Details

Details

UK Writing Competitions (currently 75)

Writers’ Forum Short Story Competition.  There is a new contest in each issue of this writers’ mag.  All types of stories are accepted, from horror to romance, with a length of between 1,000 and 3,000 words.
    Closing: Monthly.  Entries arriving too late for one comp go into the next.
    Prizes: £300, £150, £100 in each issue.
    Entry Fee: £10, or £7 for subscribers to the magazine.  Includes a free tick-box critique if you enclose sae.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition.  This monthly contest from the glossy magazine Writers’ Forum is for poems of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: Monthly.  Entries arriving too late for one month go forward to the next.
    Prizes: 1st - £100.  Runners-up - A Chambers Dictionary.
    Entry Fee: £5 each for the first three, £3 each thereafter.  Enclose sae for free critique.
    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.

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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 .

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  

Cazart Short Story & Flash Fiction Competition.  Well I’ll be ******.  They allow swearing in this one.  However, I don’t suppose expletives alone will be enough to win.  For the short story category, entries should be between 400 and 3,000 words.  Flash fiction can be up to 400 words.
    Closing: 26th of each month.
    Prize: £20 (in each category).  The winning stories will be published on the Cazart homepage for two months, then in the archive.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Words Magazine Short Story Competitions.  Words Magazine seems to have been around for a long time and for most of that time it’s been running competitions. They close quarterly and have different themes.  This year’s are Murder, Christmas, Ghost, Author’s Choice.
    Closing : 30.3.09, 30.6.09, 30.9.09, 31.12.09.
    Prizes: £100.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Website: Click Here.

Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award.  Entries for ths one should comprise 10 poems of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 30.6.09, 30.11.09.
    Prize: £100 and your collection published.
    Entry Fee: £16 per batch of ten (includes a free copy of the winners’ anthology).
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Cinnamon Press Short Story Award.  This is for stories of between 2,000 and 4,000 words.
    Closing: 30.6.09, 30.11.09.
    Prize: £100 and publication.
    Entry Fee: £16 (includes a free copy of the winners’ anthology).
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Cinnamon Press Novel/Novella Award.  To enter this you submit the first 10,000 words of your novel or novella.
    Closing: 30.6.09, 30.11.09.
    Prize: £400 and your novella published.
    Entry Fee: £16.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Sentinel Literary Quarterly Poetry Competition .  This is for poems on any subject running to a maximum of 40 lines.
    Closing: 7.7.09.
    Prizes: £100, £60, £40.  The winning entries will be published.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Mere Literary Festival Poetry Competition.  This annual visitor to the list is for poems of up to 40 lines on any topic.  The senior judge will be Louis de Bernieres ... who wrote some sort of music book about mandolins.
    Closing: 7.7.09.
    Prizes: £200, £100, £50.  Runners-up - 3 x £15.
    Entry Fee: £3.50 for the first, £2.50 thereafter.
    Comp Page: 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!

Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition .  Another hardy annual, this time from Wrekin Writers.  Open worldwide, it is for stories of up to 1,200 words.
    Closing: 13.7.09.
    Prizes: £80, £40, £20.
    Entry Fee: £3 each or £5 for two.
    Website: Click Here.

Planet Essay Competition.  Entries for this one from the Welsh magazine Planet can be on any Welsh or international issue you feel strongly about.  I feel strongly about web pages such as the Planet one which use small fonts and have background designs that cut through the text thereby rendering parts of it illegible on a small laptop screen and forcing me to go on an hour-long hunt for my reading glasses which I last had in December to help me decipher the cooking instructions on a Christmas pudding.  But this isn’t the sort of thing they have in mind.  They want politics, economics, environment, philosophy ...   I’ll bet the want the manuscripts set out clearly though.
    Closing: 15.7.09.
    Prizes: Main - £300 plus publication in the mag.  Young Writers (under 30) - £200.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

GlobalGiving Acts of Kindness Travel Writing Competition.  Are you one of the 8 out of 10 Brits who have experienced an act of kindness while travelling?  Someone found what was left of your luggage in the airport skip, perhaps, and returned it to you?  The thief who snatched your camera let you buy back the memory card with your precious photos on it?  Your taxi driver didn’t attempt to set any records for the longest route to your destination?  The possibilities are endless, and if you have a moving story of this nature, you could soon be off on yet more travels.  All you have to do is describe the incident in up to 100 words.
    Closing: 22.7.09.
    Prizes: 1st - A trip for two to visit a GlobalGiving project in a country of your choice.  Runners-up (10) - A goody bag containing a selection of items including travel gear.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Essex Poetry Festival 9th Open Poetry Competition .  This is another regular runner, as you will gather from the fact that it’s the 9th contest, but this year it offers something a little different - a fish competition, as indicated on the website by the line ‘Sole adjudicator: Jo Bell’.  I have it on good authority that Bert Winkle, a rival fishmonger, will be the haddock adjudicator.  Entries for the poetry section should be no more than 40 lines.
    Closing: 30.7.09.
    Prizes : £500, £200, £100.  Runners-up - £10 in book tokens.
    Entry Fee: £3 each or £10 for five.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Loft Theatre Playwriting Competition.  This is for a one-act play on any theme, which runs for a maximum of ninety minutes including an interval.  The play can be set in any period and should be for no more than six characters.  BAFTA award-winning writer Andrew Davies will be judging.
    Closing: 30.7.09.
    Prize: Performance of the play at the Loft Theatre in Leamington Spa.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Review Fuse Flash Fiction Contest.  To enter this American contest you submit a story of up to 1,000 words, then review the four other stories assigned to you.  Your own story will receive three  reviews from fellow entrants, therefore it is adviable to have a stiff drink at the ready.  Registration, which is required to participate, is free.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prize: $100.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

KinkyBlue Erotic Story Competition.  I visited the KinkyBlue site with my eyes shut to spare my blushes, so I don’t know much about the contest except that it’s not for hard-core stuff, whatever that may be, but is something to do with fireworks.  The word limit is 2,000.  A quick warning about the Homepage: Don’t go there unless you are broadminded.
    Closing : 31.7.09.
    Prizes: £40, £30, £20, £10 in vouchers to buy goods from the KinkyBlue site.  Ideal Christmas gifts for your parents, etc.  Winners will be published on the website
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition.  This annual international contest from Ireland is for stories of up to 3,000 words on any subject.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prizes: 1,500 and 500 euros.  The winners and four other shortlisted entries will be published in Southword, with the four ‘others’ receiving 100 euros.
    Entry Fee: 10 euros, £10, US$15, A$18, Can$16.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2009.  This is said to be Britain’s most prestigious poetry prize for writers between the ages of 11 and 17.  Are there any others?  Can’t say I’ve come across any.  But hey, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.  Let’s assume there are hundreds and this is the Big One.  There are two age categories: 11 to 14, and 15 to 17.  Poems can be any length and on any subject, and you can enter as many times as you wish.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prizes: 11 to 14 category (x 5) - A short residency at your school by some obscure, sorry leading poet.  15 to 17 (x 15) - A week long residential course at one of the prestigious Arvon (writing) Centres (more studying - just what any school kid dreams of).  Fifteen of the prizewinners will have their entries published in the winners’ anthology.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page : Click Here.

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: 31.7.09.
    Prizes: £400, £50, £50. 
    Entry Fee : £4 each, £10 for three.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Presteigne & Norton Twinning Association Poetry Competition.  This poetry contest for children commemorates the twinning of Presteigne in Wales with Ligne in France, hence there is a French theme.  Entrants must be 16 or under.  Now, I know what you youngsters are thinking: Wouldn’t it be a cool gimmick if I got my computer to translate my entry into like French?  Sorry, but submissions must be in like English.  They must also not exceed 40 lines.  There will be an anthology of ‘favourite’ entries.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prizes: The winner will receive 25% of the total entry pot (minimum £40, maximum £150), plus a copy of The Oxford Anthology of Great English Poetry, and a copy of the competition anthology.  There is an extra prize of £10 and a copy of the competition anthology for an entrant under 11.
    Entry Fee: £1 each, £3 for five.  There is a bulk offer for schools: £7 for fifteen poems.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

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 Lost. The contest is a charity and all proceeds go to Hay and District Community Support.  Author Barbara Erskine will be the final judge.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prizes: £400, £200, £100.
    Entry Fee: £6.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

McLellan Poetry Award 2009.   This one from Scotland, now in its fifth year, is open to all and is for poems of up to 40 lines.  Entries may be in English or Scots, although in the case of the latter it is unlikely anyone will be able to read them.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prizes: £1,000, £350, £150.
    Entry Fee: £5 each or £15 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Leaf Books Poetry Competition.  Here’s another one from Leaf Books, this time for poems of up to 35 lines.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prize: £200 plus a copy of the anthology and the complete collection of pocket-sized Leaf Books.
    Entry Fee: £3 each or £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Wells Festival International Poetry & Short Story Competition.  This annual contest from the catherdral city of Wells in Somerset is for poems of up to 40 lines and stories of between 1,800 and 2,000 words.  Andrew Motion will be judging the poetry shortlist, while Fiona Walker will judge the stories.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prizes (in each category): £500, £200, £200.  Wyvern Prize (for a local writer) - £100.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Website: Click Here.

Dreamquest One Poetry and Writing Contest.  The requirement in this US contest is for poems of up to 30 lines and short stories of up to five pages, any style or theme.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prizes: Stories - $500, $250, $100.   Poetry - $250, $125, $50.  Winners will be published on the website.
    Entry Fee: Stories - $10.  Poetry - $5.
    Website: Click Here.

Hi Michael,
     I won the Prima magazine contest you advertised - I was in the November 2008 issue. Better yet, the prize was not a pair of pink garden shears emboldened with the Prima logo (as you suggested), or even a polyester nightie, but £200 and a year’s subscription to the mag. It might not have given me worldwide fame but it’s encouraged me to continue writing. And since that I’ve placed a short story in the Sunday Express magazine, a venue that ‘rarely accepts unsolictated fiction,’ have had other stories accepted by various websites and an American anthology, and have completed my first novel.
                                                                         -  Louise Beech

Sussex Playwright’s Club Playwriting Competition.  This is for full length plays in two acts, with a total performance time of approximately 90 minutes.  It is open to all-comers.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prizes: £250, £150, £100.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Early Works Press Flash Fiction Competition.  Entries for this one must be exactly 100 words including the title.
    Closing: 31.7.09.
    Prizes: £50, £25 x 2.  In addition £5 will be paid to all runners-up published on the website.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £12 for six.
    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: 31.7.09.
    Prize: £50.
    Entry Fee: £1 plus the normal cost of sending a text message (no use asking me what that is).
    Website: Click Here.

Havant Literary Festival Poetry Competition.  The theme is ‘Water’ for this one.  The judge is  Anne Stewart.  There is a line limit of 40.
    Closing: 1.8.09.
    Prizes: £250, £100, £50.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Tony Lothian Biographers’ Club Prize.  To enter this annual contest you submit a proposal for a biography.  The proposal should comprise no more than 20 pages, including a synopsis and sample chapter, a CV, and a note on the market for the book and any competing literature.
    Closing: 1.8.09.
    Prize: £2,000.
    Entry Fee: £10.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Over The Edge New Writer of the Year Competition.  This one from Ireland is sponsored by the world-renowned Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop in Galway plus an anonymous donor believed by some to be the fishmonger down to road.  It is for fiction of up to 3,000 words and poems of up 100 lines (or three poems with 100 lines in total).
    Closing: 3.8.09.
    Prizes: Fiction - 300 euros.  Poem - 300 euros.  Overall Winner - Additional 400 euros.
    Entry Fee: 10 euros each, or 7.50 each for more than one entry.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Manchester Fiction Prize 2009.  This comes from The Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and is for stories of up to 5,000 words.
    Closing 7.8.09.
    Prize: £10,000.  There is in addition a bursary for study at MMU, to be awarded to an entrant aged between 18 and 25.
    Entry Fee: £15.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

In Company Theatre Playwriting Competition.  This is connected with the Off Cut Festival for short plays, which is held between September 29 and October 17 at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London.  To be eligible, your play should take no longer than 15 minutes to perform and have a cast of no more than four.  Twenty-four plays will be peformed and voted on by the audience to produce eight finalists.  These will be performed before a panel of theatre professionals who will choose the winners.
    Closing : 17.8.09 (5pm).
    Prizes: Mostly unspecified but said to be fantastic and including a production package.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Optimalprint Wedding Competition.  Don’t panic.  You don’t have to be getting married to enter this one from Optimalprint.  You just have to imagine you are.  Yes I know, it’s the stuff of nightmares, but be strong.  To enter, you select an appropriate free wedding invitation from the website, then in up to 250 words describe your dream wedding. Open to anyone aged 18 or over.
    Closing: 25.8.09 (noon).
    Prizes: 1st - £500.   2nd - Ipod Touch.  3rd - Optimalprint T-Shirt.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Discovering New Mysteries Competition.  This American contest from the International Mystery Writers’ Festival is for plays, screenplays, teleplays and short stories in the mystery genre.  They say a panel of professional readers will ‘blindly review the submissions’ so you might like to consider writing your entry in Braille.
    Closing: 30.8.09.
    Prizes: $10,000, £5,000, £2,500, $1,000, $1,000.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Writers’ Advice Centre Children’s Story Competition.  This is for a first chapter of a children’s book, the chapter being up to 1,000 words.  Any subject and age group.
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prize: 1st - £100, a critique and a copy of How to Write for Children by Louise Jordan.  There will also be an opportunity to have your story submitted to a mainstream publisher when complete.  Runner-up - a critique and a copy of Louise Jordan’s book.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Hi Michael

Well, you told me to let you know if I won anything, and who'd imagine I'd be writing so soon? I started sending to writing contests last month, fully expecting everything to fail dismally (bit of a pessimist that way). And this week I found out I have won the Biscuit Flash Fiction comp for 2009! To be honest, I had never even heard of flash fiction till I looked at your site. I sent a weird little thing I wrote in 1995 and it came first! That means publication and a 1000 prize! So a big lovely thankyou to you and your site for pointing me in the right direction.

Cheryl Latter

Abbey Hill Literary - Quick Lit Challenge.  Here’s a U.S. literary contest that even has prizes for the illiterate (sorry, ‘evolving talent’).   Can’t spell?  No problem.  Can’t punctuate?  Don’t worry.  Can’t write for toffee?  Be not dismayed - for you could be rewarded for your creativity alone.  It had to happen sooner or later, I suppose, in this sloppy txt ‘n’ TV age.  A few months ago in a British school a youth wrote ‘F*** off’ on his test paper and was awarded points on the grounds that he had at least managed to express himself.  The new Shakespeare?  I don’t think so.  But let’s get back to this competition.  It does of course have prizes that are awarded only for the good stuff.  There are three quarterly contests, and these are for stories of up to 1,000 words.  Then there is an annual contest for stories of up to 4,000 words.  For each contest a sentence, phrase or scenario will be shown on the website and this must be used as the opening for your story.
    Closing: Quarterly: 30.8.09.  Annual: 31.10.08.
    Prizes: Quarterly Contest: 1st - $500.  2nd - $200.  3rd - $100.  Evolving Talent - $50.  Annual Contest: 1st - $1,000.  2nd - $300.  3rd - $150.  Evolving Talent - $75.
    Entry Fees: Quarterly comp - $12.  Annual - $20.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Aesthetica Creative Works Competition.  This one from the cultural arts magazine Aesthetica is for stories of up to 2,000 words, poetry of up to 40 lines, and artwork/photography.
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prizes : £500 in each category plus publication in the Aesthetica Annual.
    Entry Fee: £10.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

John Betjeman Young People’s Poetry Competition.  This is open to children aged 11 to 14 in the British Isles and the Republic of Ireland.  It is for poems about any aspect of their local surroundings.
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prize: £1,000.  This is far too much for any kid to handle so half of it goes to the English Department of their school.  If there is no English Department, it could perhaps be arranged for the money to go to the Pregancy Advice Department or the Drugs Rehabilitation Unit.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter (but only one entry per person).
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Leaf Books Blog-Post Competition.  For this one you submit a blog-post of up to 500 words, taken from your existing blog or, if for some weird reason you don’t have a blog, written specially.  The piece can be a work of fiction, a philosphical musing, a comment on current affairs (but note that it mustn’t be offensive or libellous), or anything else that takes your fancy.
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prize: £100.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Town & Village Magazine Sinful Short Story Competition.  This is for light-hearted stories relating to one of the seven deadly sins (Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride).
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prize: £100.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Details/Entry Form: Short Story Competition, Town & Village Magazine, 6 Whittle Road, Ferndown Industrial Estate, Wimborne, BH21 7RU.

Salopean Annual Poetry Contest.  This one comes courtesy of the Salopian Poetry Society and is for poems of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prize: £200, £100, £50.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Cooldog Publications Short Story & Poetry Competitions.  This regular runner is for stories of up to 3,000 words and poems of up to 40 lines.  For the poetry you are required to ‘let the warm breezes blow your reflections through the heat and haze of summer ...’  But for the stories there’s none of that poncy nonsense - it’s all about how the summer fun turned sinister and scary.  See the website.
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prizes (in each category): £100, £50, £25.  Winners will be automatically entered for the annual Cooldog Prize which has a top award of £500.
    Entry Fee : £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Wellington Town Council Short Story Competition.  Stories on any theme, up to 4,500 words, are welcomed here.  Proceeds go to the Mayor’s Charity Appeal, so even if you don’t win, you can perhaps derive some satisfaction from the knowledge that you have helped a worthy cause.  Oh go on, force yourself.
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prizes : £150, £100, £75.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Legend Writing Awards 2009.  This annual contest from Hastings Writers’ Group is for short stories of up to 2,000 words and flash fiction of 100 words exactly (excluding the title).  Stories may be any genre except children’s.  The competition is open to anyone resident in the UK but it ‘particularly aims to encourage new writers’.  One fifth of Legend profits will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prizes: Short Stories - £500, £250, £100, £50 x 3.  Flash Fiction - £50, £30, £20, £10 x 3.
    Entry Fee: Short Story - £7 for the first, £5 thereafter.  Flash Fiction - £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Review Fuse Poetry Contest.  To enter this American contest you submit a poem of up to 50 lines on the theme of A Bull Fighter, then review the four other poems assigned to you.  Your own poem will in turn receive three peer reviews.  Yike.  Registration is required and is free.
    Closing: 31.8.09.
    Prize: $50.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Rhys Davies Short Story Competition.  This is only open to writers born or resident in Wales. It is for stories of up to 2,500 words.
    Closing: 1.9.09.
    Prizes: 1s - £1,000.  Runners-up (10) - £100.
    Entry Fee: £6.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Short Story Radio Competition.  This one from the online ‘radio’ website Short Story Radio is for stories of up to 2,500 words with a female protagonist.
    Closing: 4.9.09.
    Prize: Your story recorded by a professional actor and broadcast via the website.  The winner also receives a free critique from best-selling author Sophie King.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    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

Whitby Abbey ‘Pure Inspiration’ Writing Competition.  Have you, like Bram Stoker or GP Taylor, been inspired to write by the clifftop ruins of Whitby Abbey?  Well, use your imagination then, otherwise you can’t enter this short story contest from English Heritage.  The Abbey must feature in the story in some way even if the story isn’t set there.  However, a passing mention is not sufficient (‘No, I wasn’t in the victim’s room at 9pm, Inspector.  I was at home thinking about Whitby Abbey.’).  Any genre is acceptable, past, present or future.  There are four age categories with different word allowances: 11 and under - 500 words; 12 to 16 - 1,250 words;  17-21 - 2,500 words; over 21 - 2,500 words.
    Closing: 4.9.09 (noon).
    Prizes: The top stories will be published by English Heritage in a book entitled Whitby Abbey - Pure Inspiration.  The writers will each receive two complimentary copies, with further copies available at a discount.  The royalties you won’t be getting will be devoted to the maintenance of  the Abbey.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here .

Nottingham Open Poetry Competition.  This annual contest is for poems of up to 40 lines on any subject.  The judge will be Penelope Shuttle.
    Closing: 7.9.09.
    Prize: £300, £150, £75.
    Entry Fee : £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Chroma International Queer Writing Competition.  Queer here is a reference to sexual orientation.  I wouldn’t be able to use the word in this context were it not for the fact that Chroma use it themselves, so I’m grateful to them for this small liberation in difficult and dangerous times.  Chroma is a magazine, incidentally.  The contest is for stories of up to 5,000 words and poems of up to 50 lines.
    Closing: 7.9.09.
    Prizes: £300, £150, £75.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Review Fuse Poetry Contest.  Up to 50 lines on any subject for this one from American website Review Fuse.  You upload your poem to the site and then grit your teeth while other writers pull it to pieces.  You in turn will be required to critique four other entries.  This will not influence the judging, but ... well, read the entry instructions.
    Closing: 25.9.09.
    Prize: $100.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

RAL 2009 Writing Competition .  This one from the charity Rape and Abuse Line is for stories and illustrated articles on any subject.  Story entries should be between 1,500 and 1,800 words and begin with the words, ‘If only someone had listened ...’  Articles should run to no more than 800 words and have two accompanying (and relevant) photos.
    Closing: 30.9.09.
    Prizes: 1st - £200 in each category.  There will be other awards from a total prize fund of £350 in each category.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Leaf Books Micro Fiction Competition.  By micro they mean a maximum of 300 words.  Any subject imaginable.
    Closing: 30.9.09.
    Prize : £100, a copy of the anthology and a collection of Leaf pocket-books.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Early Works Press Open Short Story Competition.  Here’s a regular writing contest in which they reward you for keeping it lean. You can enter stories of up to 8,000 words if money is no object, but if you have the misfortune to be a shareholder in any of our major banks, or indeed a depositor in any of their savings accounts, you should limit you efforts to 4,000 words to take advantage of the reduced entry fee.
    Closing: 30.9.09.
    Prize: £100.
    Entry Fee: Up to 4,000 words - £5.  Between 4,000 and 8,000 words - £10.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Basil Bunting Poetry Award 2009.  This contest was launched to celebrate the life of the late Basil Bunting, a leading British modernist poet from Northumberland.  It is open worldwide and is for poems of up  to 42 lines.
    Closing: 30.9.09.
    Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250.
    Entry Fee: £7 for the first, £3 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Tom Howard/John H Reid Poetry Contest.  This annual American contest is for poems in any style and on any subject.
    Closing: 30.9.09.
    Prizes: $2,000, $1,000, $500, $250.  There will also be five runners-up prizes ... sorry, High Distinction Awards of $200, and six also-ran prizes ... I mean, Most Highly Commended Awards of $50.   Next year there will be 2,500 Brave Try Awards, in all probability.
    Entry Fee (referred to by the promoters as a reading fee): $7 for every 25 lines.  Reading poetry pays handsomely, it seems, unlike writing it.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

H.E. Bates Short Story Competition 2009.  This one from Literature Northants is in honour of well-known Northamptonshire short story writer and novelist H E Bates who wrote, amongst other things, The Darling Buds of May .  Actually, Shakespeare wrote ‘the darling buds of may’ in a sonnet and H E Bates nicked the phrase (or perhaps I should say ‘paid tribute to it’).  A great writer nevertheless.  The contest, which is open worldwide, is for stories of up to 2,000 words on any subject.
    Closing: 5.10.09.
    Prizes: £200, £150, £100.  Under 18 Prize - £50.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Dorothy Sargent Rosenburg Annual Poetry Competition.  This American contest, which is open all to writers under 40, is for lyric poems celebrating the spirit of life.  Don’t overdo the celebrations however, as brevity is mentioned as an asset.  If you submit the maximum of three poems, only one can be over 30 lines.
    Closing: 17.10.09.
    Prizes: Varying from $1,000 up to as much as $25,000.
    Entry Fee: None for entrants outside the United States, as it’s too much hassle dealing with international payments from bankrupt countries.  If you live in the U.S., bad luck - the fee is ten dollars (if you find yourself short of cash you could sign your house over to them and pay the rest in instalments).
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Ragged Raven Poetry Competition.  This annual contest 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: 31.10.09.
    Prizes: 1st - £300.   Runners-up (4) - £50.
    Entry Fee : £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Poetry Society National Poetry Competition.  In 1983, says the Poetry Society, Carol Ann Duffy won this contest and 26 years later she has become the Poet Lauriate.  So now you know how long it will take you to live it down if you win.  But there are compensations.  The top cash award is one of the best in the business, and the second prize isn’t bad either.  In addition, Carol Ann Duffy will not be one of the judges.  The thing that makes me uneasy about this contest year is that the entry form always asks for your age and ethnic background.  They say this is for monitoring purposes only, but I still don’t think it belongs on a competition entry form.  However, I have no complaints about the line limit which is 40.
    Closing: 31.10.09.
    Prizes: £5,000, £1,000, £500.  Winners will be published on the website and in the magazines Aesthetica and Poetry Review.
    Entry Fee: £5 for the first, £3 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Aeon Award 2008.  Aeon Press publish the Irish sci-fi magazine Albedo One.  Therefore you won’t be surprised to learn that the contest, which incidentally is open worldwide, is for speculative fiction.  The word limit is 8,000.  Author Ian Watson will be judging the shortlisted entries.
    Closing: There are four separate rounds, the last one closing on 30.11.09.  Entries will be selected from each round to go on the shortlist for final judging in December.
    Prize: 1,000 euros, 200 euros, 100 euros.  Winners will be published in Albido One.
    Entry Fee: 7 euros.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

The Plough Prize.  Here’s a regular visitor I’m always pleased to see because it gives me the opportunity to use my little joke about the prize, which I know many people look forward to.  First though ... the contest has two categories: Open Poem and Short Poem, the former allowing up to 40 lines, the latter up to 10.  The judge this year will be someone called Alison Brackenbury.
    Closing: 30.11.09.
    Prizes (in each category): Ploughs.  Or you can take the money - £500, £200, £100.  There is also a prize of £100 in an additional category for poems suitable for children.
    Entry Fee: £4 each, £14 for four and £3.50 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Iota International Poetry Competition.  This one from poetry and fiction magazine Iota is for poems of up to 80 lines on any subject and in any style.  The judge will be Tim Turnbull.
    Closing: 30.11.09.
    Prizes: £2,000, £1,000, £500, 10 x £50.  The winners will be published in Iota.
    Entry Fee: £4 each, £7 for two, £9 for three, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.