Short Story Competitions

arranged in closing date order

Five Minute Fiction Valentine's Day Short Story Competition
Closing date: 5th February 2012
Prizes: Ist prize £30 Amazon voucher, website publication, e-book publication with royalties; 2nd Prize £20 Amazon voucher, website publication, e-book publication with royalties; 3rd Prize £10 Amazon voucher, website publication, e-book publication with royalties. Up to 20 other prizes of e-book publication with % royalties.
Entry fee: £1 per entry.
Theme 'Love'. Word length between 100 and 1,500 words. 5minutefiction.co.uk/competition.html

Éclat Fiction's second issue prize
Closing date - 6th February 2012.
Prizes - 1st £100 | 2nd £50 | 3rd £20. The top 3 and 5 other stories will be published in issue 2 (published 1st March 2012)
Entry fee - a donation through paypal to Éclat Fiction (amount can be as little or as much as you want). One submission per author.
Word count/guidelines - 1500 words max, no theme and any genre is welcome; although, no children's fiction or non-fiction.
More details found on: eclatfiction.com/submissions.html

Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition Short Story Competition
Closing date: 8th February, 2012
Prizes: Book token from a major retailer for the winner.
Entry fee: £5.00.
Theme: Scenes of the Apocalypse. Submit a short story on how do you imagine the end of the world. Will humanity be engulfed by nature? Will wars and crisis turn us against each other? Let your imagination flow and captivate us with your scenes of the apocalypse.
Length: 1000 words maximum (2 pages approximately). All entries must be original works, in English.
Entries must be submitted electronically to project2012exhibition@gmail.com. Please state "Scenes of the Apocalyse" on the email title. Text must be written in a word document, double-spaced and must include the title and page number on each page as well as a pen name at the bottom. On the body of the email please include the author's name, telephone number and email address. Read more about Project 2012 at: project2012exhibition.blogspot.com/

Writer's Retreat Competition
Closing date: 10th February 2012.
Prizes: The winner will be entitled to a one week writing retreat, with full board, at West Dean, situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty six miles north of Chichester, South East England. The winner will also have the chance to discuss their work with Myriad’s Fiction Editor, Vicky Blunden.
The winning entry will be an extract from a narrative work in progress – novel, collection of short stories or script – and will be chosen purely on the strength and promise of the writing by a panel of expert judges
Entry fee: £5 (made payable to Myriad Editions) to: 'West Dean Competition', Myriad Editions, 59 Lansdowne Place, Brighton BN3 1FL
The competition is open to all writers of prose fiction, previously published or otherwise. Submissions of a one page synopsis and up to 5,000 words of a work in progress (novel, short story collection or script) should be sent by post, with a covering letter.
Full details on web site. myriadeditions.com/Competition

Multi-Story.co.uk Flash Fiction Competition
Closing date: 29th February 2012.
Prizes: £300 for first place, £100 for second, £50 for third and the winning entries will be published on the site.
Entry fee: £5 for one story or £8 for two.
"We are currently hosting a competition for flash fiction pieces of no more than six hundred words. It is open-themed. The judge, Lucy Floyd, had eleven novels published before turning to writing screenplays for film and TV and remains a regular contributor of short stories and serials in magazines around the world. Her work has been translated into thirteen languages."
For more information on the competition visit the web site. multi-story.co.uk/

The Word Hut Short Story Competition
Closing Date: 18th March 2012
Prize: £50.00
Entry fee: £4.00 per entry
Length: 1000 words maximum
Theme: Any subject or genre
Full details on website. thewordhut.com

Flash 500 Competition
Closing date: 31st March 2012
Prizes: £300, £100, £50
Entry fee:  £5 for one entry, £8 for two entries
Open theme, flash fiction up to 500 words. Optional critiques at £10 per story.
More details on website. flash500.com

Meridian Writing Spring Short Story Competiton
Closing date:  31st March 2012
Prizes: £100, £50 & £25 plus firstwriter.com voucher
Entry fee: £5 per story
Open Theme/Genre, 3000 words max. Critique service available. Eligibility: Open to new and published authors. See website for full details. meridian-writing.co.uk

Thynks Stories For Children Competition
Closing date: 31st March 2012
Prizes: 1st £100 plus website publication, 2nd £50 plus website publication 3rd £25 plus website publication.
Entry fee: £5 per story.
Stories for children in the age-range 7-11years wanted for this competition. Stories MUST be your own work and not previously published or accepted for publication. Up to 5,000 words.
Competition Secretary, 18 Hillside Road, Blidworth, Notts., NG21 0TR. Tel: - 07837 680821. email:- thynkspublications@yahoo.co.uk
Full details on web site. thynkspublications.co.uk/competitions

Writers For Animals Competition
Closing date: 31st March 2012
Here's your chance to get your animal story selected for inclusion in a compilation book that will be sold to raise funds for animal welfare. There are no prizes just the knowledge that your writing, if chosen, will have gone to a worthwhile cause. Please give it your generous consideration.
Wanted: True-life stories about animals who've touched people's hearts, and the people who help them. Plus fiction stories for adults and teenagers that have some kind of animal theme. NOT wanted: children's stories, poetry, essays, opening chapters of novels, or sexually-explicit content. The 'Writers For Animals' book will be around 200 pages of stories about animals, animal issues and people who help animals.
Email writersforanimals@live.co.uk for more info and submission instructions.

World Audio Short Story Writer 2012
Closing date: 31st March, 2012
Prizes: 1st Prize (worth over £450 in prizes: winning story professionally recorded/produced + broadcast online + author promotional podcast).
Winner announced on website, April 29th (and winner contacted by email beforehand).
Entry fee: £3 (£4 after December 31st, free for Writers' Club members).
Length: 1500-2000 words.
Full details on web site. shortstoryradiocom/short_story_competitions.htm

2012 Bristol Short Story Prize
Closing date: 31st March 2012.
Prizes: 1st £1000 plus £150 Waterstone's gift card; 2nd £700 plus £100 Waterstone's gift card; 3rd £400 plus £100 Waterstone's gift card 17 further prizes of £100 will be presented to the writers whose stories appear on the shortlist. All 20 shortlisted writers will have their stories published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 5. The winning story will, also, be published in Bristol Review of Books and Venue magazine.
Entry fee: £7 per story.
The competition is open to all writers, UK and non-UK based, over 16 years of age. Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 3,000 words (There is no minimum.)
Judging panel : Ali Reynolds (literary consultant, former Random House editor), Bidisha (writer, broadcaster, critic) Anna Britten (writer, journalist at Venue Magazine), Chris Wakling (novelist, Creative Writing tutor).
Full details on web site. bristolprize.co.uk

Exeter Writers Short Story Competition 2012
A competition for stories in any genre up to 3,000 words.
Closing date 31 March 2012.
Prizes are £250, £100, £50 plus publication on our website with an additional Devon Prize of £50 for a story from a Devon writer.
Entry fee £4 per story.
Details on exeterwriters.org.uk or send s.a.e. to Competition, 4 Albion Place, Exeter EX4 6LH.

Writers' Village Story Contest Spring 2012
Closing date: 31st March 2012.
Prizes: A first prize of £400 in cash can be won for short fiction in any genre in the spring 2012 round of the Writers' Village 'Best Writing' award. The second prize is £100 and third prize is £50 plus five shortlisted entrants gain a free entry in the next round.
All entrants, winners or not, gain a helpful critique of their story - a feature thought to be unique among low-fee writing contests.
Entry fee: £10 and multiple entries are permitted.
Winners will be awarded the title 'Winner, the Writers' Village Best Writing spring 2012 Award' and see their work showcased online.
Any genre of prose fiction may be submitted up to 3000 words, except playscripts and poetry. Entries are welcomed world-wide. Entry rules plus all winning stories since 2009 can be found on the web site. writers-village.org

Momaya Press Short Story Competition
Closing date: 30 April 2012
Prizes:  £155 (first) £55 (second) £30 (third)
Entry fee:   £8
Submit your short story of up to 3,000 words on the theme "Heat" for consideration by our panel of judges from Random House, Penguin, Reuters and a six times published novelist. momayapress.com

FBFT Sports Writing Competition
The entries may be prose or poetry, fiction or non-fiction.
Closing date: 13th May 2012 (last day of the Premier League football season.)
Prizes: First place, £50; Second place, £30; Third place, £20 (paid in British Pounds Sterling by bank transfer or Paypal) The three winning articles will receive the cash prizes as detailed and will be published on the website. We are particularly interested in sports writing that is original, exciting or somehow out of the ordinary.
Entry fee: FREE.
The FBFT Sports Writing Competition 2012 is open to anyone aged 18 years or older.
Entries may be anything up to 1500 words in length and must be related to sport in some way. Entries may be non-fiction, fiction, prose or poetry.
Entries may be submitted directly through the form on the website or by email to sportswriter@freebetsfreetips.com.
freebetsfreetips.com/sports-writing-competition

Weald & Downland Open Air Museum Historical Fiction Short Story Competition
Closing date: Friday 22 June 2012.
Prizes: 1st prize, the Jerwood Gridshell prize £1,000 with story published in Sussex Life Magazine and Museum Magazine sponsored by the Jerwood Foundation; 2nd & 3rd prizes £250 with story published in Museum Magazine sponsored by the University of Chichester.
Entry fee: £7 per entry.
The judges will be looking for high-quality stories which relate directly to an aspect of the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum collection, and are set between the years 1200 and 1900AD.
Full details and entry forms for this new historical fiction short story competition are now available the website. wealddown.co.uk/News/

Erewash Writers' Group Open Short Story Competition 2012
Closing date: Midnight (GMT) Wednesday 27th June 2012.
Prizes:  First £60, Second £30, Third £15, and a donation to a UK charity or voluntary group
Entry fee: £3.00 for one entry or £5.00 for two. £2.50 for each additional entry.
The competition is open to all ages. Submissions may be up to 1,500 words. Winning entrants will receive the cash prizes and can choose to have their work published on the website. With every entry there is the choice to nominate a UK charity or voluntary group for a donation, currently at £25 and likely to increase. Entries may be submitted by email, or by post. Payment to be posted. For full details please visit the web site. erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/

WritersReign Short Story Competition
Closing date: 30th June 2012
Prizes: First - £100; 2nd - £50; 3rd - £25 plus three Highly Commended prizes of £10 each.
Entry fee: £3.50 for 1 story, £6.00 for two.
Theme: 'One Moment in Time'. Weave your story around a moment, an incident, a revelation, in your character's life that dramatically changed things. Whether for good or not so good, it doesn't matter, but let your story come good in the end.
For full details and to download an entry form Click here

The Sportswriter Competition 2012
Closing date: Midnight on the 1st July 2012, the day of the Euro 2012 Final.
Prizes: First place: £250; Second place: £75; Third place: £25; (paid in British Pounds Sterling by bank transfer, cheque or through PayPal)
Entry fee: £3.00, of which £1.00 will be donated to our chosen charity, Cyclists Fighting Cancer ( http://cyclistsfc.org.uk/ ). Entries may be fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry.
The Sportswriter Competition 2012 is open to anyone aged 18 years or older. Submissions may be up to 2000 words or 40 lines for peotry and should relate to sport in some way. Winning entrants will receive the cash prizes and their work will be published on the website, www.sportswriter.org.uk. Entries may be submitted by email, info@sportswriter.org.uk or directly through the form on the website.
sportswriter.org.uk/writing-competition

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