(b) Critique and Proofreading Services
Would you like feedback on your short story, poetry, script or book? Check out our critique service and proofreading service.
Critique Ireland
Proofreading Ireland
Critique UK
Proofreading UK
(c) No Fee Creative Writing Ink Monthly Competition
Many thanks to everyone who entered our free to enter November writing competition and congratulations to the winner, James Croal Jackson. You can read previous winning entries here.
(d) Writing Prompt Competition
Our free to enter writing prompt competition is open and closes on January 31, 2020. Please visit our writing prompts page if you'd like to enter the current competition.
2. Writing Competitions
Here are some other free to enter writing competitions.
Use information listed at your own risk. Creative Writing Ink gives no warranty to completeness, accuracy, or fitness of the markets, competitions, publishers or agents although research is carried out to the best of our ability. Note that some of these competitions have residency requirements,so check the terms and conditions of the competitions to see if your country is eligible.
(a) The Aleph Writing Prize 2019 is open until December 31, 2019 (12 noon GMT).
Free to enter.
The winning piece will be published in a limited number of handmade booklets and all copies/proceeds will go to the winner.
They encourage submissions from all literary genres, and there are no restrictions on theme or subject matter. Maximum word count is 10,000.
More here.
(b) The Write On Art Prize is open until March 31, 2020. The prize is sponsored by Art UK and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
Free to enter.
Open to young art writers aged 15–18. Pick one artwork featured on the Art UK website and write about it.
What does it say to you? What’s the history behind it? How does it make you feel?
Prizes: £500, £200. Three runner-up prizes of £100 each. The winners will have their essays featured on the Art UK and Paul Mellon Centre websites.
The panel of judges includes Art Critic and Writer Hettie Judah, Historian and Art Critic Sir Simon Schama, Author Karen Gregory and Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
Visit their website for further details.
(c) The Ouen Press 2019 Short Story Competition is open until December 31, 2019 (midnight UK time).
Free to enter.
Prizes: First prize £300, 2 x Runners up £100 each. The winning entry, the runners-up and the highly commended stories will be published by Ouen Press in a compilation of short stories.
Theme: Gift. Stories should be between 4,000-10,000 words. Only one entry per author.
More here.
(d) The Wicked Young Writer Awards 2020 are open until March 2, 2020.
Free to enter.
The competition is open to 5 to 25-year olds, in the UK and Ireland.
Cressida Cowell is this year’s head judge.
There are five age categories: 5-7, 8-10, 11-14, 15-17, 18-25. Submit a piece of writing on a theme or subject of your choice.
There is also the FOR GOOD Award for Non-Fiction, encouraging 11-25-year olds to write essays or articles that recognise the positive impact that people can have on each other, their communities and the world we live in.
The overall winners from each category will win a VIP family experience to the West End production of WICKED, including a backstage tour and cast meet-and-greet, £50 book/eBook tokens, plus £100 worth of books for the 5-14-year old winner’s school library. There are further prizes for the winners for the various categories.
Stories, poems and non-fiction pieces from 120 finalists will be published in the annual Wicked Young Writer Awards Anthology. The finalists will also be invited to a ceremony at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre, where judges and members of the WICKED cast will read the winning stories and poems and announce who has won in each category.
More here.
(e) The St Martin’s Minotaur/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition is open until January 3, 2020.
Free to enter.
Open to writers around the world, aged 18 and over, who have never had a novel published.
The winning manuscript will be published by Minotaur Books. The winner will receive an advance against future royalties of $10,000.
Submit a book-length manuscript, at least 60,000 words. Murder or another serious crime or crimes has to be at the heart of the story.
More here.
(f) Ink Pantry Publishing’s Krampus Poetry Competition 2019 is open until December 16, 2019 (midnight).
Free to enter.
Theme: Krampus
Poems can be any style or length; they must be unpublished. One entry per person.
More here.
(g) The Christopher Tower Poetry Prize 2020 is open until March 2, 2020.
Free to enter.
Open to students between 16-18 years of age who are educated in the UK.
Submit poems of up to 48 lines. Theme: Trees
Prizes: £3,000, £1,500, £500, 4 runner-up prizes of £250. The top three winners will also be offered a place on the Tower Poetry summer school.
More here.
(h) The SLF Salariya Children’s Picture Book Prize is open until January 31, 2020 (5.30pm).
Free to enter.
Submit picture books for children aged 0-5. Open to previously unpublished authors and/or illustrators, resident in Ireland and the UK.
Prize: First prize is £1,000. Salariya Books imprint, Scribblers, has an option to publish the winning story.
More here.
(i) The Nature of Cities Prize for Urban Flash Fiction is open until January 1, 2020.
Submit flash fiction (up to 750 words) on the theme: City in a Wild Garden
Stories must be set in a city. You are free to interpret the word ‘city’ as you please. Nature and people must be significant plot elements in your story. Stories should be in English.
Prizes: One first place story will get $2,000; two second place winners will get $1,000 each; three third prize winners will get $500 each. A number of shortlisted stories will be included in a book to be published by Publication Studios.
More here.
(j) The Soundwork Short Story Competition is open until April 30, 2020.
Free to enter.
Submit short stories up to 2,500 words, any style and theme.
Prize: Recording by professional actor and placement on Soundcloud and the soundwork-uk.co.uk website.
More here.
(k) The 2019 Solstice Prize is open until December 21, 2019 (midnight).
Free to enter
Submit poetry (up to 40 lines) and short stories (up to 1000 words) on any subject.
There are two age categories: 10-13 and 14-17 years
First prize in both categories is £50 cash for the entrant and a £50 book token for their school/college. Their work will be published on the website.
There will also be a range of giveaways and writing treats for the ten most highly commended pieces in each age category.
More here.
(l) The Garden Magic – Photo Flora 2019-03 Contest is open until December 18th, 2019 (5 pm ET).
Free to enter.
Submit up to 350 words based on the picture prompt on their website.
Prizes: $50 top award, plus online publication, permanent online winners’ page, possible publication in Kindle anthology.
More here.
There are dozens of other open writing competitions over on our websites. Many are free to enter. You can check out Creative Writing Ink UK or Creative Writing Ink Ireland for further details. In addition, The Writing District publishes even more new writing competition listings several times a week. You can check out the listings here.
3. Submissions
(a) New Scottish literary magazine Extra Teeth seeks submissions for Issue Two. Submit short stories and essays from 800-4000 words. They say, "We look for short stories that stick with you, lingering in the memory long after reading, and essays that explore specific interests or issues from a new perspective."
They offer £100 for each selected piece, as well as two copies of the magazine in which the piece is featured.
Deadline: December 31, 2019
For further information, please visit their website.
(b) BBC Writersroom's annual window for unsolicited drama scripts is open until 5pm on Monday 6th January 2020 for Drama scripts (TV, film, radio, stage or online). Open to writers resident in the UK or Republic of Ireland. At the end of the process, a group of writers (usually between 10 and 15) will be selected to join the BBC Drama Room writer development group for 2020/21.
Find out more here
(c) Words for the Wild are open for submissions until December 22, 2019.
Theme: Fruit
Submit up to four poems or up to two stories.
More here.
(d) Influx Press are looking for non-fiction proposals. They will be open for unsolicited submissions from women and non-binary authors for two weeks from January 5th to the 19th 2020.
They say, "We are looking for offbeat non-fiction that explores contemporary life and culture in the UK or beyond. Be as creative with the idea of non-fiction as you like, genre bending, disruptive and innovative work is encouraged."
For more information, visit their website.
Deadline: 19 January 2020
(e) Anthology Askew are open for submissions of short stories, flash fiction, and poetry.
Current Theme: Relationships
"I'd love to be the light that finds you."
Deadline: December 31, 2019
More here.
(f) Thimble Literary Magazine are open for submissions February, March, May, June, August, September, November, and December. It's primarily a poetry journal but invites submissions on related topics such as artwork, stories, and interviews.
More here.
(g) Newfound are open for submissions until December 21, 2019. Theme: Virtual Realities.
Is a virtual experience an actual experience? How can we trust our senses? What is real and what is fantasy? They want to explore all aspects of this theme in their spring 2020 issue.
More here.
(h) Nightingale & Sparrow will be open for submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and photography for their fifth issue, love, until December 31, 2019.
More here.
That's it for this month. If you decide to enter any writing competitions or submit to magazines and journals - best of luck with your submissions! And many thanks to everyone for letting us know if you've won a competition or if you've been published, it's great to hear!
Creative Writing Ink Team
|
