Short Story Competitions

Below is a table detailing various short story competitions, some based in the UK, some global. Some are of high renown (like the BBC Short Story Award or the Bridport Prize), offering huge prizes, and some are lesser known, but offer great opportunities for newer writers to become published authors. I will try and keep this list up to date (last updated 12th May 2012), but please check the rules and dates on the different competition websites before entering. Most of the competitions accept entries from anywhere in the world, but require entries to be written in English.

I’ve kept the information on the competition calendar brief, only detailing the important bits, like genre, approximate opening dates, approximate closing dates, word count and, of course, the amount of prize money you can win. You can learn lots more about the rules for each individual competition by visiting the different websites. I have provided links to make this resource as easy to use as possible :)

If you run a regular short story competition and would like me to add it to the list below, please contact me. I will also try and add to this list regularly as I hear about more competitions.

Please contact me if there is any other information you would like to see on this page, or for any ideas on improvements (Eg, at the moment the list is sorted by entry closing date - would it be easier if it was alphabetical?). And if you have a success story you would like to share regarding any of the competitions, please let me know. I’m happy to consider publishing other writers’ stories on the site as long as they have been published or won or been shortlisted in short story competitions. I would also need useful comments about your experiences with the relevant short story competitions / publishers. See Devil's Crush as an example.

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