Competitions 2016 – Life of Cri.me

It’s all go on the competition front this week. Today it’s the turn of the 2016 Flash Bang competition run by CrimeFest Bristol.

Can you commit a crime story in just 150 words?

‘A shot rang out’ is four words, but it packs a hell of a punch. Flash fiction is the art of surprise, illumination, punch.

Think short fuse, short-arm, Get Shorty. Did you know ‘flash in the pan’ originated with the priming of guns? And flashnotes are counterfeit notes… We could go on, but we won’t, because we’re big on brevity. Surprise us. Burn us. Write us. Whatever you do, do it in a flash.

Bang bang, you’re read.

It costs just £2 per entry and the first prize is a PAIR (yes a pair) of weekend passes to CrimeFest 2017 (access to all interviews, panels and receptions, exc. accommodation, dinner, travel) with runner up prizes of a single weekend pass to CrimeFest 2017, followed by a CrimeFest goodie bag. On top of all that, those on the shortlist will be invited to attend the Crime Writing Day on Friday 20 May 2016, when the winners will be announced.

Think you’re up for it? Why not give it a go, after all 150 words…… how hard can it be? 😉

Entries need to be submitted by 4th March 2016, and full details of prizes and how to enter can be found here

Have fun and Good Luck!

Not just one for crime writing fans, the Bristol Short Story Prize is an annual international writing competition open to all published and unpublished, UK and non-UK based writers. Each year they award cash prizes, publish the winning stories in their annual anthology. The 2016 competition opened this week, and don’t worry if you haven’t got a story ready yet, the competition doesn’t close until 30th April 2016. That’s a whopping SIX months away!

Here’s what their website has to say about entering and prizes.

Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4,000 words. There is no minimum length. There is an entry fee of £8 per story.

20 stories will be shortlisted for the first prize and published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 9.

1st Prize is £1,000, 2nd Prize £700, 3rd Prize £400. 17 further prizes of £100 will be presented to the writers whose stories appear on the shortlist.
The winners will be announced at the 2016 Bristol Short Story Prize Awards Ceremony in October 2016. The Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 9 will also be launched at the event.

Rules of entry, and further information on prizes and previous winners can be found here.