Story competitions

Here are a few links to sites which list current writing competitions in the UK and overseas, we are very happy to receive emailed suggestions about any other competitions not listed here.

The Short Story Radio First Chapter Competition 2010.
This new writing competition offers writers a unique chance to have the first chapter (up to 5,000 words) of a published or unpublished novel recorded and broadcast on Short Story Radio and Talking Bookshelf, as well as to receive a cash prize.

Welcome to the Yeovil Literary Prize. Now in its seventh year, the Yeovil Literary Prize attracts outstanding entries from across the globe. This is the third year in which we have offered an option to enter online and it has encouraged a significant increase in entries. We look forward to even more this year.

Albedo One
Ireland's Magazine of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, is proud to announce the 5th Aeon Award for short fiction: The Aeon Award 2010
An annual poetry competition run by The Plough Arts Centre in Devon. Critiques are offered for a small fee, and all poets who make it to the long or short lists are notified.

Fish Publishing runs the Fish Short Story Prize, one of the largest international short story competitions. They also run poetry, crime, and historical fiction competitions and provide a full editorial consultancy
service designed to provide writers with one to one, on-going, constructive feedback on their work, whether it is a complete novel or just the beginnings."

The Bridport Prize is an annual international creative writing competition for poetry and short stories. The closing date for entries which may either be sent by post or online is 30th June. Bridport Prize is one of the top prizes of its kind in terms of both prestige and prize money. It has been the first step in the careers of many established poets and novelists. The prize money totals £14,000 with a first prize of £5000 for both poetry and short stories.

The author-network site provides excellent links to many writing orientated activities including a list of current writing competitions.

For all those that like to write short stories, here is a link to the BBC "Story" website with a comprehensive list of excellent short story competitions.

Interesting website about competitions in general. The "writing competitions" link is regularly updated and is very comprehensive.

The Raymond Carver Short Story Award.

These competitions seem to be only open to Irish nationals.

Writelink, a writers' resource site for creative and freelance writers.

WritersReign is a stress-free zone for the aspiring writer looking for practical help to improve their writing and see it publish. Here is its competitions link. You may also want to try the short story competition.
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.

Winter Witch Books is a small, independent publisher. They are running a new winter tales competition, the first prize is GBP100, with runner up prizes of GBP25. Also, the winning entries will be included in an anthology of Winter Tales.

Writingclasses.co.uk
online creative writing school