillknibbs@yahoo.co.uk

www.verpoets.org.uk

Short Scripts Short Film Fund

Short scripts between 3 and 13 pages

Prizes: Production budget of $15,000

Entry fee: £30

Closing date: 30 April

www.shorescripts.com/shortfilmfund/

Fish Publishing Poetry Contest

The Fish Poetry Contest was established in 2006. This year’s judge, poet Jo Shapcott, will be selecting the 10 poems to be published in the 2017 Fish Anthology. The anthology will be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival in July ’17.

Poetry up to 300 words

First Prize: €1,000

Second Prize: A week in residence at AnamCaraRetreat.com

Entry fee: €14 (€8 subsequent entries)

Judge: Jo Shapcott

Closes: 31st March 2017

Results: 15th May 2017

Also online:

- Writing Courses

- Critique and Editing Service

Fish Publishing, Durrus, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland

Website:

www.shpublishing.com

Enter online or by post

Win Your Way to Swanwick

Swanwick Summer School is a week-long programme for writers of all ages, abilities and genres.

To win a place there are three categories:

A poem up to 40 lines, a short story up to 1000 words, children’s fiction up to 1000 words.

The theme for all entries is ‘Escape’.

Prizes: A fully inclusive week at the 2017 Summer School for the winner in each category; Writing Magazine manuscript appraisal for second; and a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2017 for third.

Entry fee: £5 for each work entered

Closing date: 30 April 2017

Make your cheque payable to

WARNER GROUP PUBLICATIONS

Send your entries to: Lauren Beharrell (Swanwick 2017), Warners Group Publications, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD Multiple entries are allowed within each category, and for each category – send £5 per entry.

Email: secretary@swanwickwritersschool.org.uk

Website: http://www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk/

Divine Chocolate Poetry Comp

For poems on the theme ‘sharing tastes

divine’, 7-11, 12-16 and 17+

Prizes: Divine chocolate, goodies, book tokens

Free entry

Closing date: 30 April

Divine Chocolate, 4 Gainsford Street, London SE1 2NE

poetry@divinechocolate.com

www.divinechocolate.com/uk/poetry

Southport Writers’ Circle