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Aurora Prize for Writing

Aurora Prize for Writing 2025

Deadline: 23.59 (UK time) on 6th August 2025

  • Entry Fee: £9 (£7 for additional entries)
  • Prizes: Winner: £500 in each category, Second: £150, Third: A ticket to the 2027 Writers’ Conference, hosted by Writing East Midlands
  • Word Limit: 60 lines (poetry), 2,000 words (short story)
  • Category: Poetry and short fiction competition
  • Competition Website: writingeastmidlands.co.uk/for-writers/aurora-prize-for-writing
The Bournemouth Writing Prize

Bournemouth Writing Prize

Deadline: 15th August 2025

  • Entry Fee: £10 (for three poems or one short story)
  • Prizes: First prize: £1,000; second prize: £300; third prize: £200; published in Dorset Magazine, read entry at the 2026 Bournemouth Writing Festival celebration event
  • Line/Word Limit: Poetry - 30 lines; Short Story - 3,000 words
  • Categories: Poetry and Short Story Competitions
  • Judges: Madeleine Milburn (Short Story) and Abu Ibrahim (Poetry)
  • Competition Website: bournemouthwritingfestival.co.uk/2026-writing-competition
Fool for Poetry Competition

Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition

Deadline: 31st August 2025

  • Entry Fee: €25 per manuscript
  • Prizes: 1st Place: €1000; 2nd Place: €500; both winners will receive Chapbook publication and 25 complimentary copies, Featured reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival (with three-night hotel stay and full board)
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website:  munsterlit.ie/fool-for-poetry

Historical Flash Fiction Competition 2025
Featured

New Writers Historical Flash Fiction Competition 2025

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Deadline: 23.59 (UK time) on Wednesday 5th November 2025

  • Entry Fee: £8 for one entry, £15 for two entries, £21 for three entries
  • Main Prizes: 1st Place: £500; 2nd Place: £300; 3rd Place: £200
  • Additional Prize: The best story set in one of these historic properties will win a year’s Historic Houses membership for one or two adults (living at the same address)
  • Publication: The three winning entries will be published on the NewWriters.org.uk website and in the next New Writers Anthology; the winning Historic Houses entry will be published in the Historic Houses Magazine
  • Word Limit: 300 words (excluding title)
  • Theme: Entries must be set before 1960 (Historic Houses setting optional)
  • Charity: 10% of the proceeds will be split equally between First Story and The Funzi & Bodo Trust
  • Judges: Editorial team at NewWriters.org.uk
  • Eligibility: Open to poetry or prose from writers based anywhere in the world
  • Competition Page: newwriters.org.uk/historical-flash-competition
Featured

New Writers Sense of Place Competition 2025

Deadline: 23.59 (UK time) on Tuesday 30th September 2025

  • Entry Fee: FREE (one per person)
  • Prize: 1st Place: £50 (plus one free entry to the New Writers Historical Flash Fiction Competition 2025, and publication on the NewWriters.org.uk website and in the next New Writers Anthology)
  • Word Limit: 100 words (not including title)
  • Theme: Sense of place
  • Category: Microfiction/Poetry Competitions
  • How to Enter: Follow THIS LINK and complete the entry form
Letter Review

Letter Review Prize for Poetry

Deadline: 23.59 (ET) 30th September 2025

  • Entry Fee:  $15; Additional entries $10
  • Prizes: Two to four winners share in the $1,000 USD total prize pool. 10-20 writers Shortlisted. All entries considered for publication, and for submission to the Pushcart.
  • Word Limit: Up to 70 lines
  • Category: Poetry competition
  • Competition Website: letterreview.com/information/

Eyelands International Book Awards 2025

Eyelands Book Awards 2025

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Deadline: 20th October 2025

  • Entry Fee: €40
  • Prizes: Five-day stay in Athens (winners of the Published Books and Writers' Choice categories); lots more prizes for the various categories
  • Word Limit: 250,000 words / 250 pages (check by category)
  • Category: Novel, Non-fiction, Poetry Competitions
  • Charity: 1 euro from every submission will be donated to United Nations Refugee Agency Greece
  • Competition Website:  eyelandsawards.com
Anthology Poetry Competition

Anthology Poetry Competition 2025

Deadline: Midnight (UK time) on 31st October 2025

  • Entry Fee: Early Bird: €15 – until 31st March 2025; Standard fee: €18 – 1st April to 31st October 2025
  • Prizes: 1st Place: €1,000, plus publication in Anthology magazine; 2nd Place: €250; 3rd Place: €150
  • Word Limit: 40 lines maximum
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website: anthology-magazine.com/awards/poetry-competition
The Bedford Competition

The Bedford Competition – Short Story and Poetry Awards

Deadline: 31 October 2025

  • Entry Fee: £8.50 (or three for £17). Students: £6 (or three for £12)
  • Prizes: 1st: £1,500, 2nd: £300, 3rd: £200
  • Word Limit: Stories up to 3,000 words; poems up to 40 lines
  • Eligibility: Entrants must be aged 17 or older, but from anywhere in the world
  • Category: Short Story Competitions, Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website: bedfordwritingcompetition.co.uk
The National Poetry Competition 2025

National Poetry Competition 2025

Deadline: Midnight on 31 October 2025

  • Entry Fee: £8 for first entry, £6 for subsequent entries (in same admission)
  • Prizes: First Prize: £5,000; Second Prize: £3,000; Third Prize: £2,000; Commendations: £500
  • Word Limit: 40 lines (excluding title)
  • Judges: Denise Saul, Ian Duhig and Susannah Dickey
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website:  npc.poetrysociety.org.uk
TogetherintheUK creative writing competition

TogetherintheUK Then & Now Writing Competition

Deadline: Midnight (UK time) on 31 October 2025

  • Entry Fee: Free (multiple entries permitted)
  • Prizes: 1st Prize: £250.00 in each age category; 2nd Prize: A writing master class for each age category; 3rd Prize: A gift voucher for a bookstore or cinema near you for each age category
  • Word Limit: 1,500 words maximum (no minimum)
  • Eligibility: See competition site
  • Theme: Then & Now
  • Category: Story, Essay, Poetry or Song Lyric Competitions
  • Competition Website: togetherintheuk.co.uk/competition
Whispering Wisdom Poetry Prize

Whispering Wisdom Poetry Prize

Deadline: 31st October 2025

  • Entry Fee: £5 per poem (additional entries £4 each)
  • Prizes: 1st: £100, 2nd: £25, 3rd: £25
  • Word Limit: 15 lines maximum (excluding title and line breaks)
  • Judging: Blind, with award-winning poet and screenwriter Peter Devonald, Lancashire-based poet David M Garnett  (‘Roads Stretch’) and Whispering Wisdom Founder, Chris Allen as judges
  • Theme: Love
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Charity: 5% of profits will be shared between our two chosen charities for 2025/26 – Sarcoidosis UK and Narcolepsy UK.
  • Competition Website: whisperingwisdom.co.uk/competitions

Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition

Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition

Deadline: Midnight on 30 November 2025

  • Entry Fee: €7 per poem or €30 for a batch of five
  • Prizes: Winner: €2,000 and featured reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival ; 2nd Prize: €500; 3rd Prize: €250; 10 Runners-up: €50 (Winners and runners-up will also be published in the Southword literary journal)
  • Word Limit: 40 lines (excluding the title)
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website:  munsterlit.ie/odonoghue-competition

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