Fair Submissions

  Full details  The Prize Founded in 2010, by  Professor Janet Todd OBE and now going into its 16th year, DBE, the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize is renowned for championing and launching the careers of exceptional women writers. With a prestigious legacy spanning 15 years, the prize attracts a wealth of literary talent and is actively seeking submissions that seamlessly blend literary merit with captivating storytelling – the "unputdownable" novel. The winner will receive a £1,500 prize, and all shortlisted authors will benefit from a one-on-one consultation with a literary agent at prize sponsor WME , including editorial feedback and invaluable publishing advice. Join us in our mission to discover and support the next generation of exceptional storytellers. Read the Fiction Prize Anthology here The prize is now open for entries. Enter the Prize here 2025 winner Follow us on social media for the latest news and updates X account (formerly Twi...

  Full details  orth East Writers We’re accepting submissions for Haddaway & Write 2026! In partnership with Gala Durham and funded by Arts Council England, Haddaway & Write, will support up to 6 North East writers to develop original short plays, with dramaturgical support from award-winning writer, Sarah Tarbit.   The selected writers will receive £1000, take part in bespoke script development sessions and have their plays professionally performed at community and theatre venues across the region. We are accepting submissions from North East writers at all levels of experience who will benefit from script development support and career mentoring. We actively encourage applications from traditionally excluded and marginalised backgrounds. To Apply Please read all of the following details and submit using the link below Applicants must be: Aged 16+ Based in the North East of England (County Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley) P...

  Full details  We are now open for submissions of formal poems for children  Send us your sonnets, triolets, villanelles, haiku, limericks, and anything else that follows a set structure, by 31 December 2025. You don’t need a track record as a poet generally or a children’s poet specifically; we are keen to encourage as many people as possible to experience the important joy of writing poetry for children! Please read the guidelines below before submitting your poems. Please send up to three unpublished poems by midnight GMT on 31 December 2025. We are looking for formal poems that follow a set structure, though they can be playful with the form’s conventions. Please let us know what form your poem/s are in when you submit. We strongly recommend reading a previous issue of Tyger Tyger Magazine to get a feel for...

  Full details  On November 1st 2025, Wolverhampton Literature Festival opens its poetry competition to poets from across the globe for the ninth consecutive year. The competition this year will once again be an ‘open’ one, so send us poems on whatever subject you like. Surprise us, enthral us, astound us, but make sure you send your entries in before December 31st! 1st prize for this competition is £400. 2nd prize, £150. There are three 3rd prizes of £25. There is an additional prize of £50 for the best poem sent in by someone living in a WV postcode. You’ll find details of how to submit, and the rules for the competition, further down the page. Please read them carefully. Poems will be read, and winners chosen, by our judges Martin Figura and Helen Ivory. The WV postcode winner will be chosen by Steve Pottinger. Our Judges Photo by Dave Gutteridge Martin Figura’s collection and show Whistle were shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and won the 2013...

 Full details  Cheshire Prize for Literature 2025/26 Cheshire Prize for Literature 2025/26 now open. This year’s competition is open to anyone to enter in three age categories: Primary (4-11):  poetry or short story category Secondary (11-18): poetry or short story category Over 18: poetry, short story, flash fiction, children’s literature, scriptwriting There is no theme, writers can write about anything that inspires them. You can enter two entries per person, but they must be in different categories. Closing date for entries is 31 st  January 2026. Please read the full terms and conditions for full details of the competition and to see the criteria for each category. Any queries about the competition should be emailed to cheshireprize@chester.ac.uk  or phone 01244 511344. History of the Prize In 2003, the then High Sheriff of Cheshire approached the University of Chester to establish and run a Cheshire Prize for Literature. Since then, it has g...

 Full details  ow open for entries The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition is a distinguished national writing competition for writers born or living in Wales. Originally established in 1991, we are delighted to manage this prestigious award on behalf of The Rhys Davies Trust and in association with Parthian Books. About Rhys Davies Born in Blaenclydach, near Tonypandy in the Rhondda, in 1901, Rhys Davies was among the most dedicated, prolific, and accomplished of Welsh prose-writers in English. With unswerving devotion and scant regard for commercial success, he practised the writer’s craft for some fifty years, in both the short story and the novel form, publishing in his lifetime a substantial body of work on which his literary reputation now firmly rests. He wrote, in all, more than a hundred sto...

 Full details  Submit your 500 word story or poem in response to our gallery of climate action imagery. Prizes and publication for the winners! Published 12 November 2025 by Beth Daley (opens in new window) (Europeana Foundation) 1,027 views The first Europeana Creative Climate Action Award invites you to write a new short story or poem inspired by cultural heritage content on the theme of climate action. We’re looking for up to 500 words of creative writing, fiction or poetry written in English and inspired by one or more of the images in our Europeana Creative Climate Action Award gallery , which has been curated by the Europeana Climate Action Community . How do climate and creative writing go together? Nature and the environment have always been themes of writing and poetry, and today, there are a growing number of writers who address the climate crisis theme...

 Full details  SOUND: Plymouth Poetry Festival takes place between 10th – 19th April 2026 and is seeking a poet-in-residence to work with families from underrepresented Plymouth communities across three days during the festival. The chosen writer will run workshops with families in the north of the city exploring poetry as a means of self-expression and creativity. The poet will be invited to attend and perform at community-led events, and run a workshop of their choosing with the general public. Find out more about the residency and how to prepare your application by downloading the brief. wRiter-in-residence brief (.PDF)   

  Full details  e are seeking a poet-in-residence to deliver six weekly sessions at a care home in Gloucester as part of our Poetry Cares programme in February and March 2026 .   Poetry Cares celebrates the power of poetry and the positive impact of creative engagement with those affected by memory loss. Sharing and creating poetry can help to unlock memories and spark connections for people living with memory loss, their friends and their families.  This role is perfect for practitioners who have experience of using poetry as a tool for reminiscence, perhaps you have worked at our Poetry Cares sessions in Memory cafes? Or alternatively, for any writer with experience of using creative writing in socially engaged ways in care or similar settings.   The fee for the residency is £1,500 inclusive.  Deadline for applications for the care home residency close at midnight, Sunday 4th January . You can find out more about the role...

  Full details  Literature Works is delighted to announce a writer-in-residence opportunity at Exeter Custom House as part of the Quay Words live literature programme.    We are seeking to appoint a writer, storyteller, spoken word artist or other wordsmith to be in residence for the calendar month of March 2026 f or the equivalent of at least one day per week during that time.  This will be followed by the opportunity to present their final commission at Exeter Custom House during the Quay Words finale week beginning 4 th May 2026 .   The selected writer will be engaged by Literature Works on a contractor/freelance basis as writer-in-residence for the term.   The theme for Quay Words Spring 2026 is Reflections . We’re looking for a resident to engage with the Custom House as place of thought and a home for words and stories – for the last seven years, and throughout its history. This will initially be through a period of...