Archive for category Competitions
What Makes A Good Poem?
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Poetry on May 10, 2012
It was a good meeting at my writing group last week. There weren’t many of us but everyone had brought something to read and had also written it with a market in mind, including Woman’s Weekly, People’s Friend, National Women’s Register short story competition (restricted to NWR members only, unfortunately) and a Writers’ News competition.
But Iona had also written a beautiful poem that was looking for a home. It was a moving verse about a soldier trying to find peace. I liked the poem because it was accessible. It rhymed (and none of the rhymes were forced) and the language was easily understood. This led onto a discussion about whether poems should or shouldn’t rhyme and how some, much praised, poems are often difficult to understand.
I rarely write poetry (because I’m not much good at it) but when I do attempt the odd verse I automatically make it rhyme and try to give it some sort of recognisable meter. More often than not it tells a story too – I find purely descriptive poems difficult. But my poems usually end up sounding rather childish and I don’t know whether this is because of the rhyming or just a reflection of my poor writing.
Of course, not all free verse is difficult to understand, I’ve just discovered ‘You’re Beautiful’ by Simon Armitage – have a read, it’s wonderful.
What do you think makes a good poem? Should it have a recognisable form and meter or should the poet be free to compose however he or she wishes?
And just in case you’ve come over all poetic, I’ve found a free to enter poetry competition. Blue Mountain Arts is offering prizes of $300, $150 and $50. You can enter by email as many times as you like and the closing date is June 30th 2012. Full details are here. Interestingly they state, “Poems can be rhyming or non-rhyming, although we find that non-rhyming poetry reads better.”
Iain Pattison
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Competitions, Resources on April 26, 2012
Whatever type of writing you do, there’s a lot to be learned from reading the output of those ‘further up the ladder’ and finding
out about their working methods.
Iain Pattison is a prolific short story writer and has been widely published in magazines and anthologies. Twist endings are one of his specialities. He is also the author of Cracking the Short Story Market which covers all aspects of short story writing.
So it is fair to assume that Iain’s work and advice is worth reading if you are writing short fiction. Iain is currently one of the featured writers at The Word Hut. There’s an interesting interview with him here in which he reveals his background, views on the growing ease of self-publishing plus a bit of sensible advice for budding writers. The site is also showcasing one of his winning stories An Ugly Way To Go – have a read, it will make you smile.
If Iain’s writing and advice inspire you to pick up a pen or put fingers to keyboard, then The Word Hut are running a short story competition for stories up to 1000 words, closing date 13th May 2012.
Or you might like to try writing a piece of flash fiction including the words knit, blunder, perform and tingle. Helen Yendall is running this competition on her blog and full details can be found here. The prize is a copy of Linda Lewis’ brand new book ‘The Writer’s Treasury of Ideas’ and the closing date is 9th May 2012.
Good Luck and, in the wise words of Iain Pattison, “Keep churning out work. Be a word factory. Soon as you’ve finished one story, start another.”
P.S. Iain is judging the Writers’ Bureau Short Story Competition this year (first prize £500 and closing date 30th June 2012).
National Flash Fiction Day May 16th 2012
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Events on April 9, 2012
The first National Flash Fiction Day will be taking place on May 16th 2012 and if you want to be part of it you need to get your 
thinking caps on now.
There is a list of specially organised competitions listed here. Some are specific to certain parts of the country (this narrows down the field of entrants, so if you are lucky enough to live in any of the chosen areas – get writing!). Many are FREE to enter and there’s a variety of closing dates (but they’re mostly in April so don’t delay).
If you fancy getting involved in person, take a look at this list of planned events organised geographically. Unfortunately there’s none near me in the West Midlands but Derby ‘s doing well with 2 workshops going on.
So if you like your writing short, sharp and to the point – what are you waiting for?
5minutefiction First Birthday Competition & Book Launch!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Promotion, Short Story, Successes on April 5, 2012
5minutefiction has launched a short story competition to celebrate its first birthday.
Entries can be on any theme and any length between 100 and 1500 words. Closing date is June 1st 2012 and the entry fee is £2.
First prize is £100, second prize £50 and third prize £25. In addition, the winners will be published as part of an e-book short story anthology, along with up to 20 other additional entries. These stories will receive royalties from the sale of the book.
All entrants will also receive feedback.
Judging will be slightly out of the ordinary with 10 shortlisted stories being put to the public vote. Voters will be charged 10p to vote to help ensure only 1 vote per person.
Full competition details are here.
Also, I am pleased to announce that the e-anthology of selected stories from the last competition organised by 5minutefiction is now available. Time for Love contains 18 of the best entries from the Valentine short story competition – including mine (this could be the nearest I ever get to a book launch so I have to make the most of it)! Someone else you might have heard of, Simon Whaley, also has a story in there. 
Time for Love is available to purchase from Amazon here. At only £1.54 it’s cheaper than the Kindle version of Woman’s Weekly Fiction Special – and might just help you win this competition!
If you don’t have a Kindle, download free software here to allow you to read Kindle books on your laptop.
Happiness Poetry Competition
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Poetry on March 19, 2012
I’ve had an email from Alex Black of PrintExpress.co.uk. Following on from their previous successful poetry competition (which I mentioned on this blog some months ago) they are running another FREE poetry competition to win £100.
Alex describes the competition as follows:
Flash Fiction Competitions
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Markets on March 12, 2012
If you’re struggling with a story, agonising over an article or gnashing your teeth about the novel, why not take a short break to recharge your batteries and have a go at some flash fiction instead? Spending a short time playing around with just a few hundred words (or less) will get the brain cells working again, send you back to the magnum opus refreshed and also give you that lovely satisfied feeling that comes from finishing a piece of work and submitting it.
Flash fiction seems to be growing in popularity and here are just a few of the competitions and markets for it:
Flash Fiction World runs quarterly FREE to enter competitions – plus the site contains details of other competitions and helpful advice for the writer.
Emerald Writing Workshops runs quarterly 500 word story competitions with cheap entry fees – I’ve extolled the virtues of Eddie Walsh and his competitions before, so I won’t go on and on again.
Real People Magazine pays £25 each week for a 60 word story – most of which tend to have a twist in the tail.
And don’t forget the ‘Win a Book’ competitions which appear each month in Writing Magazine. They usually ask for around 250 words on a particular theme. I find them great for kick starting the grey matter and for trying a genre I might not otherwise consider – I recently won the ‘Paranormal’ competition and have had a go at ‘Pitching a SitCom’. These competitions are a quick and easy way to step outside your comfort zone.
If you know of any other extremely short fiction markets then let me know – I’m always looking for reasons to deviate from my current project!
MULTI-STORY.co.uk Short Story Competition
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Short Story on March 5, 2012
Helen Foley has been in touch from MULTI-STORY.co.uk to tell me about the current short story competition that is running on the site.
She says, “It is for an open-themed story of no more than fifteen hundred words, the entry fee is £5 for one story or £8 for two and the closing date is 30th April 2012. There are cash prizes of £300 for first place, £100 for second, £50 for third and the winning entries will be published on the site. The judge is the author, Jim Williams, whose ten novels, including the Booker Prize nominated Scherzo, have all been internationally published.”
Entry fees are payable via PayPal and submission is by email. Full details are on the website along with a few words from Jim about what his is looking for in the winning entry.
He says, ‘A prize-winning entry will show a knowledge, and understanding, of what makes a short story work. I’ll be looking for a distinctive voice, sharply drawn characters and the best possible use of language. Any dialogue should be engaging and appropriate.’
As well as being a successful author, Jim also has a brilliant sense of humour. Take a look at his blog post, Why I am Glad I’m a Writer and not a Plumber – I challenge you not to laugh!
So maybe a slightly humourous story might be a winner in the competition…
It’s a nice prize pot so, Good Luck!
Novelicious Undiscovered 2012
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions on February 20, 2012
Thanks to Carol Bevitt for posting about this competition on her blog and thus bringing it to my attention. 
Are YOU Britain’s next chick lit STAR? says the blurb for this contest, which is being run by Novelicious along with Avon (HarperCollins) and Books and the City (Simon & Schuster UK).
It’s free to enter (so nothing to lose) and you only need to submit 3,000 words (and thankfully they don’t demand a pesky synopsis either). Closing date is 3rd April 2012.
There will be two winners:
The People’s Choice Award Winner – the top twenty entries as judged by the Novelicious team will be put to a public vote in June. The entrant with the most votes will win a full manuscript critique with Avon Commissioning Editor Caroline Hogg over tea and cake in their London offices. This will be your chance to get feedback on your novel and ask any questions you have about publishing. Plus the winner gets a host of other goodies (listed on the competition website here).
The Books and The City Choice Award Winner – will be chosen from the top twenty entries by the Fiction Editorial department at Simon & Schuster UK. Their choice will win a full manuscript feedback from the editorial team at Simon & Schuster plus author mentoring and meeting with Sunday Times Bestselling author of RSVP Helen Warner, along with a couple of other things listed here.
I do have one reservation about this competition and that is the public vote for The People’s Choice Award Winner. From my own, and other people’s, experience I know that these votes can turn into a popularity contest rather than an objective judgement on the writing. The person with the most friends on Facebook or access to a large email address list tends to do better because they can encourage all their contacts to vote for them. But maybe this downside is compensated for by the other winner being chosen by Simon and Schuster. And the prizes are attractive.
Before you decide whether to enter have a look at the competition website where there is an opportunity to ask questions about exactly what is required & learn from what others have asked. Also have a look at Carol’s blog post where she emphasises the importance of one of the rules which states that your work must not have been previously published – including on a blog.
Finally, to show that real people do win competitions like this, have a look at Patsy Collins’ reaction to winning a novel writing competition – and getting her book published as the prize! Well done, Patsy!
Erewash Writers’ Group Open Short Story Competition 2012
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions on February 9, 2012
Debbie Wilkinson has been in touch to ask me to give a mention to the Short Story Competition that Erewash Writers’ Group is running – and it has a charity element.
The competition has an open theme. All ages are eligible and it closes on 27th June 2012. There is a maximum word count of 1,500.
The prizes are £60, £30, £15 and there is also a £25 donation (likely to increase if a good response to this competition is received) available to either a UK charity or voluntary group. Entrants can nominate their favourite charity or voluntary group with every entry. Names will be put into a hat and one drawn at the close of the competition. Full details about this charitable donation are here.
The entry fee is £3 but additional entries by the same person attract a discount.
The competition judge is Keith ‘Carrot Nappers’ Large. His humorous fantasy ‘The Tisbech Terror’ won first prize in Freelance Market News’s 2010 short story competition, along with a piece of reverse creativity, adapting his stage play ‘Whine Fever’ into a short story to win the 2011 PCS/Words national competition. You can read his biography on the competition website.
The full details for the competition are here.
So why not have a go and increase that charitable donation fund!
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