Menu

Writing Competitions Search and Views Navigation

Writing Competition Views Navigation

Today

Teignmouth Poetry Festival Poetry Competition 2024

Deadline: 31 January 2024

  • Entry Fee: £5.50 for first poem, £3.50 for each additional poem
  • Prizes:Open Competition: 1st Place: £600, 2nd Place: £300, 3rd Place: £200; Devon Resident: !st Place: £200, 2nd Place: £100, 3rd Place: £50
  • Line Limit: 40 lines
  • Judge: Malika Booker (for the Open Competition); ​Graeme Ryan (for Devon Poets)
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website: poetryteignmouth.com/competition-2024

Searchlight Awards − Best Chapter Book for 5-8-year-olds 2024

Deadline: Midnight (UK time) 1 February 2024

  • Entry Fee: £12 per entry
  • Prizes: First prize: £350 and a one-to-one call with the agent judge; the top 10 entries will feature in Searchlight’s Agent/Publisher Pitch Book of winning stories
  • Word Limit: Submit one chapter (1,000 words max) plus a pitch (80 words max)
  • Judge: Katie Blagden of The Bright Agency
  • Category: Novel Competitions
  • Competition Website:  searchlightawards.co.uk

Farnham Flash Fiction Competition

Deadline: 1 February 2024

  • Entry Fees: £5 per entry
  • Prizes: First place: £100, Second place: £25, Third place: £25
  • Word Limit: 500 words or fewer (excluding title)
  • Category: Flash Fiction Competitions
  • Competition Website: flashfiction500.com

Heroica Poetry Prize

Deadline: 29 February 2024

  • Entry Fee:  £2 per poem, £5 for 3 or £10 for unlimited entries. Entry is free for HEROIClub members.
  • Prizes: 1st Place: £125; 2nd Place: £50; 3rd Place: £25
  • Eligibility: Open to women and non-binary poets
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website: heroica.co/poetry-prize

Poetry Society Free Verse Prize 2024

Deadline: 11.59pm on 18 March 2024

  • Entry Fee: £5 for first poem, £4 for subsequent poems
  • Prizes: First Prize: £500 plus publication
  • Line Limit: 48 lines (including title & blank lines / stanza breaks)
  • Judges: Chrissy Williams (poet, editor & comic book writer)
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website:  thepoetrysociety.submittable.com/submit

Short Fiction International Short Story Prize

Deadline: Midnight (UK time) on 31 March 2024

  • Entry Fee: Early Bird:  £10 – until 29 Feb 2024, Standard: £12 – until 31 Mar 2024
  • Prizes: 1st Place: £1,000; 2nd: £300; 3rd: £100; top three will also be published in the Short Fiction journal
  • Word Limit: 5,000 words
  • Judges: Authors Yan Ge and Wendy Erskine
  • Category: Short Story Competitions
  • Competition Website:  shortfictionjournal.co.uk/prize

Featured Featured

New Writers 1000-Word Short Story Competition 2024

Deadline: Midnight (UK time) on 30 April 2024

  • Entry Fee: £10 for one entry, £19 for two entries, £27 for three entries
  • Prizes: 1st Place: £1,000; 2nd Place: £300; 3rd Place: £200
  • Word Limit: 1,000 words (excluding title)
  • Charity:  £1 from each entry will be donated to First Story (England’s leading creative writing charity for young people)
  • Head Judge: Cassandra Parkin (Award-Winning Author & Poet)
  • Category: Short Story Competitions
  • Competition Website: newwriters.org.uk/short-story-competition-1000

Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize

Deadline: 5 May 2024

  • Entry Fee: $35
  • Prizes: First prize: publication contract offer from Leapfrog Press and Can of Worms Press (with advance)
  • Word Limit: Minimum 22,000 words
  • Category: Novel Competitions
  • Competition Website: leapfrogprize.org/contest

Goldfinch Novel Award

Deadline: 23.59 (UK time) 15th May 2024

  • Entry Fee: £10 per entry
  • Prizes: First prize: £300
  • Word Limit: 5,000 words plus one-page synopsis
  • Judge: Kiya Evans Associate Agent at Mushens Entertainment
  • Category: Novel Competitions
  • Competition Website: goldfinch-books.com/novel

Creative Future Writers’ Award 2024

Deadline: 23:59 (UK time) on 19 May 2024

Bridport Prize – Memoir Award

Deadline: 23.59 (UK time) on 31 May 2024

  • Entry Fee: £24 per entry
  • Prizes: First prize: £1,500; second prize: £750; three further prizes of £150; plus publication and manuscript/extract appraisal
  • Word Limit: 8,000 words max (5,000 minimum) plus 300-word overview. (Title not included in the word count.)
  • Judge: Kit de Waal, award-winning and Booker-shortlisted writer of six novels
  • Category: Non-fiction Competitions
  • Competition Website: bridportprize.org.uk/the-competition/memoir-award/

Bath Novel Award 2025

Deadline: 23:59 (UK time) on 31 May 2025

  • Entry Fee: £29.99 (some sponsored places are available)
  • Prizes: 1st Place: £5,000 plus and a trophy; all shortlisted entrants win feedback on their full manuscript; online novel editing course (worth £1,980) for one longlisted entrant
  • Word Limit: Opening 5,000 words plus one page synopsis
  • Judge: Laura Williams - Literary Agent
  • Category: Novel Competitions
  • Competition Website:  bathnovelaward.co.uk

Victory Radio Pick of the Pops Story Competition

Deadline: 31 May 2024

  • Entry Fee: £5
  • Prizes: Top 10 shortlisted stories will be broadcast on air. In addition, the winner and two runners-up receive a variety of prizes sponsored by Victory and Portsmouth Authors Collective.
  • Word Limit: 600 words
  • Eligibility: Entrants must reside in the UK, over 18s only
  • Theme: Use a song title from the 1950s to 2000 to inspire your story
  • Category: Short Story Competitions
  • Competition Website: victoryonline.co.uk/pick-of-the-pops/

Genesis Emerging Writers Programme

Deadline: 31 May 2024

  • Entry Fee: £8.50 (or three for £17). Students: £6 (or three for £12)
  • Prizes: 1st: £1500, 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

Writing Peers Summer Short Story Competition

Deadline: 21 June 2024

  • Entry Fee: $14.99 per entry
  • Prizes: $1,000 ($500 for the winner of each genre)
  • Word Limit: 2,000 words
  • Judge: Judged by fellow competition entrants
  • Themes/Genres: Receive 5 writing prompts, choose one and turn it into a story in an original and compelling way.
  • Category: Short Story Competitions
  • Competition Website: writingpeers.com/summer-short-story

The Moth Short Story Prize 2024

Deadline: 30 June 2024

  • Entry Fee: €15 per story
  • Prizes: 1st prize: €3,000; 2nd prize: a week at Circle of Misse plus open travel stipend; 3rd prize: €1,000
  • Word Limit: 3,000 words
  • Judge: Louise Kennedy (award-winning writer of novels and stories)
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website: themothmagazine.com

Inspiring Fiction Special Edition Short Story Contest

Deadline: 31 July 2024

  • Entry Fee: £5
  • Prizes: Winner: The winner receives £100, publication, and a published comment from the editor about why the story won. Shortlisted stories are also published.
  • Word Limit: 1,000 to 2,500 words
  • Contest Prompt: ‘Freedom’
  • Category: Short Story Competitions
  • Competition Website: inspiringfiction.com/contest
Featured Featured

New Writers Poetry Competition 2024

Deadline: 23:59 (UK time) on Wednesday 31st July 2024

  • Entry Fee: £10 per entry; (£18 for two entries, £26 for three entries, £34 for four entries, or £42 for five entries) *Multiple entries must be submitted together to receive the discount
  • Prizes: 1st Place: £1,000; 2nd Place: £300; 3rd Place: £200; all winning poems will be published on the NewWriters.org.uk site and in a future New Writers Anthology
  • Word Limit: 42 lines (excluding title and line spaces)
  • Head Judge: Jordan Hamel (Poet & Performer)
  • Charity:  £1 from each entry will be donated to First Story (England’s leading creative writing charity for young people)
  • Category: Poetry Competitions
  • Competition Website: newwriters.org.uk/poetry-competition

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 also sign up to our free monthly newsletter. Subscribers gain exclusive access to our free-to-enter competitions, entrance into free prize draws, information about the latest writing competitions and events from around the world and more.