This competition is for fiction or non-fiction 'that respond to the entangled social and ecological challenges of our contemporary world. ' Top prize is €1,000. Winners and honourable mentioned will be published in a virtual exhibition.
Here's another free to enter competition found by Fiona. They're asking for 'essays' on 'The worst writing mistake I’ve ever made.' The competition is open to anyone anywhere, over the age of 16. Prize is £100. It doesn't actually state is must be true, but I guess that's what they want. Shouldn't be a problem though, as there can't be many of us who haven't messed up somehow!
I have (more than once) intended to submit a single short story and accidentally attached an entire file of stories, not just the one I meant to send. On both occasions the editor concerned found the correct one and very tactfully informed me what I'd done.
Calls for submissions
Myslexia are looking for fiction and poetry on the theme of 'blue'. They pay for everything they publish.
Womag / competition news
Thanks to Pamela Gough for providing the details to the Best short story competition, in a comment on last week's post – The Best comp is for a Summer romance, max 1200 words. 1st prize is £500, 2 runners up get £200. Closing date is 20th July. Send your entry, with name, address and phone number to bestfiction@hearst.co.uk, with 'Summer romance fiction 2025' in the subject.
The People's Friend have slightly amended their word count requirements. The biggest change is that it's no longer acceptable to go over any stated word count. Full details here. Thanks to Eirin, Alyson and others for checking I'd seen the news - it's easy to miss these things.
My news
Most of my time is currently taken up with processing photos. This post contains a random selection - although only this last one is particularly appropriate for the blog!
Many thanks Patsy!
ReplyDeleteSorry - Anonymous was me before I realised!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the updates. Love the last photo Patsy!
ReplyDeleteThanks Patsy, Fiona & all. Like both those competitions & I could definitely enter 'the worst mistake I ever made' except in my case it wasn't that funny more a case of cringe (even now)!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Patsy. I might look at the eco comp...
ReplyDeleteTPF word counts are a bit of a blow to me - I always write over - I'm good value for money! Editing will become more serious...
Alyson
Thanks Patsy. I've submitted something for the blue opportunity, but I'm not expecting to get anywhere. It's good to see my poems in a local paper, though!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm just going to give Scribble a quick mention. It's a mag that's always looking for all kinds of short stories.
If you're a subscriber, there are no comp entry fees for their regular comps.
Thanks, Patsy and Fiona. And to Sharon. I might look up Scribble if they’re happy to consider any short story genre.
ReplyDeleteJust want to mention that I subbed a Christmas story to TPF this week. It was rejected five hours later. I’m becoming used to this now.
Michael
Snap - join the club Michael! Every story I submit to them is rejected in a day. I am used to it, but there's always that tiny sliver of hope...
ReplyDeleteThanks for all this, Patsy.
ReplyDelete@Sharon. My record for a TPF rejection is 39 minutes!
ReplyDeleteMichael
Thanks to Patsy, Fiona, Pamela and Sharon. There are a few in there to have a go at. Just another shout out for Toasted Cheese https://www.toasted-cheese.com/ with the theme being 'heat wave' for 21st June. I think my longest for TPF was 48 hours but I cheated and sent it on a weekend 😉. I haven't tried in ages but will be soon, so thank you for the updates.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Patsy, especially for the TPF update, and to Pamela for the Best Comp.
ReplyDeleteHB
The oldie magazine run a free to enter, themed, monthly poetry comp. The prize is £25. The current one has a 'countdown' theme. 16 lines max. The winning poems are also published in the magazine.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comp info, especially the Oldie mag. I get this as part of my Readly subscription and have never looked at it before, but today went down the ‘rabbit hole’ of back issues and have added to my favourites.
ReplyDeleteYes, I spotted it on readly, too. I'd have a go myself if I have a poem that fits their theme. £25 is not to be sniffed at!
ReplyDelete@ Rosemary - Eaily done!
ReplyDelete@ Elizabeth - I love those old signs too (written when, apparently) people were more sensible).
@ Sheelagh _ I've done plenty of cringeworthy stuff!
@ Alyson – I tend to go over too. It will take us longer to shorten them, but if that means faster response times then I'm happy to do it.
@ Sharon – I've heard of Scribble, but never seen it. Maybe I should take a look.
@ Michael - it's strange that they respond so quickly to writers they've not yet published, but take months or even years to read some of the stories submitted by their more regular writers.
@ Kate - Thanks for commenting. It's good to know how many people are reading the blog.
@ Sharon - thanks for that! I'll add these things into the next post so they don't get missed.
@ Fiona - It's worth reading a few issues of any mag we're thinking of subbing to.
@ Marguerite - sorry, I somehow missed your comment and only spotted it when I came back to copy over the info of the various opportunities shared in the comments.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comp details - and I like your sneaky way to get a longer response time!