September 2019: Competition Monthly
16 September 2019
Francesca considers deadline reminders and time zones
It’s easy to pick competitions you’d like to enter then forget all about them. I’ve done this a few times myself and it’s frustrating.
Simply writing the closing date in a diary often means you see it too late. Programming it into the calendar on your phone creates the same problem. To get around this I have a plain calendar, one of those with a month to a page and no pictures. I write the dates on this and keep it on my desk in a prominent position. That way I can see the month at a glance and I’m reminded to flick over a page or two to see what’s coming up. It’s good for other deadlines too.
Don’t forget, if you’re entering a competition abroad (eg, Furious Fiction, below), that their closing date/time will be a little different to our own in the UK, so be sure to check and make allowances.
Happy comping, and do let us know of any successes.
Click July 2019 and August 2019 to check competitions detailed in past blog posts that are still open.
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Rolling/Frequent Competitions
Furious Fiction
Theme: Different brief each first Friday of the month (4 October is next). 500 words max in 55 hours.
Prize: Aus$500
Closing date: 55 hours after opening
Entry: Free
Retreat West Monthly Micro Competition
Theme: New prompts posted on the first Monday of each month (7 October’s the next one). 100 words exactly.
Prize: 50% of entry fees plus free entry into the Flash Fiction competition, plus publication on website
Closing date: A week after to prompt is posted (14 October for the next one)
Entry: £4
NAWG 100 Word Mini-Tale Competition
Theme: Open, 100 words exactly
Prize: £75 / £25
Closing date: Each round closes after 100 entries
Entry: £3
October Competitions
Dalkey Short Story Prize
Theme: Open, 2,000 words max
Prize: €1,000
Closing date: 6 October 2019
Entry: €15
Bath Flash Fiction Award
Theme: Open, 300 words max
Prize: £1,000 / £300 / £100 / 2 x £30
Closing date: 13 October 2019
Entry: £9
Barren Flash Fiction Prize
Theme: Open, 1,000 words max
Prize: 40% of entry fees / 30% / 20%. All are published in Barren Magazine
Closing date: 30 October 2019
Entry:
Craft Flash Fiction Contest
Theme: Open, 1,000 words max
Prize: 3 x $1,000
Closing date: 31 October 2019
Entry: $20 for up to two entries
Bedford International Short Story Writing Competition
Theme: Open, 3,000 words max (also poetry)
Prize: £500 / £150 / £100
Closing date: 31 October 2019
Entry: £6
Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award (Novel)
Theme: Open, including children’s. 20,000 – 25,000 words of work in progress. Unpublished authors only.
Prize: £10,000 / £1,000 for runners up
Closing date: 31 October 2019
Entry: Free
A Story for Daniel Flash Fiction Competition
Theme: Joyful, uplifting, 500 words max
Prize: £100 plus publication on website
Closing date: 31 October 2019
Entry: Free
November Competitions
Odyssey House Victoria Short Story Competition
Theme: Family, plus a reference to alcohol or drugs, 1,500 words max
Prize: Aus$1,000 / $100 / $50
Closing date: 2 November 2019
Entry: Aus$10
Future Visions Award
Theme: How we see ourselves or the world in the future, 3,500 – 7,000 words (or 10,000 of previously published)
Prize: Aus$500
Closing date: 15 November
Entry: Aus$2
Writers’ Digest Short Short Story Competition
Theme: Open, 1,500 words max
Prize: $3,000 / $1,500 / £500 / 7 x £100 plus publication for all
Closing date: 15 November 2019
Entry: $25
The Paul Torday Memorial Prize for Debut Novelists over 60
Theme: Debut books, but not ebook only or self published. Submissions must be made by a print publisher
Prize: £1,000
Closing date: 30 Novembr 2019 at 5pm
Entry: Free
1,000 Word Challenge
Theme: Strangers
Prize: £150 / £75 / £50
Closing date: 30 November 2019
Entry: £5
NAWG Open Writing Competition
Theme: Open, 500 – 2,000 words (also poetry)
Prize: £200 / £100 / £50
Closing date: 30 November 2019
Entry: £5
December Competitions
Ruth Rendell Short Story Competition
Theme: Open, 1,000 words max
Prize: £1,000 plus commission to write four more
Closing date: 2 December 2019
Entry: £15
Chorley and District Writers’ Circle Short Story Competition
Theme: ‘On the edge’, 2,500 words max
Prize: £100 / £50 / 3 x £20
Closing date: 15 December 2019
Entry: £6
Retreat West Themed Flash Fiction Competition
Theme: Earth, 500 words max
Prize: £200 / 2 x £100
Closing date: 29 December 2019
Entry: £8
Flash 500 Flash Fiction Competition
Theme: Open
Prize: £300 / £200 / £100
Closing date: 31 December 2019
Entry: £5
Boulevard Short Fiction Contest for Emerging Writers
Theme: Open, 8,000 words max
Prize: $1,500 plus publication (All entries will be considered for publication and for payment at the usual rates)
Closing date: 31 December 2019
Details
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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, Writing Magazine and The People’s Friend serial competition. She’s had stories and a serial published in magazines worldwide. Her next book, That’s Amore , will be published by People’s Friend Pocket Novels on 31st October. 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.
