April 2019: Competition Monthly
22 April 2019
A mix of competitions to keep you busy
There’s a nice variety of competitions this month, including writing for children, fantasy, flash, spooky, a couple of non-fiction contests and genre mash-up.
A more unusual challenge this month is to write a poem for a greetings card. The competition guidelines suggest we write about real emotions and feelings, so as romantic novelists this should be right up our street. It’s a free competition so worth having a go.
One of the non-fiction competitions calls for us to tell all about our writing day. It asks for an ‘honest account’. Are you up to the challenge?
See March 2019’s competition post for further competitions that are still open here
Happy Easter and good luck in your competition endeavours.
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Rolling competitions:
Writers’ Forum Short Story Competition
Theme: Open. 1,000 – 3,000 words
Prize: £300 / £150 / £100
Closing date: Ongoing
Entry: £3 subscribers / £6 non
Closing Soon:
Tamworth Literary Festival Short Story Competition
Theme: Open. 1,500 words max
Prize: £100 / £50 / £25
Closing date: 30 April
Entry: £4
Writing Magazine Genre Mash-Up Competition
Theme: Genre-defying mash up. 1,500 – 1.700
Prize: £200 plus publication in the magazine / £50 plus publication online
Closing date: 15 May 2019
Entry: £4 subscribers / £6 non
June Competitions:
Booksie First Chapter Novel Contest
Theme: Open. First chapter whether the book is finished or not
Prize: $1,000 / $150
Closing date: 14 June 2019
Entry: $7.95
Segora Vignette Competition
Theme: Open. 300 words max
Prize: £100
Closing date: 15 June 2019
Entry: £5
Writing Magazine Creative Non-Fiction Competition
Theme: Use story telling skills on a true story. 1,500 – 1,700 words
Prize: £200 plus publication in the magazine / £50 plus publication online
Closing date: 15 June 2019
Entry: £4 subscribers / £6 non
Retreat West Flash Fiction Competition
Theme: ‘Reunions’. 500 words max
Prize: £300 / 2 x £100
Closing date: 30 June 2019
Entry: £8
Impress Prize for New Writers
Theme: Fiction and non-fiction, including YA but not children’s. 6,000 words plus proposal
Prize: £500 plus possible publication
Closing date: 30 June 2019
Entry: £25
Wells Festival of Literature Short Story Competition
Theme: Open. 1,000 – 2,000 words
Prize: £750 / £300 / £200 / Local prize £100
Closing date: 30 June 2019
Entry: £6
Wells Festival of Literature Book for Children Competition
Theme: For aged 9+, so middle grade or teen. First 3 chapters or first 30 pages
Prize: £750 / £300 / £200 / Local prize £100
Closing date: 30 June 2019
Entry: £6
The British Fantasy Society Short Story Competition
Theme: Any kind of fantastical story. 5,000 words max
Prize: £100 / £50 / £20
Closing date: 30 June 2019
Entry: £5
Flash 500 Flash Fiction Competition
Theme: Open. 500 words max.
Prize: £300 / £200 / £100
Closing date: 30 June 2019
Entry: £5
Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Card Competition
Theme: Poem for a greetings card
Prize: $350 / $200 / $100
Closing date: 30 Jun
Entry: Free
Hastings Literature Festival Flash Fiction Competition
Theme: Open. 500 words max
Prize: £100 / £40 / £25
Closing date: 30 June
Entry: £5
Hastings Literature Festival Short Story Competition
Theme: Open. 1,500 words max
Prize: £100 / £40 / £25
Closing date: 30 June
Entry: £5
July Competitions
Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition
Theme: Open. 1,200 words max
Prize: £200 / £100 / £50
Closing date: 12 July 2019
Entry: £5
Fitzcarraldo Editions Novel Prize
Theme: Novels that are innovative and imaginative. Minimum 30,000 words
Prize: £3,000 in advance against publication
Closing date: 15 July 2019
Entry: Free
Little Black Dress Spooky Story Competition
Theme: ‘Change’. 1,500 words max.
Prize: Aus$100 / $50
Closing date: 19 July 2019
Entry: Free
Brentwood Writers’ Circle ‘100’ Competition
Theme: ‘100 years ahead’. Exactly 100 words
Prize: £50 / £30 / £20
Closing date: 30 July 2019
Entry: £3
Scribble Magazine ‘My Writing Day’ Article Competition
Theme: Account of how you spend your day as a writer. 1,000 – 1,500 words
Prize: £50 / £25 / £15
Closing date: 31 July 2019
Entry: £3
To Hull and Back Competition
Theme: Open, but must have an element of humour. 2,500 words max
Prize: £1,000 / £500 / £250 / 3 x £100 / 14 x £50. Publication in an anthology
Closing date: 31 July 2019
Entry: £11
August Competition
Curtis Brown First Novel Prize
Theme: Open, for adults (no children’s or YA). Entrants must be unrepresented at time of entering. Up to 10,000 words of the opening plus 1 page synopsis, max 400 words.
Prize: £3,000 plus offer of representation by CB / Place on CB novel course plus mentoring / 4 x places on CB online course.
Closing date: 1 August 2019
Entry: Free
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Francesca Capaldi Burgess has been placed or shortlisted in a number of competitions including Winchester Writers’ Conference, Twyford Writers, Chorley & District Writer’s Circle, Retreat West, Cordelia.net, Meridian Writing, Flash a Famous Phrase, Wells Festival, and Writing Magazine. She’s had stories and a serial published in magazines worldwide. Her first book, Danger for Daisy, was published by My Weekly Pocket Novels at the end of 2018. Apart from the RNA, she’s also a member of the Society for Women Writers and Journalists. Francesca runs a writing blog along with RNA member Elaine Roberts called Write Minds.
