Bridport Prizes

This is one of the most prestigious writing contests in the British literary calendar.

Do you have a really good poem or short story? Or a few? I mean, really REALLY good?

• poem - no more than 42 lines
• short story - no more than 5,000 words.   
• flash fiction category - stories of up to 250 words 
• First Novel - 5,000 to 8,000 words

This year’s judges are Daljit Nagra, & (poems) Monica Ali (flash fiction and short stories) and Kamila Shamsie (First novel).

    Closing: 31st May (postmarked)

Prizes: 

In each of the main categories (Short Stories, Poems) - £5,000, £1,000, £500.  There are also ten runners-up prizes of £100.  These are called ‘supplementary prizes’ to make you feel less like an also-ran.  The top four poems will be submitted to the Forward Prize. 

Prizes in the Flash Fiction category are £1,000, £500, £250, plus three supplementary awards of £100.

Note: Entries must never have been published, self-published, published on any website, blog or online forum, broadcast nor winning or placed in any other competition.

    Entry Fees have increased:Poems - £9.  Short Stories - £10.  Flash Fiction - £8, Novel - £20
 
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Frogmore Press

The people at Frogmore Press make it difficult to enter - post only, UK cheque - so I suspect the entry numbers will be lower ...so a greater chance of success!

The winner of the Frogmore Poetry Prize for 2018 will win two hundred and fifty guineas and a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers. The first and second runners-up will receive seventy-five and fifty guineas respectively and a year’s subscription to The Frogmore Papers. Shortlisted poets will receive copies of selected Frogmore Press publications. 

Adjudicator: Janet Sutherland

• Poems should be typed and no longer than forty lines.
• Any number of poems may be entered on payment of the appropriate fee of £3 per poem.   Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to The Frogmore Press.
• The following methods of payment are acceptable: cheque drawn on UK bank; British postal order; sterling.
• The winner, runners-up and shortlisted poets will be notified by post. All shortlisted poems will appear in number 92 of The Frogmore Papers(September 2018), which will be available at £5.00 from the address below, and on the Frogmore Press website.
• Closing date for submissions: 31 May 2018.
• Entries should be sent to: The Frogmore Press, 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1PJ.

Link here

Welsh Poetry Competition

The 2018 competition is now open and accepting entries.

Prize money

1st Prize – £500

2nd Prize – £250

3rd Prize – £100

plus 17 runners-up, specially commended entries.

Judge – Sally Spedding.

Deadline: Sunday 27th May 2018

• Each poem must be no more than 50 lines in length, excluding titles.
• £5 per poem (£6 PayPal).
• Entries must be in English, not previously published in any form (including appearing on the Internet).

All entries to the competition will be judged anonymously so your creativity will be judged on its own merits. No filter judges!

Further information www.welshpoetry.co.uk

Stinging Fly Submissions

The Stinging Fly is a Dublin-based print magazine and small press. 

They are now publishing two issues each year instead of three. Each of our issues contains a mix of short fiction, poetry, essays and author interviews. We have a particular interest in publishing new writers and in promoting the short story. 

We accept submissions of short stories and poetry on an issue-by-issue basis. Unless otherwise clearly stated, there is no preferred theme – we're just looking for a lively mix of fresh and original new writing to share with our readers. Essays and interviews are commissioned. We pay a small fee for stories, poems and other work. Contributors also receive a free copy. 

We are now accepting fiction and poetry submissions (including work in translation) for Issue 37 of the magazine. 

Link to Submissions Guidelines and Submittable. 

Deadline: Friday 19th May 2017.

They have an extensive archive which includes a poem from me!

They are also accepting applications for our Summer Fiction workshops. Workshop applications will not be considered for publication. 

Creative Ardagh - the King at the Back of the Hill

Following on from the success of the Midir and Etain anthology two years ago, Creative Ardagh are delighted to be able to put a call out again for submissions. This year in association with Longford Arts Office and Cruthú Arts Festival they are turning our attention to the King at the Back of the Hill:

‘We hope that we will once again receive art, writing (creative or factual, poetry or prose), photography and creative responses of all kinds to the story of King Maine. Submissions last time came from all over the world and from people aged 3 to 100 year old. We would love to have that diversity again.  We will also be announcing details of our new programme for schools based on the archaeology of the site in the next few weeks.The anthology will be launched on Bilberry Sunday 30th July in Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre. Submissions should reach us by 5th May.

Terms and Conditions:

We are accepting poetry and writing (fact or fiction) up to a maximum of 1500 words and artworks of any media. The only restriction is that it is your own original work.

You can enter from wherever you are in the world, by post or by email.

Artworks sent by post should not exceed A4 in size.

Please send all submissions to:

Creative Ardagh,
Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre,
Ardagh,
Co. Longford.

Email applications to: creativeardagh@gmail.com

Closing Date for applications: 5th May 2017

Bread and Roses Poetry Competition

This Award is a bit different from the usual - might spark some interesting poetry. And it appears to be free. And it's anonymised, which is always a good thing.

Culture Matters is pleased to announce a new poetry award, sponsored by Unite the Union.

Bread and Roses Poetry Award, and is now open for submissions.

The purpose of the new award is to encourage poets to focus on themes which are meaningful to working class people and communities, and to enable those communities to engage more with poetry. 

Prizes: 1st £500; 2nd: £250; 3rd: £100.

The judges will be Andy Croft from Smokestack Books, and Mary Sayer from Unite.

Entry is free, and open to everyone regardless of trade union membership.

• Entries should consist of three poems, each no more than 50 lines long.
• Poems must be the original work of the entrant, in English, and not have been previously published in print or online. 
• Entries should broadly deal with any aspect of working class life, communities and culture and show commitment to the common people, the common good and the common music of poetry.

Poems should be sent via email to info@culturematters.org.uk

or by post to Culture Matters, c/o 8 Moore Court, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE15 8QE.

The deadline for receipt of submissions is midnight on 31st May 2017.

Entries will be anonymised before judging, and the winners will be invited to an awards ceremony at a Unite conference in Durham in July.

When emailing or posting submissions please provide your name, email or postal address, and phone number.

All entries remain the copyright of the author but Culture Matters and Unite will have the right to publish and/or broadcast them online and in other media.

 www.culturematters.org.uk/bread-and-roses-poetry-award

Abridged 0 - 1979 Submission Call/News

 

Human beings are multifarious and moody – never purely one thing, never completely sure of things, always fluctuating, no matter what’s being said at one time or another. In the pulse of the absolute present, the world of what we know and experience, ‘everything that is the case’, remains mutable under the simultaneous pressures of all thought and activity. The clay stuff of what-is remains wet, in a perma-flux of reformation.

Such recognition is the fire that fixes the clay of tiny moments, complex instants of colliding moods and actions, into recorded time, the having-happened. And so in this way moments become monuments on the landscape of what-we-have-come-to-know-and-be: the landscape of our history. Isolated, named, these monuments are flocked to by pilgrims from the present seeking answers to the question of now.

There is always a reason, but never simply so. No action sits alone in the world but is surrounded by causes and reactions. Everything is reactive. Every instant is a universe. To pin-point feels like power. Pushing them away from the complexities of ourselves, we can turn definitive moments into the monsters of our time. It is much easier to point and say ‘that is the monster and that is when it arrived’ than try to explain, to unpick the make-up of the primordial soup of feelings and happenings in which a monstrosity was engendered. It is easier for there to be a monster than for there to be monstrosity: one can be boxed up, stuck with pins, framed, blamed and separated; the other must be swum through and breathed in. There are always reasons, but never one in isolation, never one that is complete. Every definitive moment is deeply involved, a knot of the present’s pressures, in which more might be complicit than will ever be comprehended. These moments erupt out of the surface of world as we know it, cracking it open and leaving us swarming in the gaps, around the fragments, trying with every change to conjure a glue for piecing some sort of whole world together again.

Abridged in 0-1979 explores those moments, big and small when our world shattered and changed and our attempts to make sense of it all. When there’s nothing here for me and you…

Abridged is looking for poetry for its 0 – 1979 issue. Up to four poems can be submitted. 

Submissions should be sent to abridged@ymail.com

Deadline: 5th May 2017.

www.abridgedonline.com

Abridged is supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland

Wigtown Poetry Competition

Scotland’s international poetry prize in association with The Scottish Poetry Library

The 2016 Wigtown Poetry Competition is now open for entries.  You can enter online here

Deadline for entries is 27th May 2016

Established in 2005, the Wigtown Poetry Competition offers a first prize of £2,000. 
Entry is open to writers from the UK and abroad writing in English, while there are also dedicated categories for Scots Language and Gaelic.

This year’s judges are John Glenday (Main Prize), Catriona Lexy Campbell (Gaelic) and Sheila Templeton (Scots).

The competition event, which will include the announcement of the winners, readings of the victorious poems and contributions from the judges will take place during Wigtown Book Festival (23rd September to 2 October 2016).

Entry Fees: £6.50 for first poem
Multiple entries: the first three poems cost a total of £17.00.
For more entries and full rules, see the Festival website 

Sonnet Writing Competition

2016 marks 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare, and to celebrate this important year Writers & Artists together with The Arden Shakespeare and the Royal Society of Literature have a competition, open to published and aspiring poets alike. Free to enter

Take inspiration from Shakespeare, and pen your very own sonnet in response to a Shakespeare sonnet of your choice.

Please email your entry to competition@bloomsbury.com. The subject line of your email must be “Sonnets competition” and please mention the name of the sonnet you have been inspired by within the body of your email.

All entrants must register on www.writersandartists.co.uk before submitting your entry.

Deadline: midnight on Monday 31st May, 2016.

Prizes

The first, second and third-placed sonnets will all be published on writersandartists.co.uk alongside feedback from the judge, Ruth Padel. The winner will receive a leather-bound edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works (RRP £99.99) and free membership to the Royal Society of Literature for a year, entitling them to:

• Attend RSL events – over 20 each year – free of charge
• Bring guests to events at a discount
• Enjoy priority booking to RSL/Man Booker masterclasses with a 50% discount
• Subscribe free to the bi-annual RSL Review
• Attend the RSL summer party and AGM
• Receive the RSL monthly e-newsletter

The winning entry will also be published in the Royal Society of Literature Review.

N.B. If the poet of the winning entry does not live in the UK and is unable to take advantage of the benefits of a Royal Society of Literature membership then an alternative prize of £50-worth of Bloomsbury titles will be offered. 

Second and third prize entries will receive a copy of On Shakespeare’s Sonnets: A Poets’ Celebration, and a gift edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

All entries must be original unpublished poetry.

Writers may submit one entry only.

Please include your email address and other contact details in the body of the email. Your entry can appear in the body of the email or as a Word/PDF attachment.

Fool For Poetry International Chapbook Competition

The Fool For Poetry International Chapbook Competition run by the hard working Munster Literature Centre is now open for submissions. I've had a read of the books from the last two years and I was very impressed with the standard.

Deadline 31 May

The first and second prize winners will receive a cash prize (1st prize: €1000, 2nd prize: €500*), chapbook publication, 50 free copies of their chapbooks.

The winning poets will be offered a reading and given three nights' accommodation at the 2017 Cork Spring Poetry Festival.

The competition is open to new, emerging and established poets from any country BUT at least one of the winners will be a debutante (with no chapbook or book published previously).

Up to 25 - 50 other entrants will be publicly listed as "highly commended".

Manuscripts must be sixteen to twenty-four pages in length, in the English language and the sole work of the entrant with no pastiches, translations or 'versions'. The poems can be in verse or prose.

Each chapbook is guaranteed a review in Southword Journal.

Link here

Francis MacManus Short Story Competition 2016

The competition was founded in memory of Francis Mac Manus, the Kilkenny born novelist, biographer and former Head of Talks and Features at Radio Éireann. Since its establishment in 1986, the competition has been a launching pad for several new and emerging writers who have subsequently received national and international acclaim. They include Molly McCloskey, Anthony Glavin, Claire Keegan and Nuala Ní Chonchúir. 

The winner of the overall prize will receive €3,000 and prizes of €2,000 and €1,000 will be awarded to the second and third prize winners.

Each of the 25 short-listed stories is recorded being read by a professional reader. The judges listen to these recordings and read the stories to consider their broadcasting and short story qualities before they select the winning entries. The entire shortlist is broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 following the announcement of the competition winners. 

Remember the story should be written for the ear rather than the page. Read it out loud.

Deadline: Friday 27th May 2016.

Stories must be between 1,800 and 2,000 words in length

The judges for this year are Evelyn Conlon, Declan Meade and Mary Morrissy.

To receive an entry form please send a stamped addressed envelope to: 

RTÉ Radio 1 Short Story Competition, RTÉ Radio Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4  

or download an entry form here.

Bridport Poetry, Flash, First Novel and Short Story Competition

This is one of the most prestigious writing contests in the British literary calendar.

Do you have a really good poem or short story? Or a few? I mean, really REALLY good?

• poem - no more than 42 lines
• short story - no more than 5,000 words.   
• flash fiction category - stories of up to 250 words 
• First Novel - 5,000 to 8,000 words

This year’s judges are Patience Agababi (poems) Tim Stevenson (flash fiction) and Tessa Hadley (short stories) and Kerry Young (First novel).

    Closing: 31st May (postmarked)

Prizes: 

In each of the main categories (Short Stories, Poems) - £5,000, £1,000, £500.  There are also ten runners-up prizes of £100.  These are called ‘supplementary prizes’ to make you feel less like an also-ran.  The top four poems will be submitted to the Forward Prize. 

Prizes in the Flash Fiction category are £1,000, £500, £250, plus three supplementary awards of £100.


The Peggy Chapman-Andrews first novel award, named after the Prize’s founder, has a first prize is £1,000 plus a up to a year’s mentoring from The Literary Consultancy through their Chapter & Verse scheme. A runner-up prize of £500 is also offered. Three shortlisted writers will receive £100. Note: Novelists have to be resident in Great Britain (which sounds like it excludes Northern Ireland!??)

The top 13 short stories will be entered for the National Short Story Prize worth £15,000, and the Sunday Times Short Story Award worth £30,000.  

The top 4 poems are submitted to the Forward Prize for best single poem. 

There's also a prize for the highest placed piece from a writer in Dorset of £100. 

All winners will be invited to an awards ceremony on October 15th at the Bridport Open Book Festival.
 
The judges have some pointers here on the blog well worth reading.

Note: Entries must never have been published, self-published, published on any website, blog or online forum, broadcast nor winning or placed (as in 2^nd, 3^rd,, runner up etc) in any other competition.

    Entry Fees:Poems - £7.  Short Stories - £8.  Flash Fiction - £6, Novel - £20
 
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Clones Post Office 1916 Project: Postcard Competition

Deadline: 7 May 2016

Clones Post Office 1916 Project: Postcards 1916

Create a response to the 1916 Irish Proclamation for Independence (choose a phrase or a word ) in any media, visual or a written image

To request your pre -paid postcard email your name and address to monaghanartistcollective@gmail.com.

 Exhibition will be launched at the old post office Clones, (Clones Art Studios) The Diamond, Clones, Monaghan during the last week of May.

Exhibition is curated by Eileen Ferguson. www.clonesartstudios.com

Tin House Submissions

I am a big fan of Tin House, the literary journal from Portland, Oregon. Get your hands on a copy. (I have some I could lend...)

Tin House Theme Issues

We accept submissions until May 31, and, as always, our summer and winter issues are not themed. We consider each submission for all upcoming issues regardless of theme. If you wish to be considered for a particular theme, please make a note in your cover letter. We have provided suggested deadlines for each theme issue, but please be aware that these fill up fast, so get your theme-issue submissions in as soon as possible.

Tin House is now reading for our next TWO issues:

Winter, 2015: Open, non-themed. Pub date December 1, 2015. Deadline for submissions: May 31, 2015

Spring, 2016: FAITH. We are looking for fiction, poems, essays, and interviews dealing with the faith in not only religions, but faith in knowledge, math, science, people, animals, places, institutions, food, color—anything that could possibly be a receptacle for one’s faith, questioned or unquestioned. Pub date March 1, 2016. Deadline for submissions: May 31, 2015.

 one story or essay (10,000-word limit), or up to five poems at a time. 

They use online submittable. Link and info here

Penny Dreadful open for Submissions

  

Submissions for Issue 6 are now open and will remain so till midnight on May 10th.

We will accept the following:

• Stories = Up to 2 of up to 3000 words each.
• Poetry = Up to 6, any length. (Note: Please include all submitted poems in the same file, or they may not be considered for publication)

Bio = Please include a short bio (100 words max) and any internet website linking things which are suitable for good, Christian eye-balls.

What we do want: Ball-grabbing, punch-in-the-face writing from nice, courteous ladies and gents.

What we do not want: Funny fonts.

If you are sending simultaneous submissions, tell us in your cover letter and if a work becomes unavailable, contact us immediately. Submissions are accepted via Submittable.

(If you are curious what manner of scribbling they enjoy, or want to support the publisher, buy one here.)

Patrick Kavanagh Student Poetry Awards 2015

For Second-level Students

Competition is open to second-level students throughout the thirty two Counties of Ireland.

Each student may enter one poem, of any length. 

 The competition will be divided into two sections.
         SECTION A - UNDER 15 YEARS (JUNIOR)
         SECTION B - 15 YEARS AND OVER (SENIOR)

Themes suggested for 2015 but no subject is excluded:

       (a)  Childhood - Memories - Growing Up
       (b)  Seasons – Environment –Nature
       (c)  Home - Family – Friendship
       (d) Celebrity – Fashion - Pop Culture - Politics
       (e)  Happiness - Hope – Laughter
       (f)  Warmth - Smiles - Fun

Deadline: Friday 29th May 2015 at 4 p.m. 

Prizes:

         Section A - 1st.   €75            2nd   €50        3rd   €35 (each with certificate).
         Section B - 1st.   €100         2nd   €75        3rd   €50 (each with certificate).

Each entry must be accompanied by an entry form signed by the student and countersigned by his/her English teacher.  No personal details (name, age, school, etc. should appear on the same page as the poem.

More here

The Runt - Open for Submissions

i haven't seen a copy of the Runt but check them out on Youtube. Refreshing. And you can't go wrong with this kind of of artwork I think.

Our 8th issue will focus on the dual themes of historical fiction & alternate history. We welcome submissions on either theme in any artistic or literary medium your creative brains can concoct.

Historical fiction constitutes any piece of work (be it poem, story, essay or whatever) focused on a historical setting. A heartbreaking romance written from the point of view of the horse Caligula made a senator? A rumination on the personal life of Genghis Kahn? An account of the life of some poor Joe Schmo 6 caught up in the crossfire of the 1916 Rising? It's entirely up to you!

Alternate history is a genre which is based on those tantalising 'what ifs.' A story set in a 21st century America still under British control? A poem about JFK's disgrace after he survived assassination but was exposed as an adulterer? A neat bit of photoshop showing Attila the Hun firing off a text on his Android? These are but a few options available to you!

Fiction Guidelines:
Maximum wordcount: 2,500

Art Guidelines:
B&W
Portrait dimensions

Deadline: May 8th

Send your submissions to theruntzine@gmail.com

Newbridge June Fest Literary Miscellany Competition

The competition is open to people living or working in Kildare, from Kildare or attending a writing group in Kildare.

Any genre will be acceptable.

Prose to be no more than 750 words and poetry no more than 40 lines.

Deadline: Tuesday 5th May 2015

5 euro fee per entry to cover costs.   Two entries €8. 

Limited to two entries per person.

Cheques payable to: Junefest Newbridge

Entries can be posted or dropped in to Newbridge Library.  Please clearly mark the envelope Junefest Literary Miscellany.

All entries must be type written. 

Include a separate sheet with your name and contact details and the name of your story/ poem and your connection to Kildare if you live elsewhere. The pieces will be judged anonymously so please do not put your name on the entry itself.  

Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council Bursary

The Tyrone Guthrie Centre Bursary allows a successful Artist to spend two all–inclusive weeks at the prestigious Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annaghmakerrig, Co Monaghan. This idyllic artists’ retreat plays host to artists from around the world working in a variety of art forms.

Please click here for an application form.

Applicants must be born in or domiciled in the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council area.

Deadline for receipt of applications: Fri 22 May 2015, 4pm.

Francis MacManus Short Story Competition

The Annual Short Story Competition 2015 in memory of Francis MacManus starts later and later in the year. But it's free to enter! What have you got to lose?

Rules and Regulations

The competition is open to people born or resident in Ireland.

Only one entry per person

Stories must be between 1,800 and 2,000 words in length.

The stories must be written bearing in mind that it would be broadcast on public radio.

Deadline: Friday 1st May 2015.

Link for form here where you can also listen to previous winners.