Mslexia, the magazine for women who write | www.mslexia.co.uk
:: Competitions ::
Momaya Short Story Competition
is for stories of up to 3,000 wds on the theme ‘Music’. Prizes: £110, £55, £30; all winners and 7 honourable mentions will be published in the Momaya Annual Review 2013.
Entry fee: £8 per story.
Closing date: Extended to 15 May
Map Making Competition II
is a challenge for writers/artists to draw a map of their fictional world. Submit 72dpi jpeg by email. Prize: Publication on the Storyslingers blog and showcased at Shaftesbury Arts Centre.
Entry fee: Free.
Closing date: 21 May
Frome Festival Short Story Competition
is for stories of between 1,000-2,200 wds. Judges: Michele Roberts. Prizes: £300, £150, £75.
Entry fee: £5 per story.
Closing date: 31 May
The Bridport Prize
is for short stories of up to 5,000 wds, flash fiction of up to 250 wds and poems of up to 42 lines. Judges: Michèle Roberts (short story); David Swann (flash fiction); Wendy Cope (poetry). Prizes in short story and poetry categories: £5,000, £1,000, £500, 10@£50. Prize in flash fiction category: £1,000, £500, £250, 3@£25, plus The Dorset Award for £100.
Entry fee: £8 per story, £7 per poem, £6 per flash fiction.
The Bridport Prize, PO Box 6910, Dorset DT6 9BQ.
Closing date: 31 May
The Yeovil Literary Prize
consists of three categories. Novel – synopsis and opening chapters, combined max. 15,000 wds; Judge: Tracy Chevalier; Prizes: £1,000, £250, £100; Entry fee: £11. Short Story – max 2,000 wds; Judge: Julia Churchill; Prizes: £500, £200, £100; Entry fee: £6. Poetry – max 40 lines; Judge: Neil Astley; Prizes: £500, £200; £100; Entry fee: £6, £9 for 2, £11 for 3.
Closing date: 31 May
Pint-Sized Plays
is for 5-10 minute plays with 2-3 characters and are capable of being staged in a pub. Prizes: Six winning plays performed in pubs in Pembrokeshire as part of the Tenby Arts Festival; Prizes will be awarded for Best Script and Runner Up.
Entry fee: £5.50 per play.
Closing date: 31 May
Cardiff Women’s Aid Creative Writing Competition
is for poetry of up to 40 lines and fiction of up to 2,000 words, on the theme of domestic violence/abuse. Prize: Shortlisted poetry and fiction will be published in an anthology with entrants included receiving a free copy.
Entry fee: £2 per entry.
Cardiff Women’s Aid, 16 Moira Terrace, Adamsdown, Cardiff CF24 0EJ.
Closing date: 31 May
The Fiction Desk Ghost Story Competition
is for ghost stories of between 2,000-5,000 words. Prizes: £500, £100.
Entry fee: £6 for one story; £9 for 2.
Closing date: 31 May
Garden Museum Writing Competition
is for memoir submissions of up to 2,500 words which are set in or inspired by a garden. Prize: £2,500.
Entry fee: £5 per story.
Closing date: 31 May
Wirral Festival of Firsts Open Poetry Competition
is for poems of up to 40 lines. Judge: Colin Watts. Prizes: £200, £75, 3@£25.
Entry fee: £3 per poem; £10 for 4.
FOF Poetry Competition, 71 Alderley Road, Hoylake, Wirral CH47 2AU.
Closing date: 1 June
The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting
is for original stageplays of over one hour stage/playing time, written by people 16yrs and over. Prizes: £16,000, with a year-long attachment with the Royal Exchange Theatre; three judges’ awards @ £8,000 each.
Entry fee: Free.
Closing date: 3 June
The Mad Hatter Darlington Arts Festival Writing Competition
is for short stories of up to 1,500 words on the theme ‘The Riddle’ in three categories: Under 12; 11-16 years-old; Adults. There are a variety of prizes including the chance to appear in a forthcoming anthology.
Closing date: 14 June
The Creative Future Literary Awards
are for flash fictions of up to 300 words and poems of up to 200 words, both on the theme ‘The Spark’. Entrants must belong to a marginalised group of society including the homeless, those with physical and learning disabilities and the long-term unemployed. Prizes pot totalling £5,000.
Entry fee: £5 per entry; £15 to include a critique of submitted work.
Closing date: 16 June
Mslexia Women’s Pamphlet Competition
is for collections of 20-24 pages of 18-20 poems, which can be of any length, by poets who have not previously had a full collection published. Prizes: £250 plus publication by Seren Books in 2014, as well as 25 complimentary copies of the pamphlet and 10% royalties from subsequent sales; the winner will also have one or more poems selected from the collection published in ‘Mslexia’.
Entry fee: £20 per collection.
Closing date: 17 June
Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition
is for poems of any length and in any style. Judge: Kathleen Jamie. Prizes: £2,000 plus a week at the idyllic poets’ retreat of Cove Park and a day with the editor of premier poetry magazine, ‘Poetry Review’; £400; £200; 17@£25; all winners will be published in the Sep/Oct/Nov 2013 issue of ‘Mslexia’.
Entry Fee: £7 for up to 3 poems.
Closing date: 17 June
- 0191 204 8860.
- Click here to send email
- www.mslexia.co.uk/poetrycompetition
The Booktown Writers' Annual Short Story Competition 2013
is for stories of 1,000-3,000 words on any theme. Judge: Sam Kelly. Prizes: £200, £100, £50.
Entry fee: £5 for one entry; £9 for 2; £13 for 3.
Booktown Writers, Jubilee Cottage, Braehead, Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire DG8 9AH.
Closing date: 30 June
WritersReign Short Story Competition
is for short stories of between 1,000-1,500 wds. Theme: ‘I Have a Dream’. Prizes: £100, £50, £25, 3@£10.
Entry fee: £3.50 for one entry; £6 for 2.
Closing date: 30 June
Lightship International Short Story Prize
is for stories of up to 5,000 words. Judge: Tessa Hadley. Prize: £1,000; ten shortlisted stories will be published in the Lightship Anthology 3.
Entry fee: £12 per story.
Closing date: 30 June
Lightship International First Chapter Prize
is for first chapters of novels of up to 5,400 words including a one-page synopsis. Judges: MJ Hyland, David Millar (RCW) and Alessandro Gallenzi (Alma Books). Prizes: Professional mentoring and possible publication.
Entry fee: £16 per entry.
Closing date: 30 June
Lightship International Flash Fiction Prize
is for short pieces of fiction of up to 1,500 words. Judge: Etgar Keret. Prize: £500; ten shortlisted stories will be published in the Lightship Anthology 3.
Entry fee: £10 per entry.
Closing date: 30 June
Lightship International Poetry Prize
is for poems of up to 100 words. Prize: £1,000; ten shortlisted poems will be published in the Lightship Anthology 3. Judge: David Wheatley.
Entry fee: £8 per poem.
Closing date: 30 June
Lightship International One Page Story Prize
is for short stories of up to 300 words. Judge: Calum Kerr. Prize: £250; ten shortlisted stories will be published in the Lightship Anthology 3.
Entry fee: £8 per story.
Closing date: 30 June
Lightship International Short Memoir Prize
is for memoirs of up to 5,000 words. Judge: Rachel Cusk. Prize: £1,000; ten shortlisted memoirs will be published in the Lightship Anthology 3.
Entry fee: £12 per memoir.
Closing date: 30 June
Lightship International First Act Prize
is for the first act of a full-length play of up to 6,000 words including a one-page synopsis. Judges: Anthony McCarten, Micheline Steinberg and David Whybrow (Cockpit Theatre Director). Prizes: Professional mentoring and possible production of full length play at The Cockpit Theatre, London.
Entry fee: £18 per entry.
Closing date: 30 June
Crewe & District Writers’ Circle Flash Fiction Competition
is for short fiction of up to 300 words. Prizes: £100, £50, £25.
Entry fee: £4 for one entry; £10 for 3.
Crewe & District Writers’ Circle, 2 Barony Road, Nantwich CW5 5PL.
Closing date: 30 June
Keats-Shelley Prize
is for an essay of up to 3,000 wds on the theme ‘the work and lives of the Romantics and their circles’, or a poem of up to 40 lines on the theme ‘Noise’. Prize Chair: Salley Vickers. Prizes: £3,000 in prizes, and the winners’ work will be published. See website for full submission details.
Entry fee: £5 for up to 2 poems/essays.
Closing date: 30 June
Flash 500
is a quarterly open-themed competition for flash fiction of up to 500 wds. Prizes: £150 plus publication in Words with JAM, £100, £50.
Entry fee: £3 for one poem; £.250 each poem thereafter.
Closing date: 30 June
Cinnamon Press Writing Awards:
Novel/Novella: submit up to 10,000 wds; Poetry Collection: submit 10 poems of up to 40 lines; Short Story: submit stories of 2-4,000 wds. Prizes: Novel & Novella, £400 each plus publication; Poetry Collection & Short Story, £150 each plus publication and a runners-up anthology.
Entry fee: £12 per entry in all categories.
Closing date: 30 June
The Ifanca Hélène James Short Story Competition
is for stories of up to 2,200 wds. Prizes: £100 plus a bottle of champagne, £50, £25.
Entry fee: £4 per story.
The Ifanca Hélène James Short Story Competition, Green Plain, 185 St David’s Road, Letterston, Haverfordwest SA62 5SS.
Closing date: 1 July
New Venture Theatre & Sussex Playwrights’ Club Ten-Minute Play Competition
is for short plays of up to ten minutes running time that have no more than three characters. Prize: Up to eight scripts will be performed in December 2013 – an overall winner will be chosen from audience votes.
Entry fee: £5 for up to 3 plays.
Closing date: 13 July
Wasafiri New Writing Prize
is in three categories: Poetry, Fiction and Life Writing, all of up to 3,000 wds. Prizes: £300 to the winner in each category plus publication in ‘Wasafiri’.
Entry fee: £6 for entry in one category; £10 for 2; £15 for 3.
Wasafiri, The Open University in London, 1-11 Hawley Crescent, London NW1 8NP.
Closing date: 26 July
Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize
invites submissions of first collections from publishers or individual writers. Prizes: £2,000, a week of paid ‘protected’ writing time and an invitation to read at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.
Closing date: 26 July
HISSAC Annual Open Short Story Competition
is for stories up to 2,500 words. First Prize £400. Entry fee: £5 per story; £12 for 3. No connection to Scotland required either by entrant or theme. Closing date 31 July. HISSAC also runs a mentoring service to bring your writing up to competition & publishing standards: £59 for 3 stories; £99 for a work in progress; £129 for a full length novel.
The Tony Lothian Biographers’ Club Prize
is for uncommissioned, first-time writers working on a biography. To enter submit a proposal of up to 20 pages inc. a synopsis and 10-page sample chapter. Prize: £2,000.
Entry fee: £15 per entry.
Closing date: 31 July
Wells Festival of Literature Writing Competitions
are in three categories: Poetry (of up to 40 lines), Short Story (of between 1,000-2,000 was), and Crime Novel (for unpublished writers to submit the opening chapter of up to 3,000 wds plus a 500-1,000 wd synopsis). Prizes: Poetry and Short Story: £500, £200, £100, and local prize of £100; Crime Novel: Winning entry will be read by a major publisher and by an agent, plus £100.
Entry fee: Poetry and Short Story: £5 per entry; Crime Novel: £10 per entry.
Closing date: 31 July
- 01749 678 411.
- www.wellslitfest.org.uk
Manchester Writing Competitions
are in two categories: Poetry: submit a portfolio of 3-5 poems on any subject of up to 120 lines combined length; Fiction: submit a short story on any subject of up to 2,500 words. Prizes: £10,000 in each category.
Entry fee: £17 per entry.
Closing date for both competitions: 30 August
Cremona Crime Short Story Competition
is for stories of up to 1,200 words on the theme of ‘Crime’; the story should contain at least one mention of The Cremona (a hotel based in Bournemouth). Prizes: Weekend for two staying at The Cremona with £50 spending money; £25; £15.
Free entry.
Closing date: 31 August
Hysteria 2013 Short Story Competition
is for previously unpublished stories of up to 2,000 wds and poetry of up to 15 lines, on any subject relevant to women except horror or erotica. Prizes: £150, £50m £25; ten finalists will be published in an anthology.
Entry fee: £3 per entry
Closing date: 31 August
CreativeWritingMatters Flash Fiction Competition
is for stories of up to 250 words on any theme. First Prize: £100; Runner-up Prize: a goody bag of books.
£3 per story.
Closing date: 31 August
Paragram Poetry Competition 2013
is for poems of up to 40 lines that have not been previously published or won awards. The theme is '...a certain slant of light...' from the Emily Dickinson poem of that name and can be interpreted broadly. Judge: Adrienne Dines. Entry details, full rules and information about fees can be found on the website.
Closing date: 31 August
Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition
is for poems of up to 40 lines each or short stories of 2,000 wds each. Prizes: £500 in each category; winners and finalists will be published in Aesthetica’s Creative Writing Annual.
Entry fee: £10 + VAT for up to two submissions in any one category.
Closing date: 31 August
Call for New Novels by Women
The Virginia Prize for Fiction is for any woman over 18 who has written an unpublished novel in English. Prize: £1,000 and conditional publication by Aurora Metro Books. For more information email Neil Gregory on,
Closing date: 15 September
Call for New Novels by Women
The Virginia Prize for Fiction is for any woman over 18 who has written an unpublished novel in English. Prize: £1,000 and conditional publication by Aurora Metro Books. For more information email Neil Gregory on,
Closing date: 15 September
Mslexia Women's Novel Competition
is open to unpublished women novelists writing in any genre for adults. Send up to 5,000 words of a completed novel (which must total at least 50,000 words). Judging panel: Val McDermid, author; Catherine Robertson, literary agent; Kirsty Lang, broadcaster. Prize: £5,000.
Entry fee: £25 per entry.
Closing date: 23 September
- 0191 204 8860.
- Click here to send email
- www.mslexia.co.uk/novelcompetition
Greenacre Writers Short Story Competition
is for stories of up to 2,000 words on any theme. Prizes: £100, £50, £25; winning and runners up stories will be published in the Greenacre Writers Anthology.
Entry fee: £5.50 per story.
Closing date: 30 September
Troubadour International Poetry Prize
is for poems of up to 45 lines. Judges: Deryn Rees-Jones and George Szirtes. Prizes: £2,500, £500, £250, 20@£20, plus a coffee house poetry season ticket and a reading with the judges.
Entry fee: £5 per poem.
Closing date: 21 October
The Exeter Novel Prize
is open to anyone, published or not, who is not currently under contract to an agent or publisher. Submit: first 10,000 words and synopsis. Judge: Broo Doherty of Wade and Doherty Literary Agency. Prizes: £500; 5@£50.
Entry fee: £12 per entry.
Closing date: 31 October
Bottle Tree Productions International One Act Play Competition for Writers
is for scripts between 10-70 minutes. Prizes: CAN$1,000; CAN£250; CAN£100.
Entry fee: CAN$25 per script.
Bottle Tree Productions, 445 Southwood Drive, Kingston, ON, Canada K7M 5P8.
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