This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
By Cesca Major
Every other Tuesday I will be compiling a list of competitions, courses and opportunities on offer for wannabe writers and those of you who might want to work in publishing. If you have a competition, course or opportunity you would like us to shout about, send info to: cesca@writingtipsoasis.com. If you can't see your comp here we might be saving it for a later date.
And please, Novelicious readers, let us know how you get on! We'd love to hear your success stories . . .
Competitions:
There are some fabulous writing competitions, particularly if you're writing women's commercial fiction or chick lit coming up in the next few weeks and months. Here are just a few . . .
~ The 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all writers, UK and non-UK based, over 16 years of age. Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4,000 words (There is no minimum). Fee to enter is £8 and there are a panel of judges.
Deadline: April 30th 2013.
Prizes: 1st £1000 plus £150 Waterstone’s gift card. 2nd £700 plus £100 Waterstone’s gift card. 3rd £400 plus £100 Waterstone’s gift card
17 further prizes of £100 will be presented to the writers whose stories appear on the shortlist. All 20 shortlisted writers will have their stories published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 6. The winning story will, also, be published in Bristol Review of Books magazine.
The 20 shortlisted writers will be invited to an awards ceremony in Bristol in October 2013 when the winners will be announced and the anthology.
~ West Sussex Writers are running a short story competition. The theme is open so get scribbling in any genre you fancy! They are accepting stories up to 3,000 words long. It costs £5 to enter. The judge for this one is Simon Brett.
Deadline: 31st March 2013
Prize: £200
~ Jenny Colgan and Little, Brown have teamed up with National Express to launch a short story competition to win a chance to become a published author!
To enter, they would like you to write a short story no more than 2,000 words long with the premise of 'take us on a journey'.
Prize: The winning short story will be published in the back of Jenny Colgan's, The Good, The Bad and The Dumped, e-Book edition published in August 2013.
Deadline: Midnight, 28th April 2013
If you want to talk to others about the comp on Twitter use the hash tag: #NXColgan
~ Lucy Robinson has teamed up with the writersphere.com to judge a 2000 word short story competition. Writers can submit multiple entries and can write in any style and on any topic. Stories will be read by a panel and the winner will be chosen by Lucy.
She said, "I'm looking for authentic voices; writers confident in their own style, and snapshots of worlds that intrigue me without leaving me feeling like the story's only just begun once the 2000 words are up."
Prize: £500 and the story will be published on the website and the writer will join the other faces in the writers' section!
Deadline: 31st March 2013
~ The marvellous Belinda Jones is running a short story competition. You will have YOUR story published in a Sunlounger Anthology and win a suitcase full of travel-related goodies. The winning story will be published alongside some fabulous female writers (including our very own editor – Kirsty Greenwood!) in a book out this Summer.
If you want to enter and receive guidelines simply email: sunloungerstories@gmail.com
~ Something short? How about entering a Flash Fiction Comp judged by Annemarie Neary. Details can be found here: Flash 500 run by @lomace
Courses:
~ How about checking out a 1 day course with lovely Julie Cohen? If you want to start a novel maybe try the beginner's course or maybe you are hoping to write better sex scenes. She has it all! Check out the details here: https://www.julie-cohen.com/events
~ Curtis Brown are running a new 6 month writing course for writers in February. You need to apply and have a handy pot of gold to hand but if this is you then check out the info here: https://curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/course/six-month-novel-writing-course/
~ Hannah Davis, a YA Author is running a 6 week online course at the end of February entitled 'How to Unleash Your Authentic Voice'. Details can be found here.
~ Why don't you check out the Faber Academy? They have a whole range of excellent novel courses on offer. In April author Rowan Coleman will be running this one.
~ Sue Moorcroft is running a whole range of courses or workshops later this year. See this list below. Of particular note is a gorgeous sounding course in Italy this summer (Novelicious bats eyelids sweetly…)
5 MARCH 2013 – 10.30am Meet the Author talk at Beaumont Leys Library, Beaumont Way Leicester, LE4 1DS. Speaker. Book on Tel: (0116) 299 5460 or email: beaumontleys.lib@leicester.gov.uk
20-21 APRIL 2013 – Chipping Norton Literary Festival. Two-hour workshop: writing hot scenes. Details tba. Book: https://chiplitfest.com
3-10 JULY 2013 – Arte Umbria, teaching Writing Romantic Fiction writing course in fabulous central Italy: tutorials, time to write, feedback, one-to-ones and plenty of opportunity to relax on a fabulous country house estate in central Italy. Book at https://arteumbria.com/ – the course is already filling up. 28 JULY-2 AUGUST 2013 – Writers' Holiday, Caerleon. Workshop: short stories. Book: https://www.writersholiday.net/
Sue works on various courses for the London School of Journalism (distance learning): https://www.lsj.org and also runs the Writers' Forum Fiction Competition (a rolling comp with a £300 first prize each month). See the magazine for details.
Details and how to contact Sue directly can be found here: www.suemoorcroft.com
Please email Cesca@writingtipsoasis.com with any cometitions, courses and opportunities you think might be relevant to our readers!