January 2021: Competition Monthly
18 January 2021
Looking at the different prizes on offer
A happy new year to you all. Here’s a question for you all to consider at the beginning of another writing year. What are you prepared to accept as a competition prize? Money only? Books, book tokens or a chance to perform your work? A writing course/retreat or a week’s holiday? A chance to pitch to an agent? Mentoring ? Short story publication with no recompense? Membership of a literary organisation or a writing residency? A publishing contract and free copies of your book? These are all prizes that have been offered in competitions I’ve seen over the last few years.
What a writer is prepared to accept for all their hard work is up to the individual, of course. I personally wouldn’t be happy with having my entry published without some kind of payment, though I did in my early days as a writer in order to get my name ‘out there’ and to have something on my writing CV. Some prizes of holidays or retreats are worth a fair bit of money, but many don’t pay for your travel there, so that’s another consideration. If the competition is offering a retreat or course away, are the dates convenient for you? Some competitions state that you’ll be disqualified if you can’t turn up for the ceremony. That’s something that needs to be checked, particularly if it’s being held in another country. If the prize is publication, is the publisher concerned one you feel you can work with?
It’s always advisable to read the small print for hidden conditions, so you don’t get any nasty surprises.
Good luck to you all in your comping endeavours in 2021.
Click December 2020 for posts detailing further competitions closing in February
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Closing soon
Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction
Theme: Crime or thriller fiction in progress, short stories of 10,000 words max or first two chapters plus synopsis of a work in progress. Writers must be from or live in the North East of England, or their work must celebrate the area.
Prizes: £2,500
Closing date: 28 February 2021
Entry: Free
March Competitions
Bridgend Writers’ Short Story Competition
Theme: Open, 1,500 – 1,800 words
Prizes: £100 / £50 / £30
Closing date: 1 March 2021
Entry: £5 for a single story and £2.50 for every entry thereafter
Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize
Theme: Best published and unpublished adventure novels
Prizes: Published: £10,000 / Unpublished: Advance of £15,000 and publishing deal with Bonnier Books
Closing date: 7 March 2021
Entry: Free
Fowey Festival Short Story Competition
Theme: ‘Breaking Point’, 1,500 words max
Prizes: £200 / £100 plus publication on website
Closing date: 7 March 2021
Entry: £10
Evesham Short Story Competition
Theme: Open, 2,500 words max
Prizes: £150 / £50 / £30
Closing date: 5pm, 12 March 2021
Entry: £5
BBC National Short Story Competition
Theme: Open, 8,000 words max
Prizes: £15,000 / 4 x £600. All broadcast on Radio 4
Closing date: 9am, 15 March 2021
Entry: Free
Eludia Award
Theme: Unpublished novel or collection of stories
Prizes: US$1,000
Closing date: 15 March 2021
Entry: US$20
Writing Magazine New Start Short Story Competition
Theme: ‘New Start’, 1,500 – 1,700 words
Prizes: £200 / £50
Closing date: 15 March 2021
Entry: £7.50 / £5 for subscribers
New Welsh Review Rheidol Prize for Prose with a Welsh Setting
Theme: Unpublished book, novella, short story collection or nonfiction, 5,000 – 30,000 words, Welsh themed or set in Wales
Prizes: £1,000 advance for a publishing deal
Closing date: 16 March 2021
Entry: £12
Tulip Tree Review Wild Women Story Contest
Theme: Empowering stories with a female main character, 10,000 words max
Prizes: US$1,000
Closing date: 23 March 2021
Entry: US$20
An Axe to Grind Flash Fiction Competition
Theme: 1,000 words max
Prizes: CAN$700 / $200 / $100
Closing date: 31 March 2021
Entry: CAN$5
Rubery Book Award
Theme: All genres of fiction, self-published or published by independent press
Prizes: £1,500 / category winners £150 each
Closing date: 31 March 2021
Entry: £37
Short Fiction Journal International Short Story Prize
Theme: Open theme for main prize / themed prize ‘Wild Writing’. Both 5,000 words max
Prizes: £500 / £250 / £100 for main prize / Wild Writing prize is £500 / 3 x Wild Writing Masterclasses
Closing date: 31 March 2021
Entry: £7 in January and February / £9 in March
Writers Bureau Short Story Competition
Theme: Open, 2,000 words max
Prizes: £300 / £200 / £100
Closing date: 31 March 2021
Entry: £5
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Francesca Capaldi Burgess has been placed or shortlisted in a dozen competitions including Winchester Writers’ Conference, Retreat West, Meridian Writing, Wells Festival Book for Children, Writing Magazine and The People’s Friend serial competition. She’s had stories published in magazines worldwide and her fourth DC Thomson pocket novel, was published on 10th December. Her second historical saga, War in the Valleys, published by Hera Books, was published on November 25th. Apart from the RNA, she’s also a member of the Society for Women Writers and Journalists. Francesca runs a writing blog with RNA member Elaine Roberts called Write Minds.
