Welcome to NewWriters.org.uk
Our current competition: New Writers 100-Word Writing Competition 2026 – Deadline: 30th Apr 2026. Prizes: 1st: £1,000; 4x Runners-up: £100.
If you would like us to publish details of a competition you are running, please complete the Listing Request Form.
At NewWriters.org.uk, we curate the best and most trusted current and upcoming writing competitions for writers in the UK and internationally — including flash fiction, short stories, poetry, novels, and non-fiction. Each competition listing includes the deadline, prize details, word limit, entry fee, and eligibility so you can quickly decide which contests fit your writing goals.
If you find this page and our site useful, please consider making a small donation through our Ko-fi page. This will help us offer regular free-to-enter competitions and free entries to our paid-entry competitions for those on low incomes.
Please sign up to our free monthly newsletter. Subscribers gain exclusive access to our free-to-enter competitions, entrance into free prize draws, latest writing competitions and events.
The Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize 2026 offers a £1,000 prize to the winner in each of the three categories, poetry, short fiction and life writing.
Exceptionally international in scope, the prize supports writers who have not yet published a book-length work, with no limits on age, gender, nationality, or background. The winners of each category will receive a £1,000 cash prize and publication in Wasafiri magazine. All winners and shortlisted writers will be offered the Chapter and Verse or Free Reads mentoring scheme in partnership with The Literary Consultancy (dependent on eligibility), as well as a one-year print subscription to Wasafiri.
Wasafiri has been encouraging great writing from writers far and wide for more than three decades and their publication often has a decidedly international feel to it. But above it, they seek out high-quality writing, whether fiction, non-fiction or poetry. Note that a single poetry entry can include up to three poems, which together total no more than 3,000 words. Each entry comprising three poems submitted as a single document.
Please visit the competition website for the full details.
Details