Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to the 28th Edition of our weekly writing competitions and opportunities digest. If you missed the last edition, you can see it here.
I do hope you have all managed to have a good break, did you get much writing done? If you have resolved to write more this year, then how about some of today’s offerings to start the new year off right…
First up is a short story competition for the BBC, with the winning stories being read out on BBC Radio 4. Our second one this week is for all you theatre lovey darlings; the opportunity to write a dramatic monologue for the Coliseum Theatre in Oldham. Our third one is a hypnotic short story contest. And finally a horror and romance publisher accepting unsolicited manuscripts.
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Opportunity type – Short story competition.
Theme – Any, but with a strong emphasis on narrative as the winning stories will be read aloud on the radio. See website for further guidelines about story type.
Word count – 1,900 to 2,000 words, which equates to a 14 minute reading aloud time.
Organiser/publisher – BBC.
Reward – The three winning stories will be recorded and read aloud on the radio, as well as transcripts of the strongest stories being published on the website.
Eligibility – Not specified.
Deadline – February 14, 2014.
Link for info – BBC Radio Drama Readings.
Notes – Writers who have previous had stories read on the radio, or have other substantial radio writing credits are not eligible to enter.
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Opportunity type – Monologue writing competition.
Theme – Identity.
Word count – Maximum 2,000 words.
Organiser/publisher – Oldham Coliseum Theatre and Oldham Council Libraries.
Reward – A selection will be read by members of the theatre’s acting company at a special event at the Coliseum Theatre on 7 May.
Eligibility – Not specified.
Deadline – February 21, 2014.
Link for info – Oldham Coliseum writing competition.
Notes – Entries must be sent by hard copy, so do allow enough time for the post.
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Opportunity type – Short story competition.
Theme – Hypnosis; the prompt is quite specific and detailed, see website.
Word count – Maximum 1,000 words.
Organiser/publisher – Grey Wolfe Publishing.
Reward –$25 Visa Gift Card.
Eligibility – They say you do not have to be a Michigan resident to enter (not clear if it is open internationally though).
Deadline – January 31, 2014.
Link for info – Grey Wolfe January writing contest.
Notes – Short story competitions are run every month, you can access details of the prompts for the rest of the year here.
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Opportunity type – Publisher accepting unsolicited manuscripts.
Theme – Horror or romance.
Word count – 12,000 to 120,000 words (minimum of 60,000 for print).
Organiser/publisher – Samhain Publishing.
Reward – “Royalties of 40% of the cover price on single-author ebooks sold directly through Samhain, 30% of the cover price on single-author ebooks sold through third-party vendors such as Mobipocket, Fictionwise and All Romance eBooks, and 8% of the cover price on single-author print books, with a 3% reserve against returns. Multiple-author books will split the above royalty percentages equally.”
Eligibility – Not specified (they are based in Cincinnati, Ohio).
Deadline – Ongoing.
Link for info – Samhaim Publishing submissions.
Notes – This publisher has been in business since 2005.
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Good luck everyone!
Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information given here, but please verify details yourself before submitting anywhere as Limebird Writers cannot be held liable for any inaccuracies. Listing of opportunities here is not necessarily an endorsement of them.
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