Writing submissions open between February and March: at your service!
Spotlight First Novel Award
Deadline: 14th February.
Now in its twelfth year, Spotlight First Novel Award is our way of celebrating and encouraging new writers. Every year we profile the winner and offer them transitional support at a key stage.
The Award is aimed at writers preparing for publication. The winner benefits from a comprehensive support package worth over £1950.00.
The Emma Press
Deadline: 14th February.
The Emma Press is an independent publisher specialising in poetry, short fiction and children’s books. It was founded in 2012 and is based in Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, UK. We publish poetry, short-form prose, and books for children. We have a growing list of translations which includes titles from Latvia, Estonia, Indonesia, Spain and the Netherlands. We are open to submissions once every half year. If you come across The Emma Press and you’ve missed the most recent window by a hair, you’ll only have to wait 6 months max until the next window. In February, we are accepting submissions for prose pamphlets, children’s poetry, and children’s fiction only. We’re not looking for poetry pamphlets or picture books in this call. The rest of this page includes all the information you need to submit. You can also download this same information in an Easy-Read PDF we have created – click the button below to view.
Skylight 47
Deadline: 19th February 2022.
The first issue of Skylight 47 was published in January 2013 to celebrate ten years of Galway’s Over The Edge poetry readings in the City Library. It was only supposed to be a single issue, but founding editors Kevin O’Shea, Susan Lindsay and Nicki Griffin were so taken with what they had produced, they decided to carry on.
Maria Edgeworth Festival of Literature & Arts – Poetry and Short Story Competitions
Open for entries until 24th February 2022.
The annual Maria Edgeworth Festival in Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford takes place every May. Maria Edgeworth was considered a lioness by literary giants including, Wordsworth, Scott, Byron and Austen. Celebrated as an 18th century novelist and enlightenment figure she contributed to science, literature, education and politics. The Maria Edgeworth Festival has grown to incorporate workshops, talks, adult poetry and short story competitions, historical trails, musical performances, nature walks, theatre performances and an 18th Century Costume Tea Party. It has established itself as one of the best Literary events on the Irish Calendar and has attracted visitors from all over Ireland and abroad who share an interest in Literary History. The next Festival will take place from the 4th to the 7th May 2023.
Sonder Magazine Issue VIII: Belonging
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
We are looking for short stories, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, and cover artwork all based on the theme of BELONGING. We especially encourage work from previously unpublished writers who feel it is their time to be heard.
The Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition 2023
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
Every year since 2014, the CWA and the Margery Allingham Society have jointly held an international competition for a short story of up to 3,500 words. Our mission is to find the best unpublished short mystery, and not only that, but one which fits into Golden Age crime writer Margery Allingham’s definition of what makes a great story. Entries are invited from all writers, published or unpublished, writing in English.
TOWER
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
Submissions will be open from February 01 2022 for TOWER VOL. 1: END. We accept all genres and encourage submissions of horror, sci-fi, fantasy and erotica.
The Anthology Poetry Competition
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
Entries are now invited for the Anthology Poetry Competition 2023
Established to recognise and encourage excellence in the craft of poetry writing and to provide a platform for publication, the Anthology Poetry Competition is open to original and previously unpublished poems in the English language. Entries are invited from poets of all nationalities, living anywhere in the world. There is no restriction on theme or style. Poems submitted should not exceed 40 lines. There is no limit to entries per person. Each submission will require a separate entry form and is subject to a separate entry fee.
Southword Literary Journal
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
Southword: New International Writing is a print literary journal published twice a year by the Munster Literature Centre. Southword has published the likes of Medbh McGuckian, Helen Ivory, Haruki Murakami, James Lasdun, Kim Addonizio, Tess Gallagher, Colm Tóibín and Vona Groarke. Our spring issue is composed of prizewinning and shortlisted entries from our Gregory O’Donoghue and Seán O’Faoláin competitions, as well as specially commissioned work. Unsolicited submissions of poetry and short fiction (for our autumn issue) are open.
The Scottish Arts Club Short Story Competition 2023
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
The Scottish Arts Trust was established in 2014. Our aim is to support and promote innovation and creativity in the arts in Scotland through voluntary action. We provide new platforms for showcasing and promoting the work of Scotland’s artists, writers, musicians and other practitioners, while also mobilising and drawing on the skills, energy and vision of volunteers committed to the creative arts.
The Letter Review Prizes
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
The Letter Review Prize is open until 28th February 2023. All entries are considered for publication. There are three categories:
Flash Fiction: 1,000 words max, $10 entry fee, $300 top prize
Poetry: 70 lines max, $15 entry fee, $400 top prize
Short Stories: 3,000 words max, $20 entry fee, $600 top prize
Fish Publishing Flash Fiction Prize
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
The Fish Flash Fiction Prize is an opportunity to attempt one of the most interesting and rewarding tasks – to create, in a tiny fragment, a completely resolved and compelling story in 300 words or less.
Minds Shine Bright Confidence 2023
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
Minds Shine Bright Confidence writing competition runs from late October to February each year. Its aim is captures and share how fiction writers explore the theme of confidence over time. Four categories including short stories, poetry, flash fiction and scripts are included. The competition is completely blind judged, entries are assessed against ten criteria and there are many entries so the judging process takes several months. Winners are contacted in late July or early August and the awards night and launch occur later in the year.
2023 CWA Debut Dagger Competition
Deadline: 28th February 2023.
Aspiring crime novelists have until the end of February 2023 to enter the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Debut Dagger, renowned for opening doors for new writers.
Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize
Deadline: 13th March 2023.
Initially made possible by an Arts Council Grant in 2015, the prize awards £3,000 to the best proposal for a book-length essay (minimum 25,000 words) by a writer resident in the UK & Ireland who has yet to secure a publishing deal. In addition to the £3,000 prize the winner has the opportunity to go on residency at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy, to work on their book. The book will then be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.
époque press
Deadline: 31st March 2023.
We are now open for submissions to the next edition of our é-zine on the theme… We will all have experienced the feeling of menace at some point in our lives and for us it certainly feels that we are surrounded by menace now more than ever before. There is the personal feeling of menace, when you are made to feel threatened or scared by an individual, and also the collective feeling of menace caused by ideological political policies, war, targeted threats or discrimination towards minority groups and the global existential feeling of menace caused by the climate crisis. Then there is the feeling of menace that can be invoked through a sense of place, that tingling feeling at the back of your neck or the shiver up your spine, an irrational feeling of discomfort. What does menace mean to you?
Fiction Factory
Deadline: 31st March 2023.
Have you completed the first draft of your novel? Are you ready to pass it on to a fresh pair of eyes, to see if you are on the right track? Is your all-important first chapter ready for submission to an agent? Whatever your plans, your first chapter must shine – it must grab your readers or quickly lose their interest.
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