Two Free Writing Competitions

Ian Skillicorn from Corazon Books has been in touch to tell me about two free to enter competitions that he’s involved with:

Historic House Short Story Competition

This competition is being run by Corazon Books and the Historic Houses Association to celebrate the publication of The Property of a Gentleman by Catherine Gaskin. This modern classic by the bestselling “Queen of Storytellers” has recently been reissued by Corazon Books in ebook format, in time to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The Property of a Gentleman is a tale of intrigue, mystery and romance, set in a fictional earl’s ancestral home, in the dramatic landscape of England’s Lake District.

Entrants to the competition must submit a short story of between 1,500 to 2,500 words. The story must take place in, or be inspired by, a historic house (real or fictional). The submissions deadline is Friday 26th September 2014 and the winner will be announced on Monday 17th November 2014.

The winning writer and a guest will be treated to a private tour and afternoon tea with the owners of Levens Hall in Cumbria. The winner will also receive a cash prize of £150, and a double Friends membership for the Historic Houses Association. Two runners up will each receive a double Friends membership to the Historic Houses Association. Corazon Books also plans to publish an e-book anthology of the best entries, with each writer receiving royalties for their published story.

Full details of the competition can be found here.

The Write Time competition

Corazon Books is running a writing competition for the over 50s, in partnership with Mature Times.

“The Write Time” competition offers the winner a two-year digital publishing contract, with full editorial and marketing support, and a generous royalty on all sales.

The organisers are looking for compelling fiction for adults from a previously unpublished author. For the purposes of the competition, “previously unpublished” is defined as a writer who has never had a publishing contract for a short story collection, novella or full-length novel, which offered royalties and did not require any payment from the writer. So, even if you have self-published your writing, you are still eligible to enter.

Work can be submitted in the genres of family saga, historical, medical, mystery and suspense, and romance (contemporary or historical).

For the first round of the competition, entrants should send a 200-500 word synopsis and the first three chapters of their novel/novella before 16th June 2014. Entrants who pass this first round of submissions will be asked to send the complete novel in September this year. The winner will be announced in November.

Entry to the competition is free, but writers must include an entry code which they can find (along with all the other details about the competition) on the Mature Times website.

Catherine Gaskin, Corazon Books, Historic Houses Association, Levens Hall, Mature Times, The Property of a Gentleman

This entry was posted on March 27, 2014, 11:44 am and is filed under Competitions, Short Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

#1 by Harliqueen on March 27, 2014 - 7:31 pm

Thanks for sharing 🙂

- #2 by Sally Jenkins on March 28, 2014 - 7:37 am
  
  It’s a pleasure, Harliqueen.
  
#3 by Debbie W on March 28, 2014 - 10:34 am

Thanks for this info Sally. Many thanks for the share.

I’m having a little problem finding the T&Cs for the Mature Times comp. Is anyone else having probs too?

- #4 by Sally Jenkins on March 28, 2014 - 12:42 pm
  
  Debbie – I’ve just tried the Ts & Cs link from http://www.maturetimes.co.uk/write-time-unique-mature-times-writing-competition/ and you’re right – it doesn’t work. I guess you’ll have to contact Mature Times and ask them for the Ts & Cs. It’s a bit frustrating isn’t it?
  
#5 by Patsy on March 28, 2014 - 11:57 am

I’m going to enjoy doing the research for that first one.

- #6 by Sally Jenkins on March 28, 2014 - 12:43 pm
  
  I’m thinking of entering that one too, Patsy but I think mine’ll be a fictional house.
  
#7 by susanjanejones on March 29, 2014 - 2:40 pm

http://www.greatstorieswithheart.com/the-write-time-terms/

that worked for me Sally, no problems. Great to see a competition when it’s good to be over 50. Like the look of both of them, and that story sounds good as well.

- #8 by Sally Jenkins on March 30, 2014 - 6:45 pm
  
  Many thanks for the link, Susan. And I agree – it’s good to have something where being 50+ is a positive!