Fair Submissions

 Full details  A poetry competition open to young people across Hampshire in three age categories:  4 to 7 years  8 to 11 years  12 to 16 years Theme for Hampshire Young Poets 2025: Friendship   “There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends.”  Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey ​ In 2025, people across the world are celebrating the birthday of Hampshire author Jane Austen, who was born 250 years ago. Jane had many friends and often wrote about friendship in her novels. Inspired by Jane, her life and the stories she wrote, you are invited to explore the theme of ‘Friendship’ – we want to read about what friendship and your friends mean to you. ​ Write a poem of no more than 14 lines on this theme and send it to us for a chance to be one of the winning poets announced at the awards ceremony on: Saturday 11 October 2025, at The Arc, Winchester as part of Winchester Poetry Festival     Comp...

 Full details   The New Voices Award supports writers to develop an idea they've yet to commit to paper, or those in the very early stages of their work in progress. The Award provides mentorship and editorial guidance for aspiring authors and encourages entries from all writers, including those from underrepresented backgrounds with a new story to tell. The prize is exclusively for unpublished writers. Writers must not be represented by a literary agent, or be under an existing or future contract to any publisher. The work submitted must not have been previously self-published, or have been published in full or in part through any publisher or other media.  To participate, writers must submit their opening three chapters totalling no more than 10,000 words and a full plot outline of no more than 1,000 words detailing where they imagine the story will go.  Submissions opened on 1st January, 2025. Early bird submissions closed on 6th February, 2025, and ...

 Full details  The Author of Tomorrow Award is designed to find the adventure writers of the future. Part of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, it is an annual competition open to young people across the world who have completed a short piece of adventure writing in English. Prizes are awarded in three categories: 11 and Under | Up to 500 words | Prize: £100, plus £150 book tokens for your school 12-15 years | 1,000 - 2,000 words | Prize: £250, plus £150 book tokens for your school 16-21 years | 1,500 - 3,000 words | Prize: £1,000 Each shortlisted author also has their work digitally published on Booksmart, an app and online library run by global literacy charity, Worldreader. Each story will be online and available for readers anywhere in the world there is internet.  Submissions for the Author of Tomorrow are now open and close on 30th April 2025, at 23.59pm BST.  

  Full details  2 025 Competition Prizes The winner of each category will receive a cash prize of €500 and a free weekend pass to the Write By The Sea Festival 2025. All four winning pieces will be published in Issue 10 of The Waxed Lemon Literary Journal. The runners-up in each category will receive €300 and third place will receive €200. C ategories There are four competition categories: 1. Fiction Short Story (maximum 2,500 words) 2. Flash Fiction (maximum 700 words)  3. Poetry (maximum 40 lines) 4. Memoir/Personal Essay (maximum 1,000 words) The independent panel of judges will select the winners and each category winner will be invited to read from their work at a public event as part of the festival. 2 025 Competition Timeline Saturday 8 th March 2025 – submi...

  Full details  Open now until April 30th We’re delighted to announce the 27th annual Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition . Over the years it has attracted a wide variety of expert judges with a high profile in the poetry world, with submissions of poems from across the United Kingdom and internationally. There is an additional prize for the best sonnet. The deadline for entries is 30th April 2025. Prizes: First prize £800, Second prize £400, Third prize £200, Sonnet prize £200  All prize-winning and commended poets will be invited to read their poem at an informal, celebratory prize-giving event on Friday 11th July 2025, which will take place from 8-10pm at Southern Maltings Arts Centre in Ware, Hertfordshire. As with all our events, everyone is welcome to attend our prize-giving evening. The 2025 Competition judge Hannah Copley will award the prizes and will treat us to a reading of her own poems in the second half. The poem that wins ...

 Full details  Contest guidelines below. READ CAREFULLY . Failure to do so may result in disqualification! Please note that we have additional perks and leeway for MEMBERS , highlighted in GREEN , granting access to special content and bonuses in the submission process, plus it helps keep the lights on and pay all yee writers! Speaking of 'Members', (Imagine some yokel hollering from the back of a city council meeting, "Point of clarity!") we have two terms that you should note the difference: "Subscriber" means our free, basic subscription. "Member" means our paid, annual membership. Boom, now you're informed. Why submit to us?       - WE PAY WRITERS FAIRLY. It’s hard work writing good stories, and you deserve to get paid. Or maybe you don’t and you’re just duping us? Regardless, we pay 8 cents a word (with a $500 cap), and 2 cents a word for reprints.       - NO SUBMISSION FEES. Nobody's getting rich off $3 ...

  Full details  Share your words with us and the World. Welcome to… THE BEDFORD COMPETITION, a nonprofit group, runs annual international short story and poetry competitions for anyone in the world over 17 years of age. There are prizes totalling £4,600 and all winning and shortlisted stories and poems are published as an anthology. SHORT STORY & POETRY COMPETITION MAIN PRIZES – £1500 2nd PRIZES – £300 3rd PRIZES – £200   CYGNATURE SHORT STORY & POETRY PRIZES  – £200 The University of Bedfordshire is sponsoring the  Cygnature Prizes for young writers aged 17-25 yrs   BEDFORD SHORT STORY & POETRY PRIZES – £100 All submissions are entered in the Main Prize. Latest News Don’t miss your opportunity to support a local Bedford writer who is hosting the launch of  Rose Diell’s  new book at th...

  Full details  Briena Staunton Visiting Writer Fellowship, University of Cambridge - Pembroke College Deadline: Fri 6 Jun 2025 The Briena Staunton Visiting Writer Fellowship is held in partnership by Pembroke College Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin, and rotates between the institutions. The Fellowship allows a distinguished academic/writer of international standing with an exceptional literary and publication record to take up a one month-long residency. In 2025 the Fellow will be resident at Pembroke College Cambridge. The duties of the Fellowship include the provision of a number of workshops or other meetings with student writers, and participation in a public event such as a reading or lecture. The stipend is €10,000, and the Fellowship includes accommodation for the Fellow in or near Pembroke College and dining rights. The stipend is €10...