Archive for category Competitions
San Francisco and Writer’s Digest
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Non-writing, Resources on September 5, 2011
I’m back!
I had my bike ride – it was across the Golden Gate Bridge & I had my icecream – in the heart of San Francisco. (Apologies for the white lie about my holiday but I’m currently wrangling with my car insurance over the theft of my car a few weeks ago and it made me feel vulnerable about announcing to the world that the house would be empty.)
Amongst many other things we visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It contains a video installation that explores the art of story telling ‘without a beginning or an end and with no character or plot development’. I’m sure if we tried this as writers our work would be swiftly rejected. Maybe it’s different in the art world…
I also bought a copy of the US writing magazine ‘Writer’s Digest’. It seemed quite thin compared to our own Writing Magazine and Writers’ Forum but there are a few things of interest on its website:
- A series of writing prompts – responses of up to 500 words can be posted on the site or you could just use them to kick-start your own writing
- Various competitions such as one here for a 1500 word story.
- Writing Tips
- Writing articles cargorised by genre such as Romance, Horror, Memoir etc.
So, if you fancy an insight into the US writing scene, take a look at the site.
Emerald Writing Workshops Competitions 2012
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions on August 18, 2011
Emerald Writing Workshops 2012 Competition Calendar is out now!
These competitions are entering their third year with an increased prize pot of £100 per competition – First £65, second £20, third £15 plus three runners-up each receive a book of short stories. Entry is only £1.80 (overseas entrants can pay via PayPal) and I think that’s really good value!
All the competitions are for a 500 word piece of flash fiction and the 2012 themes are as follows:
- Story set on a train – closes 28/02/12
- Story including the words ‘Nobody will ever know’ – closes 31/5/12
- Story about anything you like – closes 31/8/12
- Story on the theme ‘Trapped’ – closes 30/11/12
Plus, if you enter any of the above (or have entered any of the 2010/2011 comps) then you can submit a Four Sentence Story. This is free to enter and 5 winners will each receive £20.
Entries are by post only but entries from different people or for more than one competition can all go in the same envelope.
Full details of how to enter are here along with winning entries from previous competitions.
Good Luck!
The Best Man to Die
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Competitions on August 4, 2011
I’ve just finished reading The Best Man to Die by Ruth Rendell. I picked the book up in a charity shop because I’ve
enjoyed Ruth’s psychological thrillers. But this novel turned out to be an Inspector Wexford story (serve me right for not reading the blurb properly!).
After a few pages I had to check the title page to see when it was published – 1969. The book was plunging me into a world where fridges were the height of luxury (does anyone remember life without a fridge?) and wages were £20 a week. The book was full of prices (a top of the range set of false teeth cost £200 and played an important part in the book) and things that just don’t happen anymore – such as using phone boxes!
In the end I enjoyed the book as a social history of its era – a time I don’t really remember even though I was 6 when the book was written.
It also threw up two points that we should consider as writers:
- It’s very easy to make your stories sound ‘dated’ by including prices, wages, specific music etc. This can be an advantage if it’s important to the story that we know it is set in a specific year but a disadvantage if you’re resurrecting an old story for a new competition – your entry may seem a little tired if it’s referring to things that were current 5 years ago.
- Whenever we write we are creating evidence for the historians of the future. Whether our work is published or not someone may stumble upon it in the years to come and marvel at how primitive our lives were at the start of the 21st century!
And whilst I’m on the subject of Ruth Rendell, the Ruth Rendell Short Story competition is open for entries until the end of October. The winner will receive £1000 and will be commissioned to write 4 more stories. Full details are here.
West Country Writers’ Association Competitions 2011
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Events on August 1, 2011
- Image via Wikipedia
If you fancy a visit to Bath next April, have a go at one (or both) of these annual competitions run by the West Country Writers’ Association:
- Short story competition – the winner will receive £50 in cash and will also be invited to spend one day at the 2012 West Country Writers’ Annual Congress in Bath (20th to 22nd April). Entries must not exceed 1200 words and can be on any theme but must include the words JANE AUSTEN. Entry fee is £5 and the competition is only open to writers who have had no more than 2 short stories professionally published or read on the radio. Closing date 12th December 2011.
- West Country Writers’ Bursary – all aspiring authors are invited to apply for this annual award. The bursary pays for an individual to attend the annual congress, including accommodation for two nights, all meals, which include the annual luncheon, and entry to the AGM and all talks by well-known writers, or others associated with publishing. To apply write a letter outlining your literary achievements so far, your hopes for future success, and a brief explanation of why you would like to attend the congress. No closing date on the website for this so I’d get your entries in early. It is a fantastic prize and all you have to do is write a letter!
Those of you that read this blog regularly will know that I was awarded the West Country Writers’ Association bursary last year and enjoyed a wonderful weekend in a lovely hotel near Plymouth in April. It was a great chance to chat with other writers and learn from their experiences. There is more about my experience here.
Full details of this year’s competitions, including where to send your entries, is here.
The New Writer Magazine
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Markets, Resources on July 25, 2011
The New Writer is a subscription only, quarterly writing magazine. Each edition includes a mix of features, fiction and
poetry along with regulars such as a Writers’ Circle Clinic by Simon Whaley.
The New Writer doesn’t have the glossy finish of Writing Magazine or Writers’ Forum nor does it have pages of adverts. I think the magazine has a cosy, friendly feel. The Spring 2011 edition included features on ‘First of a Million Kisses’ by romance writer Sally Quilford, ‘Travel Writing Perks’ by Roy Stevenson and ‘Make it Short & Snappy’ by me (!).
The magazine is open to unsolicited articles and features (for which it pays a small amount). Poetry is also accepted but fiction is restricted to guest writers, subscribers’ stories on a given theme and competition entrants.
The New Writer runs an annual Prose and Poetry Competition with 5 categories:
- Micro fiction – up to 500 words (2 entries for £5 or 3 entries for subscribers)
- Short stories – 500 to 5,000 words (1 entry for £5 or 2 entries for subscribers)
- Single poems (2 entries for £5 or 3 entries for subscribers)
- A collection of 6 – 10 poems (£12 entry)
- Essays, articles and interviews on any writing related subject – up to 2,000 words (1 entry for £5 or 2 entries for subscribers)
The annual closing date is 30th November and the prizes are:
Micro Fiction: 1st prize £150, 2nd £100, 3rd £50.
Short Stories: 1st prize £300, 2nd £200, 3rd £100.
Single Poem: 1st prize £100, 2nd £75, 3rd £50
Poetry Collection: 1st prize £300, 2nd £200, 3rd £100.
Essay/article/interview: 1st prize £150, 2nd £100, 3rd £50.
If all this has whetted your appetite then you can obtain a free back issue by sending an A4 SAE to the address shown on the website here (scroll to the bottom of the page for the offer).
From around the web…
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Self-publishing on July 21, 2011
… a few interesting bits and pieces
- Waterstones are offering a Faber Academy Creative Writing Short Course (worth £450) in a prize draw, the only snag is you need a Waterstone’s loyalty card to enter – so if you haven’t got one, get one now! Then click here for full details and your chance to win. Closing date 1st September 2011.
- Ian Arkell used the contact form on my ‘About’ page to tell me about his novel, ‘Who Your Mates Are’, which is available for free on his blog. It is a crime novel set in Sydney and the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. Ian came across the usual brick wall when he tried to get it published in the traditional way and so decided to put it in blog form. He explains why here.
- If you enjoy blogging and have an interest in natural health then here is the competition for you. The Wise Woman is running a Natural Health Blog Competition. 500 words on any topic related to natural health could win you £100. Entry fee is £2 and the closing date 31st August 2011.
- As with any job, writing and publishing has its own ‘lingo’ that can seem amazingly complicated to the newcomer. Nicola Davies has been attempting to de-mystify some of the technical terms associated with magazine publishing on her blog. Have a look here if you want to be able to understand ‘editor speak’.
- And don’t forget there’s still time to enter the 100 word story competition on Helen Yendall’s blog – there are two fabulous writing books to be won. Closing date is 26th July and entry is via email.
Help for Heroes Poetry Competition
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Poetry on July 14, 2011
Image by Defence Images via Flickr
When entering a writing competition it’s nice to think that your entry fee has gone to a worthy cause – it softens the blow of not making it to the short-list!
The Help For Heroes charity is running a poetry competition. First prize is £250 in Primark vouchers and there is no fixed entry fee but entrants are asked to donate at least a pound per poem and all money raised will go to the charity.
The judge is Peter Quinn, managing director of United Press and he is asking for, ” …poems related to Help for Heroes. It could be a poem about an individual or it could be a poem with a message.”
The winner will also have their poem published in a general collection of modern poetry and will receive a free copy of the book as well as attending a prize presentation.
The closing date is November 11th 2011 and full details on how to enter can be found here.
This is a cheap to enter competition for a worthy cause – why not give it a go?
Beak Books Novel Writing Competition plus a Mini Saga
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions on July 4, 2011
Beak Books is a new, independent publishing company looking for talented writers. An agent isn’t necessary but original ideas plus a willingness to promote your work is essential.
Submissions can be made via Beak Books Novel Writing Competition. The judges are looking for fiction that has a twist to it which is also original, humorous, surprising, action-packed, quirky, romantic, moving or thought-provoking. They do not want horror, crime, children’s fiction, non-fiction or science-fiction. Only unpublished novelists may enter.
Novels must be between 60,000 and 100,000 words in length but only the first three chapters are required in the first instance and submission is on-line. First prize is £80, second £60 and third £40. The winner may also be offered publication. Closing date is 30th September 2011 and the entry fee is £8.
At the other end of the word count spectrum Helen Yendall is running a mini-saga competition via her blog. Helen is celebrating her 100th blog post (congratulations, Helen!) and wants 100 word stories on any theme in any genre.
First prize is the ‘Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook 2012′ and second prize is ‘Write to be Published’ by Nicola Morgan. Email entry only and the closing date is 26th July 2011.
Competition Success & Womag Blues
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Markets, Successes on June 23, 2011
Two small competition successes to report:
- I won the Lichfield & District Writers’ Article Writing Competition (members only) and received the lovely silver tray in the picture. Unfortunately it’s not to keep forever – I will have to hand it on to the next winner. Congratulations to John Walters and Elizabeth Dickerson who came second and third respectively, with articles on listening to the radio as a child and collecting collectibles. My article tried to dispel the many myths around church bell ringing (bats in the belfry, super human strength needed etc etc).
- I was placed third in the Emerald Writing Workshops Novel Opening Competition and received a £10 cheque. These 500 word competitions are run quarterly with a very reasonable entry fee of £1.80 for a £50 first prize. Well worth having a go! The next closing date is 31st August 2011 – check the website for further details.
That’s the good news over with and now the more serious stuff. As many of you will know the women’s magazine fiction market is shrinking and the latest casualty is the one page story in Take a Break (although the Fiction Feast story special will continue to be published). So some womag writers have started a campaign to let the magazines know that we want more fiction. Patsy Collins has put details on her blog about how to use Facebook to voice your opinions to the magazine editors. Alternatively (if like me you don’t ‘do’ Facebook) you could email or write to the magazines’ letters pages. If enough of us make a fuss then maybe it will have an impact and bring back some of those short story markets. Fingers crossed!
Novel & Short Story Critques
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Resources on June 16, 2011
Do you ever get that feeling that you can’t see the wood for the trees? You’ve edited and polished the words over and over again but you’re still not sure whether they’re any good? Or maybe you’ve had a string of rejections from the women’s magazines but can’t work out want you’re doing wrong?
Sometimes it helps to get the impartial opinion of a professional – someone who’s achieved success in the writing world and has a good idea about what editors are looking for. I’ve come across two such writers who offer critiquing services at reasonable prices:
- Patricia Mcaughey is a successful romantic novelist from Plymouth and she writes as Patricia Fawcett. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and the West Country Writers’ Association. It was through the West Country Writers’ that I met Patricia at their annual Congress. Patricia charges £25 to critique the first 3 chapters of a novel plus the synopsis. A critique of a complete novel is £50 and Patricia is happy to look at any genre except children’s, horror or science fiction. She prefers to receive hard copies of manuscripts through the post but can be contacted via email in the first instance – patriciamcaughey@btinternet.com. Patricia currently has a website under construction.
- I’ve mentioned Joanna Barnden before on this blog. Joanna is a successful womag writer, Open University tutor and runs very inspiring writing courses. Joanna’s critiquing service costs £10 for one story (including a re-read after you’ve improved the story following her original comments) or £50 for 6, either sent in a single batch, or one after another over as long a period as you wish. The second way often works best as you can use it as a mini-correspondence course to improve your general writing techniques. This price applies to stories of 3000 words or under; for longer works she would be happy to quote on an individual basis. As well as critiquing the story Joanna will also give market advice. Joanna can be contacted via her website or email – info@joannabarnden.co.uk.
Alternatively, why not have a go at the Laurel House Creative Workshops competition which provides every entrant with a 400 word critique of their story. Entry fee is £4 and the winner will receive £100. Closing date 4th July. Full details here.
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Competitions category.
Sally Jenkins 