Motor Neurone disease is a terrible thing. It kills a third of sufferers within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis. It can leave people locked in a failing body unable to move, talk, swallow and eventually breathe.
Claret Press is running a short story competition to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
The competition is inspired by the work of Claret Press author Sarah Gray, who has Motor Neurone disease. Her short story collection Half Life deals with aspects of physical and mental illness in innovative and original ways. The judges will be looking for similarly engaging stories inspired by these issues in a maximum of 5,000 words. Stories can be written from any point of view and can be in any genre, for example thriller, romance, post-modern, horror, etc.
The entry fee is £6 (net proceeds to MNDA!) and there are prizes of £250, £150 and £50. Claret Press will publish all short-listed entries in a new collection.
Closing date is June 15th 2018. Don’t forget to read the full terms and conditions.
Sally Jenkins 
#1 by juliathorley on April 17, 2018 - 9:01 am
Thanks for highlighting this competition. I don’t usually write short stories that long (if you see what I mean), but perhaps I should have a go at this one. I lost a friend to MND; he was only 55. If I don’t enter, I’ll make a donation anyway.
#2 by Sally Jenkins on April 17, 2018 - 12:55 pm
Julia – the Ts & Cs do say there’s no minimum word count. I was thinking of entering a story significantly shorter than 5,000 words. Sorry to hear about your friend – 55 is no age at all.
#3 by juliathorley on April 17, 2018 - 2:16 pm
Ah, I haven’t read the small print yet. No excuse, then.