I have my doubts about the Fish competition and the news that some of them were cancelled does not assuage them.
Unfortunately we have had to close the Fish-Knife, Short Histories, and Criminally-Short Short Histories competitions. We have emailed all of the writers who entered, offering their entry fee back or entry into the Fish Short Story Prize, or the Fish One Page Prize. If for any reason you have entered any of the now closed competitions and have not received an email from Fish, please email us to let us know what course of action you would like to take.
I think they should tell us why it was cancelled? Not enough entries? Could it be that it's too expensive for the prizes? 20 Euro to enter.
The longer running competition is ongoing:
The closing date for the 2008 Fish Short Story has been extended to 14 December. This year’s judge is Colum McCann, New York based Irish writer and author of four acclaimed novels and two collections of short stories. The best ten stories will be published in the 2009 Fish Anthology. First Prize is €3,000 and the total prize fund is €5,000. A week’s residence at Anam Cara Writers Retreat plus €300 is the second prize. All Entry on-line remains at €20 per story, and a critique is €45. The results will be announced on 17 March 2009. On-line entry and all details at info@fishpublishing.com Postal entries cost €25 and must be typed, double spaced, and the name of the author must not appear on the story, but on a separate sheet.
Post to - Fish Short Story Prize, Durrus, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland. Scripts will not be returned, and receipt will be by email. Cost of postal critique is €50.
5 comments:
Sounds a bit fishy alright - in fairness seems to be all about the money with them - would be very dissappointing if you had actually gone to the trouble of entering. Really like that face painting idea though - will be using that at the next fancy dress I think!
Must be the edit crunch.
I did enter! And not only that, wrote a story specially for the comp, so that made it all the more disappointing. I assume that they just didn't get enough entries... It would have been useful to know that. But their main competition is definitely worth entering, and they have automatically entered those of us who entered the crime and historical comps, so we don't lose our entry fees.
Thanks Ossian and Niamh - I adore terrible puns!
Tania - good luck with your entry. Why do you think the main comp is definitely worth entering?
Well, firstly, the first prize is huge, €3,000, and then there are at least three more monetary prizes, as well as a week at one of my favourite places, Anam Cara, to be won. I have also always been impressed, personally, by the winning stories, as well as having known people who have won. The prize anthology seems to be consistently high quality, both in content and production.
It seems to me that Fish truly cares about the short story, in its many forms, lengths and permutations, and that it isn't about the money, for them. I know they put a great deal of work into both their competitions and into their role in the West Cork literary festival, and I think they should be praised for that. What happened with the cancellation of those comps was unfortunate, but I certainly don't hold it against them. They are doing what they can, and I am under no illusion that they are making a fortune from this!
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