Details

Details

UK Writing Competitions (currently 75)

Updated 8.8.07

Writers’ Forum Short Story Competition.  There is a new contest in each issue of this glossy writers’ mag.  All types of stories are accepted, from horror to romance, with a length of between 800 and 3,000 words.
    Closing: The 5th of each month.  Entries arriving too late for one comp are entered in the next.
    Prizes: £300, £150, £100 in each issue, with an annual trophy and a cheque for £1,000 for the best story of the year.  All entries receive a critique.
    Entry Fee : £10, or £7 for subscribers to the magazine. Includes a critique.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

This Is Travel/Daily Mail Reviews.  Fancy yourself as a travel writer?  Here’s your chance to test your mettle.  Just send in a review of your holiday or some aspect of it, and it could appear in the Daily Mail’s travel pages (Saturdays).  Reviews are published on the website, and the best appear in the paper.  The best of the best gets the prize.
    Closing: Monthly.
    Prize: Five Lonely Planet guidebooks of your choice.
    Entry Fee: None.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

WriteBuzz Writing Competitions.  WriteBuzz is a ‘literary hub’ for writers which runs regular writing competitions of various types.  Subscribers can enter free; others pay an entry fee.  Subscribers can also publish their work on the site.  Well worth a visit.
    Closing: Various dates.
    Prizes: Various.
    Entry Fee: Various.
    Website: Click Here.

Forward Press Animal Antics Competition.  This is for poems of up to 30 lines about your pet.  In addition to the poem, you are expected to send a photo (of the animal, not you, you vain fool).
    Closing: Unknown.
    Prize: £1,000.
    Entry Fee: None.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Whidbey Writing Competition.  This contest from Whidbey Writers Workshop in the USA is open worldwide and is for fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and writing for children or young adults.  Up to 1,000 words.  I should point out that they have a rather strange - and if I may say so lazy - way of selecting a winner for this one.  The judge reads submissions until he or she finds one that ‘knocks his/her socks off’.  Never mind that the next one might have divested the judge of his/her pants and woolly vest, the remaining entries are tossed aside without so much as a glance.  However, you can submit you entry again if it isn’t selected (try to get it in early, as entries are read in order of submission).
    Closing: Monthly.
    Prize: $50.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Global Short Story Competition.  This contest, which is supported by the Darlington Arts Centre in County Durham, is for stories of up to 2,000 words on any theme.
    Closing: End of each month.
    Prize: £100.  In addition there is a £250 annual prize for the best of the monthly winners.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    Website: Click Here.

The Pages Open Short Story Competition.  This is a quarterly contest for stories in any genre except children’s.  Up to 4,000 words will be accepted.
    Closing: End of March, June, September and December.
    Prize: £60, £40, £20.
    Entry Fee: £4 for the first, £2 thereafter.  In-depth critique: £2.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Authearth Writing Competitions.  I know nothing about Authearth except that it’s a new online community for readers, writers and cartoonists.  There are six categories in the monthly contest: Audio, Book Review, Book Chapter, Column Post, Poetry.  You post your entry on the site so that readers can vote for it (or not vote for it, as the case may be).
    Closing: Monthly.
    Prize: £50 each month.  There is an annual prize of £500 for the best overall winner.  In addition the best book published on Authearth in 2008 will win £1,000.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Website: Click Here.

Books to Improve Your Writing Skills  

Poetry On the Lake International Poetry Competition.  This annual contest from Italy has three categories: Silver Wyvern (for poems of up to 60 lines on the theme of Colour), Formal Verse (poems of up to 40 lines on any theme), and Short Poems (up to 10 lines, any theme).  The judges are Jo Shapcott, Penelope Shuttle and Michael Swan.
    Closing: 12.5.08.
    Prizes: Silver Wyvern category: 1st - £400 plus Alessi ‘Wyvern’ bowl.  2nd - £100.  3rd & 4th - £50.   Formal Verse - £50 plus Alessi bowl.  Short Poems - £50 plus Alessi bowl.
    Entry Fee: £5 each, 3 for £12, 6 for £20.  
    Website: Click Here.

Virginia Warbey Poetry Prize.  This is for poems of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 19.5.08.
    Prizes: £800, £350, £200. 
    Entry Fee: £3 each or £12 for five.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

The Times Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation.  How many readers aged 18 and under does The Times have, I wonder?  And how many aged 14 and under?  And how many of these translate poetry in their spare time instead of, say, playing computer games that are well good?  Not a vast number, I would have thought, and yet the contest has two categories for this group.  That’s probably why the promoters put it on the Internet: there’d be no entries otherwise.  Fortunately, adults may also have a go.  To enter, send a poem translated into English together with a commentary and the original poem.  But first ask yourself this: Is there really such a shortage of home-produced poetry that we need to ship it in, like bananas, from countries that don’t even speak the lingo?
    Closing: 23.5.08
    Prizes: Adults - £750, £500, £200.  18 and Under - £250, £150, £100.  14 and under - £100.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Segora Short Story Competition.  This contest, which comes courtesy of a French-based group called International Writers’ Block, is for stories on any theme, of between 1,500 and 3,000 words.
    Closing: 29.5.08.
    Prize: £100.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    Comp Page: Click Here .

New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition.  This is for poems of up to 40 lines on any subject.  There is in addition to the open section a junior section and a hiaku section.  These have different prizes and different entry fees, but it’s gone midnight and I’m too weary to bother with them, so I’ll leave it to you.
    Closing: 30.5.08.
    Prizes: Open Section: $500, $200, $100.
    Entry Fee: NZ$5.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Blue Butterfly Poetry Competition 2008.  This one, from Blue Butterfly Publishers, is for Christian poems of up to 40 lines.  These can be submitted in English or Scots.
    Closing: 30.5.08.
    Prizes: £100, £50, £25.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

TXTLit Micro Story Competition.  For this contest you need a mobile phone.  Well, everyone’s got one, haven’t they?  No.  There’s still one person in the British Isles who hasn’t.  Me.  I don’t like phones of any sort.  I have one that plugs into the wall but I never answer it when it rings.  I think: ‘They’ll ring again if it’s important.’  They seldom do, and if they do I never answer it and they never ring again - which proves they were just time-wasters.  Now, I may seem to be rambling a bit here, but hey, what do you know, this turns out to be relevant because you mustn’t ramble in this competition.  Limit your stories to 154 characters (letters and spaces, not people), and while you’re about it, refrain from using abbreviated TXT gibberish, as this is not welcome.  At last - someone is fighting back on behalf of the English language!  There is a different theme each month.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prize: £50.
    Entry Fee: £1 plus the normal cost of sending a text message (no use asking me what that is).
    Website: Click Here.

                                       A Reader Writes ...
Dear Michael Shenton,

I would just like to say ‘thanks’.  I entered a writing competition that I saw on your website. I didn’t win but still thought the story was OK. I re-wrote it and submitted it to The Lady. It was published! This was the first story that I have had published and I was very happy. Also ecstatic, giggly, smug, cheerful, optimistic and generally jolly pleased with myself. I would not have written that particular story if it had not been for your entertaining, helpful and inspirational website.  -  Patsy Collins.
 
Thanks, Patsy. This is a useful reminder to us all that a non-winner isn’t necessarily a dud.  Ah, if only I could remember this myself!  Back in 2003 I was shortlisted for the CWA’s Debut Dagger Award but didn’t win.  I started to revise the story but never got around to finishing it because my confidence had been dented.  On the same shortlist was a chap called Otis Twelve from Iowa.  We shared the same table at the Awards lunch and the same strained smiles when someone else got the Dagger.  Otis, however, is made of more resilient stuff than me and didn’t give up on his novel.  He entered it for the 2005 LitIdol contest at the London Book Fair and blow me if he didn’t win!

Yeovil Literary Prize.  This one gets bigger every year.  Originally intended for local sheep farmers and ploughmen, it unaccountably attracted entries from around the world and put the small West Country town of Yeovil on the literary map.  The mayor has bought taken elocution lessons, and there are plans to turn one of the ale houses into a library.  Three categories: Novel (synopsis and 3 chapters totalling no more than 15,000 words), Short Story (up to 2,000 words), and Poetry (up to 40 lines).
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: Novel - £1,000, £250, £100.  Short Story - £500, £200, £100.  Poetry - £500, £200, £100. There is in additional the Western Gazette Literary Award of £100 plus a trophy for a writer from Somerset, Dorset or South Wiltshire.
    Entry Fees: Novel - £10.  Short Story & Poetry - £5.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Leaf Books Micro-Fiction 2008 Competition.  By micro they mean up to 300 words.  Hah, call that micro?  In my day we had real micro stories - 30 words or less, and we had to do ’em with a pencil, not a computer.  Kids today, they don't know they’re born.
    Closing : 31.5.08.
    Prizes: 1st - £200.  Runner-up - Ten Leaf books.  All selected entries will be published in an anthology.
    Entry Fee: £3 each or £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Alexander Cordell Literature Competition.  This one requires some knowledge of ‘Cordell Country’ in Wales, but is there anything you can’t research from your computer desk these days?  The task is to write a children’s story set during the Industrial Revolution in the South Wales Valleys.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: £500, £300, £150.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Biscuit Publishing Poetry & Short Story Competition.  The stories for this should be 1,000 to 5,000 words, while the poems can run to 42 lines.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes (in each category): 1st - £1,000 or your poetry/prose collection published with 75 free copies.   2nd - A one-week Writers’ Retreat holiday at Talbot House, Flanders, with £200 expenses.  3rd - £200.  In addition, Biscuit will throw a few crumbs to seven runners-up in the form of £25 cheques.
    Entry Fees: Stories - £9 for the first, £3 for additionals.  Poems - £9 each for the first three, £3 each after that.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

War Poetry Competition.  For this you submit between one and three poems totalling no more than 500 lines.  The theme of course is War, and it is probably safe to assume you will be expected to view war as a bad thing rather than a handy way of reducing the world population (as an alternative to letting people starve to death, etc, which we often do).
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: 1st - $2,000.  Other prizes from a total prize fund of $5,000.
    Entry Fee: £15.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

City of Derby Poetry Competition.  This contest is for poems of up to 40 lines.  As are most of them, alas.  Don’t ask me why.  It’s one of life’s great mysteries.  Any subject accepted, including life’s great mysteries.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: £500, £250, £150.
    Entry Fee: £4 for the first, £3 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

City of Derby Short Story Competition.  This is for stories of up to 5,000 words.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: £500, £250, £150.
    Entry Fee: £4 for the first, £3 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

MiniWORDS 2008.  There are three categories in this contest from Charnwood Arts: MiniSTORIES, MiniVERSE and HAIKU.  Stories can be up to 50 words including the title, while verse should be between 25 and 75 words, again including the title.  I’d tell you more but this is a MiniREVIEW and I’ve reached my word limit.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: £250 in each category.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Earlyworks Press Open Poetry Competition.  Poems of up to 40 lines required for this one.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prize: £100.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Frogmore Poetry Prize.  This familiar guest at the literary table, from the Frogmore Press of Folkestone in Kent, is for poems of up to 40 lines.  Ah, Folkestone - I remember it well.  It was here that I had my introduction to the delights of slapstick comedy when, at the age of 7, I stepped into a puddle on the shore and discovered to my surprise that it was actually a bottomless rockpool.  My two sisters hauled me out, with me splutting from water inhalation and them spluttering with laughter.  They wanted to give me the kiss of life but fortunately I was able to crawl away.  And then, as I lay on the beach with my clothes steaming in the afternoon sun, I thought, ‘I made an audience laugh!  I could do something with this.’  I didn’t, as it happens, but it could so easily have been a turning point.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: 1st - A classy 200 guineas, plus a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers.   2nd - 75 guineas.  3rd - 50 guineas. 
    Entry Fee: £2.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

UK Songwriting Contest.  This annual international competition has ten categories, including one for lyrics only.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: The overall winner will receive a Gold Disc Award.  His or her song will be featured on the prestigious CD of all category winners and selected runners-up.  This disc will be circulated around the music industry and could give rise to publishing and recording deals.  The overall winner and selected finalists receive songwriting software.  There are 300 finalist and runner-up packages featuring media support.  All ten category winners and selected finalists will be awarded an Honorary Diploma in Music and will be able to put the letters ‘Dip.Mus’ after their names, although it is unlikely anyone will know what it means.  There is more, but the kettle is boiling and I must go.
    Entry Fee: £15 (25 euros, US$30).
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Crabbe Memorial Poetry Competition.  This annual contest is for poems of up to 50 lines in any form or style.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: 1st - £250 and the Crabbe Memorial Silver Rose Bowl, engraved with your name, to hold for one year.  2nd - £100.  3rd - £50.  Winning and commended poems published in an anthology.
    Entry Fee: £3 for the first poem, £1 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Northampton Literature Group Open Poetry Competition.  Two categories here: free verse and rhyming poetry.  In both cases the line limit is 40.
    Closing: 31.5.08.
    Prizes: £150, £50, £25, £10 in each category.
    Entry Fee : £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Roast Books Novel Competition.   Roast Books is a new publisher specialising in short novels and novellas which feature cutting edge writing.  They have some (pardon the pun) novel ideas on distribution.  They also have a gimmicky homepage which took 11 minutes to load via my dial-up connection and then presented me with a navigational guessing game that almost brought my computer monitor into terminal contact with a glass paperweight - a state of affairs for which they deserve a roasting.  Am I the only person left on earth who hasn’t got broadband?  I think not.  There are dozens of us.  Why are we being victimised?  Entries should be complete works of between 30,000 and 100,000 words.
    Closing: 1.6.08.
    Prizes: Publication and royalties on sales.  It could be argued, in view of the ‘prizes’, that this isn’t a competition at all but simply an invitation to submit work for consideration.  I’m overlooking this flaw because there’s no entry fee.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Website: Click Here.

Hi Michael,
  
Just a quick note of thanks. Earlier in January I found your website competition page and thought I should enter some this year. I entered Red Bubble’s In the Moment competition and to my joy won the overall best writing prize. I had never entered a writing competition before so I am humbled and encouraged! You can view the short story here. Shameless self promotion I am aware!  Thank you again!  -  Kerry Hudson.
  

Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Short Story Contest.  This US contest from the Heinlein Society is for stories of up to 15,000 words expressing the spirit, ideas and philosophies of the late Robert A. Heinlein.  Better bone up before you enter.
    Closing: 1.6.08 (12.01am Pacific Daylight Time).
    Prizes: $5,000, $2,000, $1,000.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Poetry London Poetry Competition.  There is a generous line allowance of 80 for this one from the magazine Poetry London.  Prizes are to be awarded at the ‘Autumn Launch reading’ at Foyles bookshop in London.  Sounds very grand, but not so grand is the line in the fine print that says they may withhold prizes or alter them if no outstanding entries, or insufficient entries, are received.  Not a word about refunding entry fees should no prizes be awarded.  It seems they just pocket your money and go off to the nearest wine bar.
    Closing: 2.6.08.
    Prizes: £1,000, £500, £200, and 4 x £75.   Note that these prizes are subject to the ifs and buts mentioned above.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Dawntreader Poetry Awards.  Dawntreader is a magazine that specialises in myth and legend, landscape and nature.  This will give you a clue to the nature of the poems required for the contest.   The theme is Rustic, Spiritual, Environmental, Legend.  Entries should be no more than 40 lines.
    Closing: 5.6.08.
    Prizes: £75, £50, £25.
    Entry Fee: £3 each or £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Creative Competitor 24-Hour Fiction Competition.  You have to sign up for this one in advance. Then, at noon on 7.6.08, you receive an email giving you the theme.
    Closing: Noon 8.6.08 (commences noon 7.6.08). 
    Prizes: £100, £50, and others.
    Entry Fee: £3.50.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Bruntwood Playwriting Competition.  This one comes from the Royal Exchange Theatre of Manchester and is supported by property company Bruntwood.  It is for full-length plays.  These are defined in the instructions (‘as a guide only’) as being over fifty pages and over an hour of stage time.
    Closing: 13.6.08 (6pm).
    Prize: £15,000.  In addition, if the play is produced the writer will also receive a percentage of box office receipts.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Creative Competitor Flash Fiction Competition.  For this your write a story in up to 600 words using the given photo as inspiration.
    Closing: 21.6.08.
    Prizes: £100, £50, £30.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Manchester Cathedral Interfaith Religious Poetry Competition.  This is for poems which are ‘broadly religious’, which is to say spiritual, and they should appeal to those who would not necessarily describe themselves as religious. Anything goes in terms of style or form, but limit your efforts to 40 lines.  Profits go to the cathedral’s drop-in centre for the homeless, a facility you might one day need if you insist on writing poetry instead of working.
    Closing : 30.6.08.
    Prizes: £300, £150, £75.  First prize winner will earn the title ‘Manchester Cathedral Poet of the Year 2008’.  That’ll look pretty good on your business card, although the card will need to be rather wide.
    Entry Fee: £3 for the first, £2 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Poetry Writers’ Yearbook - Poetry Competition.  This contest, from publisher A&C Black (a division of Bloomsbury), is for poems of up to 30 lines on the theme of Desire.  Submissions are made by email, and you must be registered with the website for your entry to be valid.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prizes: 1st - £300 or £500 worth of A&C Black books.  The winner will be published in the Poetry Writers’ Yearbook 2008.
    Entry Fee : None - free to enter. Only one entry allowed per person.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Margaret Reid Poetry Contest.  This American contest is for poems in traditional verse forms - which is to say any form of poetry that has been in circulation for 50 years or more.  There is no line limit, but as an incentive not to ramble on until even your best friend is thinking of breaking a chair over your head, the organisers have decided to charge by the line.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prizes: 1st - $2,000.  2nd - $1,000.  3rd - $500.  4th - $250.  In addition there are ten runners-up prizes, although here they are called High Distinction awards and Most Highly Commended awards to make the also-rans feel less inferior to the top winners.
    Entry Fee: $6 per 25 lines.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Writers’ Bureau Poetry & Short Story Competition .  This annual contest is for poems of up to 40 lines and stories of up to 2,000 words. Iain Pattison will be picking the winning story, while Alison Chisholm will be casting an eye over the poems.  The top story and poem will be published in Freelance Market News.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prizes: Stories - £1,000, £400, £200, £100 and 6 x £50.  Poetry - £1,000, £400, £200, £100 and 6 x £50.
    Entry Fee: £5 ($9).
    Comp Page: Click Here.

The Bridport Prize.  This is one of the most prestigious writing contests in the British literary calendar.  Everyone in the trade whose mind is not addled by drugs has heard of it, and they will be impressed if you can claim to have won it.  Fortunately, winning it is easy.  All you have to do is submit the best poem or short story, the former having no more than 42 lines, the latter running to no more than 5,000 words.  This year’s judges are Helen Simpson and David Harsent.  Writers from ‘the other side’ should note that the Bridport rules forbid posthumous entries.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prizes (in each category): £5,000, £1,000, £500.  There are also ten runners-up prizes of £50.  These are called ‘supplementary prizes’ to make you feel less like an also-ran.  The Bridport people think of everything.  There is in addition a special prize of £100 and a trophy for the highest placed writer from Dorset.
    Entry Fee: £6.  Overseas: $12 or 10 euros - but check out the payment methods specified in the rules.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Cinnamon Press Short Story Award .  Entries for this one should be between 2,000 and 4,000 words.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prizes: £100 plus publication.
    Entry Fee: £16.  This includes a copy of the winners’ anthology.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

McLaverty Short Story Award 2008.  Can you do an Irish accent without sounding like a second-rate comedy act?  No, I thought not.  You won’t be able to enter this one then, because it’s only open to writers born in Ireland.  Sponsored by Linen Hall Library in Belfast, it is for stories of up to 3,000 words.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prize: £2,000.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Cinnamon Press Novel /Novella Writing Award.  You only need to send the first 10,000 words of your story for this one, but in the event that you are one of the top five authors selected for the final judging stage, you will be required to submit the rest, together with a synopsis, within a specified time.  Novels should be between 60,000 and 80,000 words, novellas between 20,000 and 45,000 words.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prizes: £400 and a publishing contract for the novel.
    Entry Fee: £16.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award.  For this you submit ten poems of up to 40 lines each.  If chosen as a finalist, you will be required to submit a further ten poems.  I thought I’d warn you about this in case you work slowly, because I don’t think they’ll want to wait a year.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prizes: £100 plus a publishing contract for a collection of about 60 poems.
    Entry Fee: £16.  This includes a copy of the winners’ antholgy which is usually prices at £8.99.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Words Magazine Short Story Competition.  The theme for this one, to be expressed in up to 2,000 words, is Christmas.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prize: £100.  Winning entry and commended entries will be published Words magazine.
    Entry Fee: £2.
    Comp Page: Click Here .

Keats-Shelly Prize 2008.  This international contest from the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association is for poems of up to 50 lines on the theme of Lost, and essays of between 2,000 and 3,000 words on any aspect of the lives of John Keats, PB Shelly, Mary Shelly or Lord Byron.  The details are in a PDF file you have to download from the website.  With my dial-up connection I had time to pop out and do my weekly shop at the supermarket while waiting for this bloated item to arrive on my computer, and when it did it was a huge disappointment.  I’d been expecting some fancy animation, say a picture of a crypt from which bones emerged to form themselves into a skeleton that comes alive and says, ‘Hi, I’m Mary Shelly - why not write an essay about me?’  Instead it was just a photo of a poster showing a lot of text that could easily have been put on the website.  To make matters worse, the text doesn’t give details of the prizes.  It merely says they will amount to £3,000.  No entry form is required - thus making the PDF download even more pointless.
    Closing: 30.6.08.
    Prizes: There is a total of £3,000 to be divided in unspecified ways amongst an unspecified number of winners.
    Entry Fee: Nothing vague about this.  It’s £5 per go.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

The Pages Open Short Story Competition.  This is a quarterly contest for stories in any genre except children’s.  Manuscripts of up to 4,000 words will be accepted. 
    Closing: 30.6.08, 30.9.08, 31.12.08.
    Prize: £60, £40, £20.
    Entry Fee: £4 for the first, £2 thereafter.  In-depth critique: £2.  Post-critique counselling and therapy - no yet available.
    Comp Page: Click Here .

The Bechtel Prize.  This annual U.S. Contest is for an exemplary article or essay of fewer than 5,000 words related to creative writing education, literary studies and/or the profession of writing. The winning entry will appear in Teachers & Writers magazine.
    Closing: 30.6.08 (5pm Eastern time).
    Prizes: 1st - $2,500.  Shortlisted entrants share $1,000.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Thin Threads Story Collection Contest.  This one from Kiwi Publishing of America is for factual stories of up to 1,200 words.  These tales should be about ‘the moment that made the difference’.  As an example for men: you were down on one knee about to propose to your girlfriend when you saw on the TV behind her your footbal team scoring a goal.  You jumped up and down in unrestrained glee, entirely forgetting the task at hand, and your girlfriend stormed out swearing never to return. Then, as you wandered the streets in despair (your team lost the match) you met a woman who understood about football, and the two of you are now happily married.  If you are a lady, you might have been distracted at the crucial moment by a TV ad for the latest fashions or, worse, the lastest biscuits.
    Closing: 1.7.08.
    Prize: $500 to the writer, and $500 to a charity of the writer’s choice.  In addition, there will be a payment of $100 for other stories selected for the collection.
    Entry Fee : None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

The Joshua Foundation Poetry Competition.  All proceeds for this one go to the Joshua Foundation which provides holidays and experiences for children diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Poems should be on the theme of Children and must not exceed 40 lines.  No entry form needed.  Leave your name off the poem but include a separate sheet with your details and the poem’s title.
    Closing: 1.7.08.
    Prizes: Shame on you for even thinking about such things in the circumstances, but if you must know there are various items including vouchers for spa days, meals out and activities such as paint-balling.  The real prizes of course - and there are enough of these for everyone - is that you get the satisfaction of knowing your entry fee will help to bring a little sunshine into the bleak lives of those kids.
    Entry Fee: Adults - £2.  Children - £1.  Make cheques payable to the Joshua Foundation.
    Entry Address: Poetry Comp, 5 Windsor Street, Caerphilly, CF83 1FW.
    Website (for info on the Foundation, not the comp): Click Here.

Daily Mail Novel Competition.  To enter this one, submit a novel of between 80,000 and 150,000 words in any genre, together with a 600-word synopsis.  The contest is open to unpublished authors aged 16 or over.
    Closing: 2.7.08.
    Prize: A publishing contract with Transworld, with a £30,000 advance.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Dear Michael

Just to let you know I’ve been entering writing competitions for several years and this year came second in the 19^th Feile Filiochta International Poetry Competition. Hurrah! I probably wouldn’t have heard about it but for your site (and I still don’t know how to say it). I don’t even consider it one of my better poems – but it was free to enter. It just goes to show that literary competition judges have to be very subjective in the end, so it’s worth carrying on even when you don’t feel that confident. Anyway, I’m off to spend my winnings of 500 euros (that’s very nearly £375 in real money). Keep up the good work!
     Here’s a link to the poem that won the prize
     All the best - Clare Kirwan

Hay on Wye Short Story Contest.  Here is your chance to be ‘discovered and celebrated by the literary elite’.  A rival to the Booker?  Probably not, but all you have to do to be in the running is write a story of up to 2,000 words on the theme of Deception. The contest is a charity and all proceeds go to Hay and District Community Support.
    Closing: 19.7.08.
    Prizes: £400, £200, £100.
    Entry Fee: £6.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Dream Quest Writing Competition.  This American contest, which has become a regular visitor to this site, is for short stories and poems.  The former can extend to 5 pages, while the latter can run to 30 lines (or walk if it’s one of those lazy pastoral affairs).
    Closing: 31.7.08.
    Prizes: Stories - $500, $250, $100.   Poetry - $250, $125, $50.
    Entry Fees: $10 for stories, $5 for poems.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Countryside Tales Autumn Poetry Competition.  Wax poetical about the countryside in autumn and chop off your musings at 40 lines and you could win a modest prize and a place in the autumn issue of Countryside Tales.  Fame at last.
    Closing: 31.7.08.
    Prizes: £50, £25, £15.  The three winning entries will be published, and others may be considered.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Winter Witch ‘Nightmares & Dreams’ Competition .  This contest from Winter Witch Books is for stories of up to 5,000 words and poems of up to 50 lines.  The theme should be obvious from the title of the contest, but because I know there are people out there who will think it’s about winter or witches, I’ve enclosed the relvant part in quotes.
    Closing: 31.7.08.
    Prizes : Adults - £100 and 3 x £25.  Under 16s - £50 and 3 x £15.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Wells Festival International Short Story Competition.  This annual contest from the catherdral city of Wells in Somerset is for stories of between 1,800 and 2,000 words.
    Closing: 31.7.08.
    Prizes : £500, £200, £200.  Wyvern Prize (for a local writer) - £100.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Wells Festival International Poetry Competition.  Poet lauriate Andrew Motion ‘has kindly agreed to judge the shortlisted entries,’ they say.  Does that mean he’s waived his normal fee?  Call me a cynic if you will but I doubt it.  This is like saying the plumber has kindly agreed to fix the cistern.  The contest is for poems of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 31.7.08.
    Prizes: £500, £200, £100.  Wyvern Prize (for a local poet): £50.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Kenneth Graham Society Short Story Competition.  This contest is designed to celebrate the centenary year of Kenneth Graham’s classic The Wind in the Willows.  If you can write a sequel, prequel or countertext in the same style, using between 4,500 and 6,000 words, you could be just what the judges are looking for.
    Closing: 31.7.08.
    Prizes: £500, £150, £100.  If enough suitable entries in addition to the three prizewinners are received, an anthology will be published and the non-prizewinners will receive £50 and a copy of the book.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Details and Entry Instructions: Click here to send email request.

Highlands & Islands Short Story Association Competition.  Stories of up to 2,500 words are required for this Scottish contest, which is open worldwide.  Any theme, and there is an indication that unusual stories could find favour.
    Closing: 31.7.08.
    Prizes: £300, £50, £50. 
    Entry Fee: £4 each, £10 for three.
    Comp Page: Click Here .

Manchester Poetry Prize 2008.  Poetry in Manchester?  I’d never have thought it possible. When I lived in the Moss Side district at the age of about 8 and casually mentioned that I’d written a poem, I was chased down the street by a howling mob of thugs waving clubs and machetes. ‘Girls, girls,’ I cried when they caught me, ‘calm down - I was only joking!’  And luckily they believed me.  I never uttered the P word again until I moved 200 miles south.  Now Manchester has, of all things, a Writing School (at the Manchester Metropolitan University), and this international contest is their baby.  To enter you submit a portfolio of unpublished poetry (three to five poems) with a total length of 120 lines.
    Closing: 1.8.08 (5pm).
    Prize: 1st - £10,000.  There is also a bursary for study at MMU to be awarded to an entrant aged 18-25.
    Entry Fee: £15 per portfolio.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Torbay Open Poetry Competition.  This is for poems of up to 50 lines.
    Closing: 15.8.08.
    Prizes: Adults - £700, $300, £150.  Juniors - £200, £100.
    Entry Fees: Adults - £4 each £10 for three, £20 for six.  Price for a bucketful on application.  Juniors - £2 each, £5 for three.
    Details (send sae): Poetry Contest Details, The Administrator, c/o The Mount, Brixham, South Devon, TQ5 8QY.

Havant Literary Festival Open Poetry Competition .  This is for poems of up to 20 lines.
    Closing: 18.8.08.
    Prizes: £250, £100, £50.
    Entry Fee: £3.  Only one entry per person.
    Details & Entry Form (send sae): Denise Bennett, Competition Secretary, HLFS11 The Pallant, Havant, Hants, PO9 1BY.

Essex Poetry Festival 8th Open Poetry Competition.  This is another regular runner, as you will gather from the fact that it’s the 8th contest, but this year it offers something a little different - a fish competition, as indicated on the website by the line ‘Sole adjudicator: Catherine Smith’.  I have it on good authority that Bert Winkle, a rival fishmonger from the other side of town, will be the haddock adjudicator.  Entries for the poetry section should be no more than 40 lines.
    Closing: 30.8.08.
    Prizes: £500, £200, £100.  Runners-up - £10 in book tokens.
    Entry Fee: £3 each or £10 for five.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

BSFA Short Story Competition.  This one, from the British Science Fiction Association, is for sci-fi stories of up to 8,000 words.
    Closing: 5.9.08 (noon).
    Prize: 1st - £500.  Runners-up - £50.
    Entry Fee: £10.
    Comp Page: Click Here .

Earlyworks Press Short Story Competition.
    Closing: 30.9.08.
    Prize: £100 and first place in the anthology.
    Entry Fee : £5 for up to 4,000 words; £10 for 4,000 to 8,000.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Mostly Life Humour Competition.  This contest from the website Mostly Life (‘the Global Repository for All Things Mirthful’) is for non-offensive humorous material ‘in any publishable medium imaginable’.  This includes comic verse and written fiction and non-fiction.
    Closing: 30.9.08.
    Prize: £200 plus publication on the website.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Words Magazine Short Story Competition.  The theme for this one, to be expressed in up to 2,000 words, is Ghost.
    Closing: 30.9.08.
    Prize: £100.  The winning entry and commended entries will be published Words magazine.
    Entry Fee: £2.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Ragged Raven Poetry Competition.  This annual contest is is unusual in that it is for poems of any length on any subject.  At last, a chance to really expatiate your theme - and of course to send the judges to sleep.
    Closing: 31.10.08.
    Prizes: 1st - £300.   Runners-up (4) - £50.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Southport Writers Circle Open Short Story Competition.  This one is for unpublished stories of up to 2,000 words on any subject.  No entry form needed.  Entrant’s name should not appear on the story.  Include a separate cover sheet with the title, word count and your name and contact details.
    Closing: 31.10.08.
    Prizes: £150, £75, £25.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Entry Address: Short Story Competition, Southport Writers Circle, 16 Ormond Avenue, Westhead, Lancashire, L40 6HT.

Scribble Annual Themed Short Story Competition.  The theme in question is Brief Encounter and you may render this in any way you choose in up to 3,000 words.  Note that your story should not be called Brief Encounter.
    Closing: 1.11.08.
    Prizes: £100, £50, £25.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Comp Page: Click Here.