competitions – Life of Cri.me

Criminal Lines is back for 2015

Posted on April 6, 2015April 6, 2015 by J

Literary Agents A M Heath have re-launched their crime-writing prize for 2015, with the winner receiving entry to The Writers’ Workshop Festival of Writing 2015, along with £500 plus the opportunity to discuss their works with two of AM Heath’s agents, Euan Thorneycroft and Oli Munson

Last year AM Heath in association with The Writers’ Workshop launched Criminal Lines, a crime-writing prize open to unagented, debut authors, born or resident in the UK and Ireland. We had lots of brilliant entries – from grisly historical murders and psychological suspense to alien abductions and Alaskan thrillers – and had a great (though difficult!) time reading and choosing the shortlist.

With debut crime writers already hitting the bestseller lists this year, we know the next big thing in crime is out there. Is it you? Only one way to find out – enter your novel for Criminal Lines 2015…

To enter, send the first 15,000 words and a synopsis (max 800 words) of your novel as word documents to: criminallines@amheath.com

You can enter any kind of crime, suspense or thriller novel for the prize, although anything previously submitted to AM Heath is ineligible. Please remember that you must be unagented, debut, and born or resident in the UK and Ireland in order to enter. Your novel doesn’t have to be finished but the synopsis does need to show you have a clear vision for the book. Self-published authors are welcome to enter.

Submissions are open from 17th February 2015, and the deadline is midnight on 4th May.

Further details on prizes, results, and opportunities open to entrants can be found on the AM Heath Criminal Lines website

Blogging

CWA Dagger in the Library 2015 – Nominations Open

Posted on March 14, 2015 by J

Crime fans everywhere can nominate their favourite authors online and the ten authors with the most votes will make up the longlist. The response received last year was staggering, with 1,384 crime fans voting for 636 different authors, highlighting the extraordinary quality and variety in crime writing.

Unlike most other literary prizes, the Dagger in the Library is awarded not for an individual book but for an author’s entire body of work and is one of six highly prized CWA Dagger Awards awarded to crime writers since 1955. This year’s shortlist and winner will decided by a panel of judges including previous winner Sharon Bolton, CWA Director Lucy Santos and a panel of UK librarians.

Anyone nominating an author (or three) via the Dead Good Books website will also be entered into a prize draw to win £200 worth of crime fiction from Penguin Random House.

Nominations close on Monday 14th April and the 2015 winner will be announced at the CWA Awards Dinner on the 30th June.

Blogging

Flash Bang

Posted on November 8, 2014November 8, 2014 by J

Not quite up to the debut dagger but still enjoy writing and fancy trying out a competition? then look no further than the Flash Bang competition set 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 2016 (access to all interviews, panels and receptions, exc. accommodation, dinner, travel) with runner up prizes of a single weekend pass to CrimeFest 2016, 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 15 May 2015, 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? 😉

Full details of prizes and how to enter can be found here

Have fun and Good Luck!

Blogging

The Debut Dagger is now open…

Posted on November 8, 2014November 8, 2014 by J

Yes it’s that time of year again. The Crime Writers Association 2015 Debut Dagger competition opened on the first of the month and runs through until Midnight on January 31st 2015. Not sure what to do with your NaNoWriMo manuscript when you’re done? Well now you’ve got another eight weeks to polish it up, send off your synopsis, and you never know….

For 15 years the CWA has been encouraging new writing with its Debut Dagger competition for unpublished writers. The submissions are judged by a panel of top crime editors and agents, and the short listed entries are sent to publishers and agents.

The Debut Dagger is open to anyone who has not yet had a novel published commercially. All shortlisted entrants will receive a professional assessment of their entries. Winning the Debut Dagger doesn’t guarantee you’ll get published. But it does mean your work will be seen leading agents and top editors, who have signed up over two dozen winners and shortlisted Debut Dagger competitors.

But entering the Debut Dagger is more than just entering a competition. You can also join our community, via the Facebook Group giving you the opportunity to ask questions, share your experiences and helping out your fellow writers.

Entry to the competition costs £25 and submissions can be made here

Manuscripts should be 12pt, double spaced, in an easily readable font such as Times, Arial or Helvetica. They must fall within the prescribed word limits. Manuscripts must not include the author’s name or contact details, only the title of the work which will be allocated a unique CWA reference number.

Full Terms & Conditions of entry can be found here. Good Luck to all of you who enter!

Blogging

Bloody Scotland Short Story Competition

Posted on April 24, 2014April 24, 2014 by J

Today Bloody Scotland has announced the launch of this years short story competition.

The winner will receive £1,000, a bottle of Deanston Distillery Malt whisky and a weekend pass to this years festival, to be held in Stirling from September 19th – 21st.

The winning story will also be published as an ebook short by Bloody Scotland.

We invite writers to from anywhere in the world to demonstrate their skill in short-story writing by entering a story, for a chance to win a brilliant prize and be recognised as an exciting emerging talent in the crime genre.

We’re seeking exceptional crime short stories based on the theme of ‘ESCAPE’.

Stories should be a maximum of 3,000 words and must be submitted by midnight on 31st July 2014. There is an entry fee of £10 to cover the administration of the competition.

A prestigious judging panel comprising representatives from the University of Stirling and crime writers Alex Gray, Craig Robertson and Gordon Brown, will judge the entries and announce a shortlist. This shortlist will then be open for a public vote on the Bloody Scotland website

Further information on entering, including additional details for non UK entries can be found here

Blogging

Over 40, unpublished and live in Scotland? This is for you…

Posted on March 28, 2014March 28, 2014 by J

Whether you are a poet, novelist, author of creative non-fiction or a children’s author then here’s a great competition for you from the Scottish Book Trust.

To qualify for entry you must live in Scotland and you must not have published a book in print form previously. However, if all your work has been self-published, digitally published, published in a pamphlet or as part of an anthology or magazine you may still apply.

Scottish Book Trust is pleased to announce the opening of the Next Chapter Award 2014 to support a talented yet unpublished writer over the age of 40.

The Next Chapter Award will support an emerging writer yet to publish a full-length work, for whom finding time and space to write has proved especially challenging. Developing a specific piece of work to publication standard will be the central aim of the award and applicants must demonstrate genuine potential for publication.

The writer will be offered nine months of mentoring to be arranged by Scottish Book Trust. Additionally, the writer will be awarded four weeks on retreat at Moniack Mhor to be taken in two blocks: the first in Autumn 2014 (fixed dates of 30 September to 12 October) and the second in Spring 2015 (flexible dates within March 2015). The successful writer will also be offered a £1000 bursary.

Full details of how to submit your entries can be found on the Scottish Book Trust website, and the deadline for applications is Friday 16 May 2014.

Blogging

Competitions abound

Posted on February 22, 2014February 22, 2014 by J

February has been a good month for aspiring crime writers with two competitions being launched in the last two weeks.

Live in the North of England? Then this just might be the competition for you…

Moth Publishing is looking for the next big thing in crime fiction.

This year Moth are looking not just for a full length novel, but also short stories to feature in a ‘Northern Crime’ anthology.

The winning novels will be published in print and as ebooks in 2015. The winning writers will receive a standard publishing contract, a £1,000 advance, and support to editorially develop their work. They will also enjoy a marketing and PR campaign to support the publication of their books. Short story winners will get £100 and their story published in the very first Northern Crime short story anthology.

Entry fees for the competition are: £25 for the novels and £10 for short stories.

The competition opened on February 10th and closes on the 29th August 2014.

Full details on how to enter, including a map showing where in the UK you must live in order to be classified as a Northern Writer, can be found on their website. You can also find Moth Publishing on Twitter at @MothPublishing

If you don’t happen to live in the catchment area for that one, then have a look at Criminal Lines, the competition being run by AM Heath Literary Agents in conjunction with The Writers Workshop.

The competition is open to unagented, debut authors, born or resident in the UK and Ireland and comes with a £1,000 cash prize. Here’s what they’re looking for….

If you’ve written a perfect murder, a psychological nail-biter, or a gripping procedural, why not enter it for the prize? We’re looking for anything that will chill or thrill, with characters we can’t walk away from.

You can enter any kind of crime, suspense or thriller novel for the prize, with the proviso that any material previously submitted to AM Heath is ineligible. Your novel doesn’t have to be finished but the synopsis does need to show you have a clear vision for the book. Self-published authors are welcome to enter.

More information on the prize available, and full details on how to enter can be found on the AM Heath blog post here. The competition opened on February 17th and closes at Midnight on the 5th May 2014.

Updates on this competition can be found on Twitter by following @Criminal_Lines or following the hashtag #Criminal_Lines

Finally, if that has ignited your competitive streak and inspired your imagination, but you are unsure where to start, don’t forget there is still time to sign up for Crime & Publishment at The Mill Forge Hotel, on the outskirts of Gretna Green. Crime & Publishment is a fantastic creative writing weekend retreat designed for budding crime fiction authors of all levels and runs from 7th – 9th March 2014.

@CrimeandPublish