BBC National Short Story Award

BBC National Short Story Award
in partnership with Booktrust is now open for submissions for the ninth year. Published authors from the UK are invited to submit stories for the 2014 Award until 28 February.

Mslexia Short Story Competition

Mslexia Women’s Short Story Competition
is open to stories up to 2200 words in length and can be on any subject. Women writers from all countries are eligible to enter. Closes 17 March.

Bath Novel Award

The Bath Novel Award
is an international competition for unpublished or self-published novels with a £1000 prize. Submissions should include up to the first five thousand words of a novel plus a one page synopsis. Entries close 28 February 2014.

Doolin Writers Weekend and Short Story Competition announced

Doolin Writers Weekend and Short Story Competition announced

 Hotel Doolin has confirmed a prize fund of €1,000 will be awarded to the winning entrant, with €600 and €400 prizes for the second and third placed entries respectively.  The winning entries, which will be published on the Irish Writers’ website and in The Clare People newspaper, will be announced at the Doolin Writers’ Weekend in County Clare on 28-30 March 2014. 

 Competition entries will be judged this year by Anthony Glavin

 Entries to the Doolin Short Story Competition 2014 can be on any theme and should be no longer than 3,000 words. The entry fee is €10 and the closing date for entries is Monday 3^rd March at 5pm.  To enter visit: www.doolinwritersweekend.com. Further information is available from Donal Minihane, Hotel Doolin, Doolin, Co. Clare, on 065-70741111 / dminihane@hoteldoolin.ie.

Digital Writers’ Festival
is organised by the team behind Australia’s Emerging Writers’ Festival. The festival will run from 13 to 24 February with the majority of events being streamed live on the website at no charge, enabling readers and writers from around the world to participate.
BBC Radio 4′s Opening Lines Series
showcases first time and emerging writers. They are looking for original short stories between 1900 and 2000 words, which work being read out loud i.e. with a strong emphasis on narrative and avoiding too much dialogue, character description and digression. Submissions close 14 February.

MOLLY KEANE CREATIVE WRITING AWARD 2014

Now in its 17^th year, Waterford County Council’s Arts Office is pleased to announce that it is currently accepting entries for the Molly Keane Creative Writing Award.

The late writer lived, until her death in 1996, in Ardmore, Co. Waterford.  Her first ten novels and four plays were published under the pseudonym M.J. Farrell.  In 1981 ‘Good Behaviour’ became a publishing sensation for which she was short listed for the prestigious Booker Prize.  To celebrate this rich literary life, the County Waterford Arts Office, by kind permission of the Keane family, is inviting entries for a previously unpublished short story to a maximum of 2000 words.  There is no entry fee, no age limit and no restriction on the subject matter.  A prize of €500 will be awarded to the winner at a special ceremony during the IMMRAMA Literary Festival in Lismore, Co. Waterford in June 2014.

The closing date for receipt of entries is 12 noon on

Friday 14^th March 2014.

Full details and an entry form can be downloaded from www.waterfordcoco.ie or by contacting the Arts Office on 058-41416.

The Moth International Short Story Competition

The Prize is open to everyone, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished.  There is a 6,000 word limit. The entry fee is €9 per story and you can enter as many stories as you like. You can enter online or simply send your story or stories along with a cheque or postal order made payable to The Moth Magazine Ltd. and an entry form (downloadable here) or a cover letter with your name and contact details and the title of story attached to: The Moth, 81 Church Street, Cavan, Co. Cavan, Ireland. This year’s competition will be judged by Mike McCormack, a recipient of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature whose debut short story collection was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His novel Notes from a Coma was shortlisted for the Irish Book of the Year Award and was described in the Irish Times as ‘the greatest Irish novel of the decade just ended’.  CLOSING DATE 30 JUNE 2014    The three winning stories will feature in the autumn 2014 issue of The Moth and the winners will be invited to read at a special event at the Winding Stair Bookshop in Dublin in September 2014.