Tag: writing competitions

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Calling all Irish writers – THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST / PENGUIN IRELAND SHORT STORY PRIZE

Posted on by J

It’s all go on the competition front this month!  Recently announced is Ireland’s Sunday Business Post’s short story competition with a whopping €2,000 prize up for grabs!

The Sunday Business Post is proud to announce its inaugural Short Story Prize in conjunction with Penguin Ireland

We are seeking short stories of up to 5,000 words for our inaugural SBP / Penguin Ireland Short Story Prize. Entrants must be Irish by residence or citizenship. The prize winner will receive a cash award of €2,000, with second and third place awards of €500 and €250 respectively.

Entries must be original short stories, in English, of 5,000 words or less. Any work that has been previously published and / or broadcast, or that is published or broadcast before February 21, 2016, will be disqualified.

Entry is restricted to residents and citizens of Ireland, and the deadline for entries is 5pm on December 23, 2015.  Full details on rules of entry can be found on their website.

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Myriad First Drafts Competition 2016: First Crimes

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Fancy a chance at winning a week long writing retreat and six months with a Myriad author as a mentor?  Then look no further. The competition has a proven track record in launching writers who have gone on to enjoy creative and commercial success. Myriad has published several writers brought to its attention through the competition in previous years, including Lisa Cutts, whose crime debut Never Forget has been optioned by a major TV company.

 

Myriad and West Dean College invite previously unpublished writers to submit entries of up to 5,000 words from a crime novel or crime short story collection in progress. This year the competition will focus exclusively on crime and thrillers in celebration of the genre. The competition will be judged by an all-star judging panel of internationally bestselling crime authors

Now in its seventh year, the competition (formerly the Writer’s Retreat Competition) recognises promising work-in-progress, be it a short story collection or the first few chapters of a novel. The competition is open to all writers who have not yet published or self-published a collection of stories or a novel.

The prize is a week-long writing retreat in the luxurious surroundings of West Dean College near Chichester, as well as detailed editorial feedback from the judges and six months’ mentoring from a Myriad author.

Myriad’s First Drafts Competition is at the heart of our mission to discover and nurture bold and exciting new writers. There are very few competitions for a work-in-progress and this is a brilliant opportunity for aspiring authors to get their work noticed by publishers and agents.

 

The competition closes on the 31st March 2016, so you have plenty time to think about getting your submission in.  Entry costs £10, and you are restricted to only one entry per person.  The complete rules of entry and full details on submissions can be found on the Myriad website

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Reader’s Digest 100 Word Story Competition 2016 – Enter now

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600x633x600x633_100-word-story-v2.jpg.pagespeed.ic.jCx00AB7f5Fancy having a go at some Flash Fiction?  Reader’s Digest has, this month launched it’s annual 100 word short story competition.

There are three categories—one for adults and two categories for schools: one for children aged 12–18 and one for children under 12.

Your stories should be original, unpublished and exactly 100 words long—not even a single word shorter or longer!

Entries must be in by February 20.

The editorial team will then pick a shortlist of three in each category and post them online on March 6.

You can vote for your favourite, and the one with the most votes will scoop the top prize.Voting will close on March 27 and winning entries will be published in our June issue.

 

What you can win…

 

Adults: The winner will receive £2,000, and two runners-up will each receive £200.

12-18’s: The winner will receive a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (8.0, WiFi) and a Samsung Gear S watch (choice of colour), plus £150 for their school. Two runners-up will each receive £100.

Under-12’s: The winner will receive a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (8.0, WiFi), plus £100 for their school. Two runners-up will each receive £75.

 

More information and details on how to enter can be found on the Reader’s Digest website here.

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Criminal Lines is back for 2015

Posted on 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

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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

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CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition – Closing soon

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3 WEEKS LEFT TO ENTER!!!!!

CWA MARGERY ALLINGHAM SHORT STORY COMPETITION

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The CWA Margery Allingham Short Story competition was set up in 2013 to and is an annual competition to celebrate the short story and Margery Allingham’s contribution to crime writing.

The competition is open to all – both published and unpublished authors and is for UNPUBLISHED short stories of up to 3,500 words.

The winner will receive £1,000 courtesy of The Margery Allingham Society who sponsor this prize.

Entries cost £10 and the deadline for submission is 6:00pm on 16th March 2015(GMT).

Further information on the competition and details on how to submit your entry can be found on the CWA Website

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Britain’s Next Best Seller & Scriggler.com Short Story Competition

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Scriggler.com and Britains Next Best Seller launched their latest short story competition this week, looking for the best 10 crime/thriller short stories to feature in a compilation book.

The 10 shortlisted authors will get a crowdfunding campaign that may see their story published and sold around the world. All author royalties earned from the book sales will be donated to “The Hope Academy for Girls” — a self-sustaining, multi-purpose school for at-risk girls in the rural area of Sierra Leone. So not only could you get to see your work in print, but you could help to fund the education of young girls in West Africa, without a doubt a very worthy cause.

The competition runs from 1st December 2014 until 31st January 2015 and is open to ALL authors from ANY country. Remember, the theme is crime/thriller and ideally word count should not exceed 7,500 words. 

The overall winner will also see their story’s title chosen as the compilation’s title.

Rules of Entry

  • Participants need to register and publish their entries on Scriggler.com
  • All entries must be previously unpublished.
  • Entry is not limited to UK residents. Authors can be based in any country for the purposes of this competition.
  • Only entire stories would be considered, no extracts.
  • Word count should not exceed 7,500 words.
  • While authors keep their rights when publishing on Scriggler, the purpose of the contest is to compile and publish a book of short stories and winning authors would be expected to enter into an agreement with BNBS. Please consider this when entering.

Further information including introductions to BNBS, Scriggler.com, and what will happen to all entries once submitted can be found on the Scriggler.com website here.

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Flash Bang

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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!

 

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The Debut Dagger is now open…

Posted on by J

logoYes 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!

 

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Bloody Scotland Short Story Competition

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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

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

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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.