Thursday 31 July 2014

Story about the First World War competition for 15-21 year olds.

One hundred years on from the outbreak of the First World War it now seems to belong to another age and another world. Yet the impact which the War had on the future of Ireland and on the everyday life of its people right down to the present time is still being thought about. Imaginative engagement with the Great War and its legacy can take many forms and the Historical Commemorations and Centenaries Working Group of the Church of Ireland is sponsoring a short story competition for those between the ages of 15 and 21 to mark this important centenary.

The competition will be impartially judged by a select panel including the renowned author Glenn Patterson and the QUB historian Professor David Hayton. Judging is anonymous


The prize for the best story will be €1,000 with a Runner-up prize of €300 and a Highly Commended award of €200 and it is hoped to publish these and up to eight of the best stories in November.

Entrants are free to write about any aspect of the impact of the First World War in any part of Ireland or on Irish people in the period 1914-18. The story should be no more than 3,500 words in length.

The deadline for the receipt of entries is 12 September 2014

The awards will be announced in November.

Link here

Tuesday 29 July 2014

Dromineer Literary Festival Competitions

Dromineer Literary festival has 2 competitions this year.

2014 Poetry Competition
Maximum Number of lines per poem: 40
Judge: Matthew Sweeney
Entry Fee €5 per poem

Also

2014 Flash Fiction Competition
Maximum Number of words per story: 600 
Judge: Donal Ryan
Entry Fee: €10 per entry

For Both

(Entrants over 18)

Prizes 
  • 1st. Prize €500.00
  • 2nd. Prize €350.00
  • 3rd. Prize €150.00

Deadline: September 8 2014
Link here

They say there is no pre-screening. the judges read all entries anonymously, which is to be commended.

Sunday 27 July 2014

Jack Harte Bursary

The Irish Writers Centre and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig have come together to offer a two-week fully resourced Writer-in-Residence Bursary to take place in spring 2015. The award is named in honour of Jack Harte, founder of the Irish Writers Centre, in celebration and acknowledgement of his contribution to Irish literature.

Who Can Apply:
This is an open call to writers resident in Ireland with a proven track record and at least one book of fiction or short stories published by a recognised publisher.

How to Apply:
Applications are accepted by email only to director@writerscentre.ie .  Please include:
  • A cover letter including your personal details and statement of artistic intent, clearly and concisely outlining the project you would like to focus on during your time at Annaghmakerrig.
  • An updated Curriculum Vitae (max. two A4 pages) including publications with ISBNs.
  • Clearly labelled samples of recent work (up to three short samples of up to 300 words).
  • Any relevant information on your proposed project such as written excerpts, photos, research information, etc.
Application Deadline: 
  • 26 September, 2014 at 5pm. No late applications will be considered. 
  • Selection Process:  Applications go before a selection committee of the Board of the Irish Writers Centre and a nominee of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. The successful applicant will be notified by letter no later than November 7, 2014. The recipient of the bursary will be publicly announced by Jack Harte at a celebration event on Thursday 4 December at the Irish Writers' Centre.

Friday 25 July 2014

Writer Fellowships

The Arts Council is pleased to support Writer Fellowships at Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and the University of Limerick. These three Arts Council-supported writer residencies are currently seeking applications from established writers.

The Trinity College Dublin deadline has already passed but you still have time to apply for these two.

University College Dublin - Writer's Fellowship
School/Faculty: School of English, Drama and Film, College of Arts and Celtic Studies, University College Dublin
Applications are invited from Irish writers of established reputation for a Writer's Fellowship (with special emphasis on fiction) which is funded by the School of English, Drama and Film and by a grant-in-aid from the Arts Council. The Fellowship will be tenable for the period January-May 2015.
Candidates are invited to submit a covering letter outlining their interest together with a full CV containing details of their teaching experience and including the names and contact details of 2 referees to: Ms Hilary Gow, School of English, Drama and Film, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4. Informal enquiries can be made to Mr James Ryan at 
james.ryan@ucd.ie or Professor Anne Fogarty at anne.fogarty@ucd.ie.
Applications may be sent by post to the above address or by email to: hilary.gow@ucd.ie

University of Limerick - Writer's Fellowship

School/Faculty: Department of Creative Writing
Applications are invited from Limerick-based writers of international reputation for a Writer's Fellowship (with special emphasis on fiction) which is funded by the University of Limerick and by a grant-in-aid from the Arts Council. The Fellowship will be tenable for the period January–May 2015.
Candidates are invited to submit a covering letter outlining their interest together with a full CV including the names and contact details of two referees to: Professor Joseph O'Connor, Frank McCourt Chair of Creative Writing, c/o Claire.Ryan@ul.ie
Deadline: 17:00 on Friday 8 August 2014

Wednesday 23 July 2014

Stony Thursday Submissions

The imaginatively named poetry magazine based in Limerick is looking for submissions.
The Stony Thursday Book is one of the longest-running literary journals in Ireland and this year it will be published as part of Cuisle, Limerick City's International Poetry Festival 15th to 18th October 2014

This year's editor is poet Peter Sirr.
Submissions are being sought in both English and Irish.  

How to Submit:
Send no more than 6 poems.
Write your name and address on each page for hardcopies.

Send poems to:
The Arts Office, Limerick City Council, City Hall, Merchant’s Quay, Limerick
Please mark your envelope: The Stony Thursday Book
Or by email: artsoffice@limerickcity.ie, reference ‘TSTB 2014’ in your subject line

Deadline: Friday 8th August 2014

Monday 21 July 2014

Irish Times Short Story Competition

This summer, The Irish Times is running a series of eight short stories on the general theme This Means War. The context is the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War, but the stories may or may not refer to it. The theme is open to whatever interpretation the author wishes to place on it - an idea of conflict being the one obvious point of reference. The last story in the series will be chosen through a competition among readers.

Writers, whether new or established, are invited to submit a story on the theme This Means War.

** Personally I find this a difficult theme to write to.
 
The story, which should be between 1,500 and 2,800 words must be an original work and never previously published.  

The competition will be judged by the distinguished authors Aifric Campbell, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne and Donal Ryan.

Prize: The winner will be published in The Irish Times and the winning author will recieve €400 and an original artwork by Brendon Deasy. 

Entries will be accepted in digital form and through e-mail only at shortstory@irishtimes.com.
Hard copies will not be considered.

Deadline: midnight on August 8th. 

Free to enter

Link here

Saturday 19 July 2014

Southword journal Submissions

Southword is now accepting submissions of poetry in English,
and short stories and poetry as Gaeilge.

Submitting via Submittable (formerly Submishmash) is quick, easy and free! The only details you are required to provide is your name and email address. The advantage to using this site is that submitters will now be able to check the status of their submission, seeing easily for themselves whether their work has been accepted or declined. To send poetry or short stories to Southword Journal Online, click here to go to Southword's Submittable page.

There is a strict submission limit of six poems or two short fiction pieces of 3000 words each. Authors are paid €30 per poem and/or €120 per story published in Southword Journal.

More details here

Check previous journals for an idea of what they're looking for.

Deadline: 15th September

Update: Per facebook, it's 31st July

Thursday 17 July 2014

Bailieborough Poetry Festival and Poetry Competition 2014

Bailieborough Poetry Festival will be the weekend of Thursday 9 to Saturday 11 October. The LitLab group of writers are again hosting a weekend of readings, workshops, open mic session, battle of the writers groups and a poetry competition.

Visiting poets include Nerys Williams, the Welsh poet, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dylan Thomas and Prof. Iggy McGovern, poet and physicist. The venues will include the town library in the old Market Square and local bars and restaurants. In conjunction with the poetry festival there will be an art exhibition  in the arts space of the library featuring the work of artist and poet, Róisín Duffy.

2014 Poetry Prize: Full details are on the website.

Closing date for entry is Friday 26 September 2014.

First prize of €250 for winning poem with 2nd and 3rd prizes also to be awarded.

Each poem must not exceed 50 lines, and should be typed, single-spaced.
Up to three poems may be submitted per entry.
A fee of €5 per entry (3 poems) is payable.

The judging panel this year is chaired by Michael Farry, assisted by Máiréad Donnellan and Paddy Smith.

All shortlisted poems will be featured at a reading at Bailieborough Poetry Festival on Saturday 11 October 2014, and authors will be invited to attend.

Tuesday 15 July 2014

The 2014 Plunkett Short Story Award

Prizes: First Prize: €2,000 / Second Prize: €1,000 / Third Prize: €500

There is no restriction on theme or genre. Entrants are simply asked to recall Plunkett's skill as a social commentator when writing.

Closing date: Friday,12 September 2014

Entries should be between 1,000 and 3,000 words

Post to: The Irish Writers' Union, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1

There is no limit on the number of submissions an entrant can make. Fee: €10 per submission. Please make cheques payable to the Irish Writers' Union. 

A long list of 30 entries will be published on the website of the Irish Writers' Union before the winning entrants will be selected.

For more details, please visit www.ireland-writers.com 

Sunday 13 July 2014

Boyne Berries Submissions

The Boyne Writers Group publish 'Boyne Berries', a journal of poetry and prose, twice a year in March and September. 

Boyne Berries 16 & 17 Submission Period Saturday 07th June 2014 – Saturday 2nd August 2014
Issue 16 will be published in September 2014.

Read the rules before submitting. If you don't adhere to them, it's just a waste of everyone's time.


Poetry: Send no more than three poems. Each poem should be 60 lines or under.

Prose: Stories etc should be under 1500 words. Send no more than two prose pieces.

Poems and prose should be original, previously unpublished and not currently

submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere.


Check http://boyneberriessubmissions.blogspot.ie/for latest information

Friday 11 July 2014

Poems on a Beermat

Bradford on Avon Arts Festival 2014

Entries are invited for an Open Poetry Competition on the theme of Light

Deadline: July 30th 2014.

There will be a prize of £200 for the best poem submitted, with discretionary second and third place awards of £50 and £25 if the quality of entries merits them.
Ten short-listed poems will be printed on to beermats and placed in pubs in Bradford on Avon and surrounding villages for the duration of the 2014 Bradford on Avon Arts Festival (September 1st-20th).
Poems must therefore be short - there is a strict limit of 12 lines.
All shortlisted poets will receive 25 beermats printed with their own poem and name.

Judge
The adjudicator of the competition will be poet Martin Malone.
 
Entry Fee: £4 per poem or £10 for 3 poems

Contact: Please send your entries together with your entry fee (details) and full contact details to: Dawn Gorman, ABR House, Prospect Place, Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 8QA.

For more details about Bradford on Avon Arts Festival, go to www.BoaArtsFestival.com

Wednesday 9 July 2014

Costa Short Story Award

All relevant updates will be posted on www.costabookawards.com and via Twitter @CostaBookAwards.

The Costa Short Story Award is for a single, previously-unpublished short story of up to 4,000 words by an author aged 18 years or over on 1 January 2014 whose primary residence (ie resident for over six months of the year) has been in the United Kingdom or Ireland since 1 November 2011. UK or Irish nationality is not a requirement.

The submitted story must not have been previously published.

Authors currently serving a term of imprisonment are ineligible for the Award.
**Damn

Entries may only be submitted online via the specific entry form on the Costa Book Awards website www.costabookawards.com

Deadline: 4pm on Friday 1 August 2014.

Entries may be submitted by the author, his/her publisher or his/her agent.
**Mum?

Although the entries will be assessed anonymously, they must be submitted in the author’s own name.

If the story has already been submitted to other competitions or publications, please ensure that it is given a different title before being submitted to the Costa Short Story Award. This is because, if it has already been commended elsewhere, this would then compromise the anonymity of its author, particularly if it is shortlisted.
  • The story must not exceed 4,000 (four thousand) words.
  • Typed in Arial 12 pt black font 
  • Double-spaced 
  • Hard returns between paragraphs 
  • (NO indentations anywhere please and NO page numbers) 
  • The name of the author must not appear anywhere within the story 
  • The name of the story and word count to be included within the header on every page. 
  • No more than one story per author may be submitted. 

The judges of the Costa Short Story Award will be looking for what they think is the best entry on the basis of quality and originality of prose, narrative voice and storyline.

All entries will be initially read by a team of readers who will select a smaller number of stories for the judging panel to read. The judging panel of five members will read the short stories selected by the team of readers and will draw up a shortlist of six. These six shortlisted stories will be made available on the Costa Book Awards website between mid-November 2014 and mid-January 2015 and the public will be asked to vote for their favourite.

Authors of the six shortlisted entries will be invited with one guest to attend the Costa Book Awards presentation ceremony in January 2015. After liaising with the six shortlisted authors, Costa will either make arrangements for their travel/accommodation in order that they might attend the ceremony, or reimburse their costs to do so.


The winner and two runners-up will be announced at the Costa Book Awards presentation ceremony in January 2015.

The winner will receive prize money of £3,500. The author in second place will receive £1,500 whilst that in third place will receive £500.
 
By submitting a story, the entrant agrees to (or if the entrant is the author’s publisher or agent it confirms that it has secured the author’s agreement that the author will) attend the Awards ceremony in the event of being shortlisted, and in the event of winning, to undertake a mutually acceptable programme of activities to promote the CSSA particularly immediately after the announcement of the winner has been made. 

**The Copyright wording is a bit overbearing. All entries are covered.

Entrants retain the copyright in their entries, but by submitting a story, entrants acknowledge and agree that each shortlisted entrant:

grants to Costa, its affiliates, licensees, successors and assigns a worldwide sub-licensable, perpetual, transferable, non-exclusive royalty-free licence to use in any way whatsoever including but not limited to, public performance, public display, publishing, reproduction, broadcasting, amendment or modification of the entry or any part of the entry on and through the website in its different present and future forms - for example newsprint, Braille, talking book, podcast, audio download, electronic databases, e-paper, mobile device application, electronic media or website including mobile form or any other facsimile or derivative versions in any medium;

Monday 7 July 2014

Love on the Road Writing Contest

Deadline: July 31, 2014.

Malinki Press will choose their favourite 12 submissions and send those to their independent panel of judges. The judges will choose first-, second-, and third-prize winners. They'll announce the winners in September and award them prizes of $200, $100, and $50, respectively.

They will work with Dublin-based Liberties Press to publish Love on the Road 2015: Another Twelve Tales of Love and Travel as a trade paperback in the spring of 2015. They will also make the paperback available via Amazon and Flipkart, and publish it as an ebook.

Submission Guidelines

They're looking for stories about people making connections, whether these connections are platonic, the kinds that lead to weddings, the kinds that just lead to bed, or the kinds that lead to heartbreak. They're interested in stories about people traveling together, travelers who meet people while on the road, or people who meet travelers passing through.

Submissions should be 4,000 to 6,000 words and can be fiction or nonfiction. They must be original and cannot have been previously published. Please send them as a .doc, .rtf or similar file, written in single-spaced 12pt Times New Roman font, with your name and contact details on the first page. Submissions from LGBTQ writers are welcome.

There is a US$10 per story reading fee.

If you want to get a better idea of the kinds of stories they like, you'd do well to read the ones we picked last year in Love on the Road 2013: Twelve Tales of Love and Travel.

Saturday 5 July 2014

The Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition

The Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition is an annual short story competition dedicated to one of Ireland's most accomplished story writers and theorists.

If the winner comes to Cork to collect their prize,they promise to lavish them with hotel accommodation, meals, drinks and VIP access to the literary stars at the Cork International Short Story Festival (16 - 20 September 2014).

Deadline is 31 July 2014

Judge is Joyce Russell, author of 'Bloodlines' (Mercier Press) and was winner of the 2006 Seán Ó Faoláin Competition. More information, including submission guidelines, may be found on their website:
http://www.munsterlit.ie or via their
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OFaolainCompetition

First Prize: €2,000 (approx $2760/£1640 in April 2014), publication in the literary journal Southword,
AND a week-long residency at Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat.  

Second Prize: €500 and publication in Southword.

Four other shortlisted entries will be selected for publication in Southword and receive a publication fee of €120.

Thursday 3 July 2014

RTE Guide/Penguin Short Story Competition

The RTE Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition is now open for entries. Winning stories will be published in the RTE Guide.

All entries for the 2014 RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition should be original, unpublished and previously not broadcast short stories in English, of 2,000 words or less.

Entrants’ name and contact details (address, phone and/or email) should be on a separate page.

Deadline: 6pm on Friday, July 11. Entries are welcome from anywhere in the world.

Send your entries to:
RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland
Short Story Competition, PO
Box 1480, RTÉ, Donnybrook,
Dublin 4

or you can email to: rteguide@rte.ie, making sure to label your entry ‘Short Story Competition’

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Mid West poets sought

Clare Three-Leggèd Stool Poets invite submissions of original poems for inclusion in the weekly Poetry Column published by The Clare Champion.

Priority will be given to submissions from the Mid-West region (Clare, Limerick, Galway, Tipperary, Kerry).

To submit your poems e-mail a maximum of four (4) in the body of the e-mail (do not send as an attachment) to editorialpanel@clarepoets.com.

The maximum length of a poem is 50 lines, and the poems must be your own original work.

More info here