by Clare Girvan
Introductory remarks.
'No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money' - Dr Johnson
My personal belief is that if your story is good enough to publish, it's good enough to be paid for. There are competitions that will put your story in an anthology if you are a runner-up, but only 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizewinners will be paid. If you are happy with that, fine, but bear in mind that once a story has been published, very few competitions will want it thereafter and it hasn't earned its keep.
The only exception is play writing competitions, which I go in for a lot. As a rule, they don't pay, and they often don't give a notification date, but they don't usually charge a fee or seem too bothered if you've touted your play around a bit. There is, however, one current competition which demands that you pay a submission fee of £30, followed by, if your play is chosen, a further £315 for production expenses and you must provide your own company and technicians. All I will say about that is that there are plenty more competitions to choose from. Under normal circumstances, the prize is usually a performance of some sort (and sometimes beyond, depending on the organisation) and it goes on your cv, which the occasional competition wants to see. But beware - sometimes your play will disappear without a trace, and no amount of effort on your part will retrieve it. I don't know why this happens. Maybe it's just mine.
This is a very subjective list, and I have not included absolutely every competition that comes out. The poetry listings are few - there are so many poetry competitions! - and occasionally I will miss out a short story competition because I don't think it's worth going in for (one, for instance, would only give you a certificate and an engraved Thing for the mantelpiece. You can do better than that). This includes competitions that charge a fee out of all proportion to the prize. I'm not keen on the current vogue for charging £5 for only a £100 prize. Smaller fee or bigger prize, I say. Exeter Writers has found that good advertising will bring in enough revenue to make a competition pay, even when the fee is quite modest. Try other listings if you can't find what you want - see lists at end.
Prize money and word count are maximum. Websites given where I can find them, or Google.
Let me know if you encounter "link rot" (i.e. sites gone dead) or any typos in the links.
Opinions expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of Exeter Writers.
Ongoing competitions
Threepenny Review
Words - 4,000
Prize - $400 and publication
Fee - none
Close - any time, but nothing during autumn
Notification - 2 months from submission
Global
Words - 2,000
Prize - £100, £250 annual
Fee - £5
Close - 30th every month
Scribble
Words - 3,000
Prize - £75
Fee - £3
Close - ongoing
JANUARY
Scribble / Park Publications
Words - 3,000
Prize - £75
Fee - £3
Close - ongoing
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Chapter One International Short Story Competition
Words - 2,000
Prize - £2,500
Fee - £10
Close - 30th January
Notification - 31st April
Fish Publishing International Short Memoir Contest
Words - £4,000
Prize - E2,000
Fee - E15
Close - 30th January
Notification - 1st March
Author Essentials - 'Winter'
Words - 2,500
Prize - £100
Fee - £3.50
Close - 31st January
Notification - March
Write Exposure (how many more competitions are going to be organised by something beginning with 'Write'? )
Words - 1,200 - see website for subject.
There hasn't been a subject for some time. I emailed them and was told that it was in hand, but nothing happened. I rang them today and was told the organiser has been away and is now determined to put things right. We shall see.
Prize - Beware, no prize is mentioned. Perhaps there isn't one. I am not impressed with this outfit.
Fee - £4
Close - 31st January
Notification - second week of February
DAW (Drama Association of Wales)
Words - 20-25 minutes, 2 actors min
Prize - £250 and publication
Fee - £17.50 or £15 online - pretty steep, even for quite a good prize
Close - 31st January
Notification - 8th June
Sampad: Inspired by Tagore
Words - 400 ("poetry, short stories or reportage ... using Tagore’s poetry and writing as a starting point")
Prize - £300
Fee - none
Close - 31st January
Notification - May
Readers' Digest 100-Word Short Story Competition
Words - 100
Prize - £1,000
Fee - none
Close - 31st January
Choc Lit Short Story Competition
Words - 1,500 (must include chocolate)
Prize - £200
Fee - £3
Close - 31st January
New Venture / Sussex Playwrights Ten Minute Play
Words - 10 Minutes
Prize - Performance
Fee - £5
Close 31st January
Notification - May
Script Space
Words - "an open competition that invites submissions of new, unperformed one-act plays from UK-based writers"
Prize - further action
Fee - none
Close - 31st January
Story Feedback
Words - 5,000
Prize - £100
Fee - £3
Close - 31st January
Notification - 31st March
FEBRUARY
Scribble - Park Publications
Words - 3,000
Prize - £75
Fee - £3
Close - ongoing
Homestart Bridgwater Short Story Prize
Words - 2,200
Prize - £500
Fee - £7
Close - 1st February
Bridgwater - www.homestart-bridgwater.org/index.php/short-story-prize- 2012
Words - 2,200
Prize - £500
Fee - £7
Close - 1st February
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Fables Fortune - 'Forbidden Fruit'
Words - 1,000
Prize - £100
Fee - £5
Close - 2nd February
Love Bites - An Anti-Valentine Play www.thelovebitesplays.com/pages8.htm
Words - 15 minutes
Prize - performance
Fee - none
Close - 8th February
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Tenfour 'A Table For Six' - http://tenfourtheatre.com/index.htm
Words - 5-10 minutes
Prize - performance
Fee - none
Close - 10th February
Notification - 2nd April
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Writers and Artists
Words - 2,000
Prize - £500
Fee - none
Close - 14th February
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Grace Dieu Writers' Circle Short Story Competition
Words - 2,000
Prize - £500
Fee - £5
Close - 28th February
Multi-Story (nice name)
Words - 600
Prize - £300
Fee - £5
Close - 29th February
Notification - 21st March
MARCH
Bristol Folk House - Saturday Shorts - www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunities/saturdayshorts_2012.shtml
Words - 15 minutes (2,500)
Prize - performance
Fee - none
Close - 1st March
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Yellow Room - http://www.theyellowroom-magazine.co.uk/www.theyellowroom-magazine.co.uk/Welcome.html
Words - 2,500
Prize - £80 - very small for the effort
Fee - £4
Close - 3rd March
Notification - 1st June
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Kenneth Branagh Award - www.windsorfringe.co.uk/index.php?option+com_content&view+category&layout+blog&id=5&itemid+14
Words - 30 minutes
Prize - performance
Fee - £5
Close - 5th March
Notification - mid-June
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Mslexia
Words - 2,000
Prize - £500
Fee - £10 (a lot, but the prestige!)
Close - 19th March
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Fish Flash
Words - 300
Prize - E1,000
Fee - E14
Close - 20th March
Notification - 30th April
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Broadway - www.the broadwaybarking.com/blog/the-broadway-wants-you-and-ten-pages-of-your-script/
Words - first ten pages of script
Prize - performance
Fee - none
Close - 29th March
Notification - 5th May
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Thynks (children's) - http://christinemichael.org/StoriesForKids7-11Postal.html
Words - 5,000
Prize - £100
Fee - £5
Close - 31st March
Notification - 30th June
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Moth - www.themothmagazine.com/al-page.asp?ID=3055&page=7
Words - 2,500
Prize - E1,000
Fee - E8
Close - 31st March
Notification - end of April
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Chapter One Romance - www.chapteronepromotions.com/competitions/romantic-fiction-competition-7.htm
Words - 5,000
Prize £300 and publication
Fee - £12
Close - 31st March
Notification - 30th June
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Bristol - www.bristolprize.co.uk
As hard to win as Bridport, but runners up get paid for being in their anthology. Tick, VG.
Words - 5,000
Prize - £1,000
Fee - £7
Close - 31st March
Notification - end of May
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Dark Tales - http://darktales.co.uk/contest.php
Wow, big prize, small fee. There must be a lot of horror writers out there.
Words - 5,000
Prize - £500
Fee - £3
Close - 31st March
Notification - 31st May
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Try also www.writingcalendar.com/ Sally Quilford's writing competition calendar, although she's not been up to speed lately, www.londoncomedywriters.com/opportunities/april.html,
www.theshortstory.org.uk/prizes/ and Michael Shenton's excellent and entertaining website which covers just about every other competition going www.prizemagic.co.uk/html/writing_comps.htm
*Creative Competitor. creativecompetitor.com/competitions
cg - 5th December 2011
