May 2019: Competition Monthly
20 May 2019
Francesca talks this month about keeping a record of your entries
This month I’d like to mention record keeping. I’m certain I’d have got into a right mess with my submissions without my spreadsheets. I originally added the competition entries to the sheet for my magazine subs, but realised it was better to create a new spreadsheet especially, which I’ve found much more useful. These are in date order. The columns are named Date, Title, Competition, Theme & word count, Closing date, Type of story entered, Result date, Result and Website. If an entry is unsuccessful I colour it red, if placed or shortlisted, blue. It helps with keeping an eye on when to check websites for results, since many will only contact you if you’re shortlisted or placed.
I also keep a paper system. This is an exercise book set out by story, which allows me to see exactly where each of them has been sent. It’s also handy when your laptop crashes and you can’t reload your spreadsheets. (Yes, it happened to me!)
If you’re a newer or unpublished novelist, check out the three competitions below for unpublished and /or unagented writers. The Society of Women Writers & Journalists’ competition is good value, and not just for women or members.
See April 2019’s competition post for further competitions that are still open here
Good luck everyone.
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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:
Retreat West Flash Fiction Competition
Theme: ‘Wind’. 500 words max
Prize: £300 / 2 x £100
Closing date: 30 June 2019
Entry: £8
Daily Mail First Novel Competition
Theme: Any except children’s, sagas, sci-fi and fantasy.
Prize: £20,000, the services of literary agent Luigi Bonomi and publication by Penguin Random House.
Closing date: 14 June 2019 at 17.30
Entry: Free
Writing Magazine Timely Topic Competition
Theme: ‘Throne’. 500 words max
Prize: £100
Closing date: 23 June 2019
Entry: £5
Aurora Prize for Writing
Theme: Short stories, 2,000 words max (also poems)
Prize: £500 / £150 / One day course of your choice
Closing date: 26 June 2019
Entry: £9 / £7 subsequent entries
July Competitions
Writing Magazine Crime/Thriller Short Story Competition
Theme: 1,500 – 1,700 words
Prize: £200 plus publication in magazine / £50 plus publication online
Closing date: 15 July 2019
Entry: £4 subscribers / £6 non
August Competitions
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
The Retreat West Novel Prize
Theme: For new, unagented authors. First 7,500 words plus 500 word max synopsis
Prize: Contract with Retreat West Books plus £500 advance / Full manuscript critique / Year’s Gold Author membership with RW
Closing date: 18 August 2019
Entry: £15
Blue Mesa Review Summer Contest
Theme: Open. 6,000 words max. Fiction and non-fiction
Prize: $500
Closing date: 31 August 2019
Entry: $12
Exeter Flash Fiction Competition
Theme: Open. 750 words max
Prize: £200 / £100 / £50
Closing date: 31 August 2019
Entry: £6
Exeter Short Story Prize and Trisha Ashley Award
Theme: Open, except for Trisha Ashley Award which must be humorous. 10,000 words max
Prize: £500 / £150 / £100. Trisha Ashley Award £200
Closing date: 31 August 2019
Entry: £12
Aesthetica Creative Writing Award
Theme: Open. 2,000 words max
Prize: £1,000
Closing date: 31 August 2019
Entry: £18
Society of Women Writers & Journalists / Floella Benjamin Trophy
Theme: ‘Children are our future’, short story, essay, article, letter interview, monologue, 500 words max. Poems 40 lines max
Prize: £200 plus one free year’s membership
Closing date: 31 August 2019
Entry: £2.50
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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.
