Ó Bhéal's poetry competition

7th Ó Bhéal  International Five Words Poetry Competition                 

At around noon each Tuesday (GMT), from April 2019 to the end of January 2020, five words are posted on the Ó Bhéal Five Words competition page. Entrants have one week to compose and submit poems that include all five words given for the week.

The competition runs for 41 weeks, until the last week of January and a prize of 500 euro is awarded to one winner, and if available, invited to read at Ó Bhéal’s anniversary event in early April (an additional travel fee of 100 euro plus B&B accommodation will be provided for this). Follow the link for submission guidelines.

http://www.obheal.ie/blog/five-words-poetry-competition/

Flash Fiction Competition: Kanturk Arts Festival

This Year’s Kanturk Arts Festival takes place from Thursday 15th March to Monday 19th March 2018 inclusive.

Flash Fiction Prizes

1st €200, 2nd €75 and 3rd €25

The 2018 competition will be judged by novelist Denyse Woods.
Your Flash Fiction entry can be inspired by, suggested by or based on the image below, using no more than 500 words.

Terms and Conditions

There is no entry fee for this competition
Maximum number of words is 500
Your entry must be original and must not have been previously published in print or online, been broadcast or have won a prize.

Deadline: 10 pm Wednesday, January 31st, 2018.

A shortlist will appear on Kanturk Arts Festival page at no less than two weeks prior to Kanturk Arts Festival. Shortlisted authors will be contacted by email.

To enter online, click: Enter Flash Fiction Contest
and follow the instructions.

MAKE SURE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT DETAILS ARE NOT IN THE BODY OF YOUR ENTRY

(Judging is done anonymously.) Your entry and name are linked automatically when you enter. Receipt of entry will be by email only.

How to Enter by Post

Post to: Kanturk Arts Festival, Raveloe, Curragh Court, Kanturk, Co. Cork

All entries must be printed on one side of the page only in a reasonably sized type and using double spacing.

Cuirt New Writing

The Cúirt New Writing Prize, in memory of Lena McGuire, is now open for submissions. The categories are poetry and short stories.

There is a €500 cash prize for the winner of each category and the opportunity to read at the Cúirt/Over the Edge Showcase event next April at Cúirt 2018.

This year, poet Jane Clarke will judge poetry and one of the founders of Tramp Press, Lisa Coen will judge short stories.

The youth strand of the prize ‘Young Cúirt’ is for ages 12‐17. The winner will receive €100 cash prize and will read at the Cúirt Labs next April.

Submission Guidelines (all categories)

• Poetry entries must consist of 3 poems under 50 lines each
• short stories may be up to 2000 words. 
• Entries in both English and Irish are welcome. 
•  Writers submitting work should not have had a collection published in the category in which they enter. This does not include the publication of single poems, stories or chapbooks.
• Submissions should be sent via email to info@cuirt.ie 
• An entry fee of €10 is applicable for each separate entry. Payment can be made via the Paypal button. 
• In addition to your work we ask that you include the following contact details: Name, email address, phone number, and the name of the Paypal account holder.

Deadline: for submissions is Thursday 25 January 2018 at 5pm.

Iowa Review Awards

The Iowa Review Awards accepts submissions during the month of January. Judges for the 2017 Awards are Joyelle McSweeney (poetry), Amelia Gray (fiction), and Charles D’Ambrosio (nonfiction).

Founded in 1970 and edited by faculty, students, and staff from the renowned writing and literature programs at the University of Iowa, The Iowa Review takes advantage of this rich environment for literary collaboration to create a worldwide conversation among those who read and write contemporary literature.

They publish a wide range of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, translations, photography, and work in emerging forms by both established and emerging writers. Work from their pages has been consistently selected to appear in the anthologies Best American Essays, Best American Short Stories, Best American Poetry, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, and The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories.

The Iowa Review publishes three issues per year (in April, August, and December) in both print and digital formats. (Subscribe here!)

About the Contest

Each January since 2003, The Iowa Review has invited submissions to The Iowa Review Awards, a writing contest in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Winners receive $1,500; first runners-up receive $750. Winners and runners-up are published in each December issue.

Contest Rules

Submit up to 25 pages of prose (double-spaced) or 10 pages of poetry (one poem or several, but no more than one poem per page). Work must be previously unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are fine assuming you inform us of acceptance elsewhere.

To submit, visit iowareview.submittable.com during the month of January and follow these instructions:

• Select the appropriate genre category. If you’d like to purchase a discounted yearlong subscription to The Iowa Review for $10, please choose a genre marked “(subscription).” Otherwise, choose “(no subscription).”
• Include a cover letter listing your name, address, e-mail address and/or telephone number, and the title of each submitted work. (Please use the “Cover Letter” form field in Submittable; do not include the cover letter as part of your uploaded document.)
• Do not include your name on the manuscript itself.
• Upload your entry. Multiple poems or prose pieces can comprise a single entry if the total number of pages does not exceed 25 for prose or 10 for poetry. For instance, you may submit two short stories of ten pages each as a single entry; the stories would be read and judged separately. But please do not mix genres: a ten-page story and a two-page poem constitute separate entries.
• Pay the $20 entry fee using Paypal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover.
• If you submit more than one entry, even within the same genre, you must submit the $20 entry fee with each entry.
• Submit between January 1 and January 31.

Judges will select winners from a group of finalists chosen by Iowa Review editors. All manuscripts, whether selected as finalists or not, are considered for publication.

North West Words and Ealaín na Gaeltachta Irish Language Poetry Competition

This year’s NWW poetry competition 2016 again features a category for best Irish Language poem. North West Words believes it is important to recognise the wealth of contemporary Irish language poetry in the country. The group, partnered with Ealaín na Gaeltachta (the body responsible for the development of the Arts in the Gaeltacht regions), have combined for a second year to develop an Irish language competition that champions new poetry written in Irish. The competition will have the same format as its English language counterpart with a prize of €250 to be awarded to the entrant who composes the best poem as Gaeilge. The winner will also receive a perpetual trophy sponsored by Donegal Creameries.

North West Words is a non-profit organisation run on voluntary effort. The competition fee of €5 per entry (for up to three poems) goes towards the administrative costs of the competition. 

Deadline 31st January 2017 for poems in Irish.

Link for rules and payment here

Download the rules document here

Magma Magazine Poetry Competition

Magma magazine’s poetry competition is open for entries.  

Deadline: January 16th 2017.  

As always, we are running two competitions concurrently. 

The Judge’s Prize for poems of 11 to 50 lines is being judged this year by award-winning poet Jane Draycott whose collections include Over, Prince Rupert’s Drop and The Night Tree; she will be reading all entries – there are no sifters. 

The Editors’ Prize for poems of up to 10 lines is judged by a panel of five Magma Editors.  The prize money for both competitions is the same, so double your chances and try your luck at both - first prize for both the Judge’s and Editors’ Prize of £1000, second prize of £300 and third prize of £150.

The six prize-winning poems will be published in Magma, and there will also be five special mentions for the Judge’s Prize and for the Editors’ Prize.  Winning and commended poets will read their poems at a Magma Competition Event in March next year.

The entry fees are £5 for the first poem, £4 for the second and £3.50 for the third and each subsequent poem. Magma magazine subscribers benefit from reduced fees: £4 for the first poem, £3 for the second, and £2.50 for the third and each subsequent poem.

Link here

The Prole Laureate Poetry Competition, 2016

Welsh based magazine Prole has its annual poetry competition

Prize
Winner: £200, Publication in Prole 22 in April 2017.
Publication on the Prole website
2 x runner up prizes of £50, publication in Prole 22.
Publication on the Prole website

Judge: Macdara Woods

Deadline: January 31st 2017

We are, as ever, open regarding style, content and length. What we are after is poetry that epitomises the editorial values of Prole: to make writing engaging, accessible, entertaining and challenging. Quality is all.

Fees: £3.00 for first entry, £2.00 for any subsequent entries. You can submit online and pay with paypal

Link is here

Centre Culturel Irlandais residencies

Deadline: Wednesday 11 Jan 2017

Artist Residencies in Paris!

Our annual residency programme offers great opportunities for artists of all disciplines to tap into the resources of Paris and the CCI, as well as being an important means of showcasing Ireland's dynamic contemporary culture on an international stage.

Residencies of up to 3 months running from September of the same year to June of the following year, open to practitioners in all art forms with a record of professional achievement. Travel from Ireland, accommodation and a monthly stipend of €700 per month included. Applicants will be notified of the outcome in March.

The artist in residence will be asked to participate in the cultural programme of the Centre Culturel Irlandais.

Applicants must be Irish citizens or normally resident in Ireland, with professional involvement in creative practice. (Does that count out quite a lot of serious poets?)

There are some supported residencies in partnership with various organisations. See link here

Cúirt New Writing Prize 2017

The Cúirt New Writing Prize, in memory of Lena Maguire, is now open for  submissions.


The categories are poetry and fiction.


There is a €500 cash prize for the winner of each category and the opportunity to read at the Cúirt/Over the Edge Showcase event at Cúirt 2017.


The entry fee for each submission is €10, this can be paid via the Paypal button.


This year’s judges are poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa and writer Sarah Maria Griffin.


The youth strand of the prize ‘Young Cúirt’ is for ages 12-17. The winner will receive €100 cash prize and will read at the Cúirt Labs in April.


The closing date for submissions is Tuesday 31st  January 2017 at 5pm.


More information here

Submissions open for Skylight Magazine

ISSUE 8 of Skylight magazine is scheduled for Spring 2017

Submissions will be accepted up to 1 Jan 2017 (deadline midnight 1 Jan).

Please send up to three poems, along with a short biographical note (max 60 words), to skylightpoets47@gmail.com. Work should be unpublished.

Poems to be no longer than 40 lines.

Please send your poems both as an attachment (.doc, .docx, .txt or .rtf) and in the body of the email.

The editors are also looking for original artwork. We will be featuring one artist in each issue, publishing four or five pieces. If you would like to be this artist, please email your work during the submission window.

Contributors will receive one copy of the magazine.

Doolin Writers Weekend Competition

Doolin Writers Weekend Competition is now open for entries for short stories, poems and flash fiction

Judges Sinéad Gleeson, E.M. Reapy and Rita Ann Higgins. 

This year they've gone “green” and are asking for submissions online if possible.

In 2017 it'll be the 5th year of Doolin Writers’ Weekend, at Hotel Doolin Ireland from 3rd to 5th of February 2017. Some names on the programme so far: Sara Baume, Mike McCormack, Claire-Louise Bennett, Alan McMonagle, Declan Meade, Elaine Feeney with many more to be announced. 

I'm hoping they're going to ask me, TBH. It has a great reputation for fun.

For more information on the competitions please follow this link http://www.hotel Doolin.ie/doolin-writers-festival.html

Deadline 13th January 2017

Doolin Writers’ Weekend Competition

Deadline: Friday 13th January 2017

The 5th annual Doolin Writers’ Weekend taking place at Hotel Doolin from 3rd to 5th of February 2017. Participants confirmed for this year so far include Sara Baume, Mike McCormack, Claire- Louise Bennett, Alan McMonagle, Declan Meade, Rita Ann Higgins, Elaine Feeney and many more to be announced.

The Doolin Writers competition runs in conjunction with the weekend and includes prizes for poetry (€1000), flash fiction (€500) and short stories (€1000).

General rules:

• Submissions accepted from poets/writers of any nationality, from any country.
• Must show title & story only, must not show writer’s name or any other identifying marks on submitted stories – Please note stories submitted with the writers’ name or contact details will not be submitted to the judges!
• Poems, Flash Fiction and Stories must be entered separately.
• Must be double spaced.
• Must be the original work of the entrant.
• Must not have been previously broadcast or published (in print or online).

• 8 Shortlisted names in each category will be announced on Doolin Writers’ Facebook page at no less than 1 week prior to Doolin Writers’ Weekend.
• 2 winners in each category will be announced on the opening night of Doolin Writers’ Weekend.
• Winners will read their poem and excerpt from their story on Saturday night of the Doolin Writers’ Weekend.
• Accommodation and meals will be provide for winners and runners up on the Friday & Saturday night. 

Postal Entries
For Postal entries please post your submission to Doolin Writers’ Competition Entry with a cover letter to have your name, email address and contact number and with the €10 Fee in a cheque or Postal order form made payable to Hotel Doolin.

Here is the link to the website http://www.hoteldoolin.ie/doolin-writers-festival.html for online entries.

Flash Fiction 1st Prize €500
Must be in English, must each be no more than 500 words (that does not include the title).

Poems First Prize €1000
Must be in English, must each be no longer than 40 lines (that does not include the title).

Short Story First Prize €1000
Must be in English, must each be between 1000-3000 words (that does not include the title).

Cúirt New Writing Prize

The Cúirt New Writing Prize, in memory of Lena Maguire, is now open for submissions. Entries should be sent via email to: info@cuirt.ie

Submissions are welcome in poetry and fiction.

There is a €500 cash prize for the winner in each category and an opportunity to read at the Cúirt/Over the Edge Showcase event at Cúirt 2016.

The judges are Elaine Feeney (poetry) and Declan Meade (fiction).

Young Cúirt:

Young Cúirt is for ages 12-17. Entries are welcome in poetry and fiction. The winner will receive €100 cash prize and they will have the opportunity to read at the 2015 Cúirt labs event in April.

Submission Guidelines

Poetry entries must consist of 3 poems under 50 lines each. 

Fiction pieces may be up to 2000 words. 
Entries in both English and Irish are welcome.
Entrants must not have had a collection published in the category in which they enter. 

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 A €10 entry fee applies for each separate entry which can be paid via the Paypal button. Link and details here

The closing date for submissions is Thursday 28 January 2015 at 5pm.

Festival 

Cúirt International Festival of Literature is April 19th - 25th 2016 in Galway

Strokestown Poetry Competition deadline is approaching. This doesn't seem to be so well advertised this year so perhaps there will be a lower number of entries.

Deadline: 29th January

Fee as follows:

€5 for each entry from the euro zone
£5 for each entry from the sterling zone
$5 for each entry from USA
€6 all others

The poems must not exceed 70 lines, which is fairly long by competition standards.

The judges’ shortlists will be announced at the end of March, and the prizes will be announced and awarded during the Strokestown International Poetry Festival, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, which will take place on 29 April – 1 May 2016. 

Short-listed poets will be invited to read a selection of their work at the festival.

Link here

There's also

Duais Filíochta Dhúbhglas de hÍde -The Douglas Hyde Irish Language Poetry Prize.

1st Prize – €500
5 shortlisted prizes of €100 each.

Roscommon Prize:

A poem in Irish or English of not more than 70 lines submitted by a resident of County Roscommon or a member of a County Roscommon Writers Group

Prizes: 1^st. €200, 2^nd. €100 & 3^rd. €75

The Percy French Award for Comic Verse.

1st. Prize – €300
2nd Prize – €200
5 shortlisted prizes of €100 each.

and a Schools Prize for students in Roscommon with a later deadline 18th March. Link here

British Haiku Awards 2015

Annual haiku and tanka contest.

The entry fee for up to 3 haiku is £5 (or US$ 8) and £1 (US$ 1) per haiku thereafter. Separate category for tanka are separate categories (ie. no mixing for one fee). No limit on the number of submissions per competitor. 

Cheques and money orders payable to: British Haiku Society (N.B. not 'BHS'.)

For haiku and tanka send each poem on three separate 5 x 3 inch. (125 x 75mm) cards (or paper cut to size). On one of the copies write your name and address on the back. [+ Phone no. & email]

Prizes: 

For haiku, prizes of £125 will be awarded to each of the two best and £50 to each of two runners-up. 

For tanka, prizes of £125 will be awarded to each of the two best and £50 to each of two runners-up.

Deadline: 31 Jan 2016
Link here

Artist Residency The Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris

Deadline: 11 Jan 2016

Artist Residencies

Residencies of up to 3 months between September 2016 and June 2017, open to practitioners in all art forms with a record of professional achievement. Travel from Ireland, accommodation and a monthly stipend of €700 per month included.

Applicants must be Irish citizens or normally resident in Ireland, with professional involvement in creative practice.

 Link here
There are also some partnerships particularly with Words Ireland and Wicklow and the 4 Midlands Counties. I wish my county signed up to such partnerships.

Deborah Rogers Foundation Award

A literary agent all her professional life, Deborah Rogers (1938-2014) set up her own agency in 1967, and twenty years later formed Rogers Coleridge & White with Gill Coleridge and Pat White. One of the most influential literary agents of her generation, Deborah was renowned for her taste, her loyalty and her immense generosity in the support she gave to authors. Her sudden death sent a shockwave through the world of publishing and the many writers, publishers and agents whose lives she had touched. At the 2014 London Book Fair, Deborah was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing, the first agent to have received the honour. She accepted this with characteristic modesty:

“It hardly seems fair to be given an award for what has been a lifetime of such pleasure… Those who have entrusted their work to us over the years will never know the intense pride that they have brought, and the anticipation and excitement that greets each new manuscript never palls. I have them to thank most of all.”

Deborah’s particular genius lay in identifying and supporting talented young people. The Deborah Rogers Foundation (DRF) has therefore been set up in her memory to continue to seek out and nurture that talent. The Board chaired by Lord Berkeley of Knighton, Deborah’s widower, comprises people who knew and loved Deborah, including RCW colleagues and writers Ian McEwan and William Fiennes.

An award of £10,000 will be presented to a first-time writer whose submission demonstrates literary talent and who needs financial support to complete their work:

• Submissions should take the form of 20-30,000 words of a work in progress, fiction or non-fiction, which is not under option or contract
• Applications are only open to writers who have not previously published a full length book
• Entrants must write in the English language and reside within the British Commonwealth and Eire
• Submissions should be accompanied with a brief synopsis and a short biographical note

Deadline: 31st January 2016.

The winner of the Award will be announced by Ian McEwan at the 2016 Hay Festival.

Free to enter

Apply using the form here. http://www.deborahrogersfoundation.org/submissions

Galway Rape Crisis Centre Poetry Competition

 

This competition closes this Thursday 7th January but it's a very good cause so please consider entering and donating.

There will be three categories poetry, flash fiction and short stories.

Winners in each category will receive €100 cash prize, publication in SIN magazine and a chance to read at the prize- giving event at NUIG in February.

Entry fees are €7 each and €5 concession for students.

Multiple entries are allowed. Maximum lines for any one poem is 50. Maximum for flash entries 500 words and short stories 1800.

Entry fees can be paid by idonate links here.

 Entries can then be sent by email or post quoting the transaction reference.

Email your entry to writinggrcc@gmail.com

Judges: Alan McMonagle, Sarah Clancy and Celeste Augé

Poetry Ireland Introductions Series

I did this eons ago and it was very enjoyable and educational and you get to meet a lot of people and talk about poetry a lot which is a treat. And paid too. Another treat. You do have to have a publishing history behind you first.

The Poetry Ireland Introductions Series offers a paid public reading to poets working towards a first collection or with a début collection already published, and who have a track record of publication in journals and 'little' magazines. Writing may be in Irish or English. 

In 2016 the poets selected for the Introductions Series will participate in two workshops/master classes. The first workshop is focused on form and craft, the second on the art of reading/performing poetry in public.

These workshops will culminate in a number of public readings during the International Literature Festival Dublin, with one participant flown to New York to read as part of Salon Éire 100, an evening of Irish poetry at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts at the Lincoln Center.

To apply for an Introductions in 2016, send a maximum of 10 pages of poems and a short biographical note emphasising publication credits to:

Introductions, Poetry Ireland, 32 Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Deadline: Friday 29 January 2016

High Life New Talent Awards

In my constant search to bring you some out of the ordinary places to which you can submit your writing, I flew with British Airways last month and saw this in their rather excellent High Life Magazine.

Celebrating 500 issues of High Life, this exciting new competition is aimed at finding the best young talent in writing, photography and film

Don't know why they restrict it to "young" though. Seems rather short-sighted. Most people who can afford to travel regularly are not "young."

As part of the celebrations for our milestone 500th issue this month, the inaugural High Life New Talent Awards has been conceived to find — and reward — the best young writers, photographers and filmmakers aged between 18-30. 

The first prize for each category of the competition will be undertaking an international commission for High Life. 

The overarching theme of the competition this year will be simply ‘cities’. Writers entering the awards will be asked to submit a well-structured, original and captivating 500-word travel feature about a city of their choice. Photographers should submit up to three images that capture the essence of their chosen city, in a way that is imaginative and astute. Film-makers should submit an evocative film about their city that is up to three minutes long, demonstrating both technical and creative ability. 

The judging panel will include BBC world affairs editor John Simpson, the renowned photographer, Rankin, and director, scriptwriter and punk pioneer, Viv Albertine. Joining them will be High Life editor, Kerry Smith, and other senior members of the magazine’s staff.

On 3 February 2016, finalists will be invited to an exclusive exhibition opening at the Strand Gallery, in association with Proud Galleries, where their work will be showcased and the winners will be revealed. The winners will also be announced in High Life magazine and on highlife.ba.com.

The competition is open to UK residents, and will close at 23:59 GMT on 3 January 2016. 

Link here