Free entry comps, poppies and a sale

Free entry competition news

The Bruntwood prize for playwriting offers a prize of £16,000 plus feedback on all shortlisted entries.

Fitzcarraldo Editions are offering '£3,000 to the best proposal for a book-length essay (minimum 25,000 words) by a writer resident in the UK & Ireland who has yet to secure a publishing deal'. 

If you know any children aged 12 or under you may like to tell them about WordHound's monthly competition. They provide a prompt, ask for up to 300 words, and offer prizes and online publication. The

Elmbridge Literary Competition is also free for children (under 18s in this case). They do have an adult category, but there's a £5 entry fee for that. Poets aged 14-18 can enter the competition from Hippocrates Initiative For Poetry and Medicine which has a £500 prize. Finally there's this competition for children aged 9-18 which has categories for poems, songs, speech and art.

If there were competitions like this when I was a kid then I was unaware of them. I wonder if discovering some would have got me started writing three decades earlier than I actually did?

Next week's post is about the free Wergle Flomp poetry competition and contains tips from judges, and Annie from the organisers Winning Writers, for crafting a funny poem worthy of the $2,000 first prize.

Womag news

I did get an acceptance from TAB yesterday, but that's not the sale referred to in the blog post's title.

Thanks to Liz Filleul for passing on this link, which announces that US magazine Woman's World (and other titles) has been sold. The new owners are Accelerate 360. I don't know anything about them or any magazines they publish – do you?

Weather news

It was windy – maybe you noticed? Neither I nor the garden enjoyed the storms (apparently we had winds of 93 mph). Instead of being sad about the damage I'm looking back at photos from last summer and reminding myself that most plants will recover and by summer the garden will be full of poppies.

As always I'd very much appreciate you leaving a comment about anything you find interesting / useful, so I know which type of content to continue with.

Over To You

Womag news

The current word count requirements for The People's Friend have changed a little and can be found here.

Do you have any womag news?

Are you researching, writing, subbing? Had any acceptances or rejections? Any other news?

Feel free to use the photo as a picture prompt. If you'd like other writing prompts, short exercises and story/scene suggestions then you might find this book useful.

Free entry writing competition news

Thanks to Alex for mentioning WEP - the write, edit, publish challenge. 

I'd love to hear your competition news.

Do you have writing tips to share, questions to ask, or suggestions for this blog?

All the usual stuff

 

Womag News

I believe that everyone who had a story published in Seven Days has now been paid. If you haven't then contact Siobhan. 

I have a story in the current People's Friend Special :-) Acceptances and rejections are taking a long time to come through – mostly due to the enormous number of submissions I suspect. The best way to get a relatively quick reply is to send stories of 2,000 or 3,000 words for whichever season they're looking for – 

summer is probably your best bet right now. In my experience non seasonal stories aren't read as quickly as seasonal ones. If you submit work of 1,200 words be prepared for a really long wait.

If you're unsure what or how to submit to YOU magazine, see the comments to last week's post, especially the helpful summary by Sharon Boothroyd. 

Womag competition news

Best magazine are running another short story competition. This time the theme is pets. Sorry, I can't make the t&c's readable with a screenshot – see the Feb 1st issue for full details.

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Susie Morgan for reminding me that the Anansi Archive Awards weren't just a one off. They run every quarter and offer small cash prizes in three categories – poetry, flash fiction and short stories. The current round ends at the end of the month.

For this competition from Plozee you need to sign up (free) then write a post of at least 250 characters on one of the posted topics. There are much more detailed instructions on the site and there's a prize of $100.

Calls for submissions

I don't know anything about this Canadian publisher except that they emailed me to say they're inviting non-fiction proposals.

The animal pictures are just because there's a cat in the thing from Best. I'll probably be back to flowers next time – unless you have requests.

All kinds of stuff

 

Womag News

There's a new Fiction Editor's blog post on The People's Friend website about queries and complaints in relation to fiction submissions.

I have a story in the current issue of The Friend – it's about a winter garden.

South African magazine YOU are now open for submissions again. The new fiction editor is Illana Frantz and she's adopted the policy that if you've not heard after two months it's a no.

Isn't that better than waiting months, or even years for a reply which might never arrive?

Call for submissions

Bridge House publishing are looking for stories of 1,000 to 5,000 words on the theme of 'Evergreen.' Selected stories will be published in an anthology and authors will earn a share of royalties. As it says on the site – 'A word of warning Anthologies of short stories do not sell in vast quantities to the public.' Thanks to Alyson for passing on the link.

Free entry writing competition news

This competition is only open to residents of UK and Ireland who don't have a publishing deal. It offers £3,000 advance, publication and the option of two months in Italy for the best book length essay proposal.

This may look like a free entry writing competition with a hotel stay as the prize, but it's actually a rights grab. You give up all your rights, just by entering. Giving up all rights in exchange for a prize should you win, or payment should you be published is bad enough, but doing so just to enter a competition strikes me as a really terrible idea. I mention it as a warning to always read the rules and only enter if you're happy to accept them.

I'll point out anything I notice that's of concern to me, but I may miss stuff and in any case, you might not feel the same way as I do about some things.

This competition is for sci-fi, horror or fantasy of up to 3,500 words. The top prize is $200 and publication.

If you're considering entering the Wergle Flomp poetry competition then you might like to hold on until next month. I have a special post coming up that might give you a better chance of winning the $2,000 cash and $100 Duotrope voucher which make up the top prize.

Thanks to Alyson for telling me about this flash fiction competition. The winning entries (of up to 50 words) will be illustrated and printed on bookmarks. The winner will receive £50 in book tokens. I really should give this one a try.

Photos taken at RHS Hyde Hall on the way back from a trip to see a really big ship!