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Novelists

The Bridport Prize 2020

Information

Closing date: 
31 May 2020
Entry: 
Eligibility and entry fee Poetry, Short Story and Flash Fiction open to unpublished work from any writer writing in English over 16. Novel Award restricted to UK writers. Entry fee: £10 per poem, £12 per story, £9 for flash fiction and £20 per novel
Prize: 
Poetry and Short Story 1st Prize £5,000, 2nd Prize £1,000, 3rd Prize £500. Flash Fiction 1st Prize £1,000, 2nd Prize £500 and 3rd Prize £250. Novel Award 1st Prize £1500, 2nd Prize £750 and 3 awards of £150.

The Bridport Prize has four sections: Poetry, Short Story, Flash Fiction and Novel Award.

Read the Rules carefully, as they have different prizes, rules and entry fees.

More details

 

The Novel Prize

Information

Closing date: 
1 July 2020
Entry: 
Open to published and unpublished writers across the world. No entry fee
Prize: 
$10,000 to the winner in the form of an advance against royalties, and simultaneous publication of their novel

Fitzcarraldo Editions, Giramondo and New Directions are pleased to announce The Novel Prize, a new biennial award for a book-length work of literary fiction written in English by published and unpublished writers around the world.
  Read more

The Selfies Book Awards US

Information

Closing date: 
29 February 2020
Entry: 
Eligible titles in the adult fiction category must have been self-published in the United States during the calendar year 2019 by authors who live in the US
Prize: 
$1,000 plus $5,000 worth of trade advertising and free display at five trade shows in 2020-21

Publishers WeeklyInternational news website of book publishing and bookselling including business news, reviews, bestseller lists, commentaries http://www.publishersweekly.com/ and BookBrunch have expanded the Selfies - the awards for self-published authors - into America following successful UK launch

The American awards offer a $1,000 cash prize and an advertising package valued at $5,000 to the winner, and entries open today.  Read more

Curtis Brown First Novel Prize

Information

Closing date: 
1 August 2019
Entry: 
Unpublished writers of 18 or over, writing a novel in English and resident in the UK or Ireland. No entry fee
Prize: 
First Prize representation by Curtis Brown plus a prize of £3,000, five runners-up prizes

Every book starts with a first line, every career with a first moment of inspiration.

The Curtis BrownSee Curtis Brown listing First Novel Prize was created to find and support brilliant new voices. We can't wait to discover yours!  Read more

Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize 2019

Information

Closing date: 
8 February 2019
Entry: 
Open to unpublished female writers, aged 21 or over, who live in the UK or Ireland Entry fee
Prize: 
Winner £1,500 and all shortlisted entrants receive a half-hour one-to-one consultation, with our competition sponsors PFD

Lucy Cavendish Prize for Unpublished Women Writers

The Prize is for a novel by a woman over the age of 21 that marries literary merit with unputdownability. The work can be on any subject at all. We welcome submissions of literary fiction and genre fiction equally. Novels for young adults or children are acceptable if they are mainly word-based; picture books are excluded.  Read more

Richard and Judy's Search For A Bestseller 2018

Information

Closing date: 
14 June 2018
Entry: 
Writers resident in the UK or the Republic of Ireland No entry fee
Prize: 
£30,000 publishing deal with Bonnier Zaffre and representation from literary agency Furniss Lawton

The Richard and Judy Book Club - the biggest book club in Britain - is widely relied upon by readers to provide an abundance of writing talent a chance to shine, from debut novelists to highly acclaimed authors.  Read more

The Sunday Times/PFD Young Writer of the Year 2018

Information

Closing date: 
8 June 2018
Entry: 
Writers of published fiction, non-fiction and poetry between the ages of 18 and 35 in the UK and Ireland, published or self-published No entry fee
Prize: 
First Prize £5,000 plus a 10 week residency and a year of mentoring, three runners-up £500

Submissions are being accepted until June 8 in one of the industry's longest-named awards, The Sunday Times / Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award. The prize programme is designed to honour fiction, non-fiction, and poetry writers between the ages of 18 and 35 in the UK and Ireland.  Read more

The Daily Mail Penguin Random House first novel competition

Information

Closing date: 
13 July 2018
Entry: 
Open to anyone aged 16 or over who is a resident of the UK or Republic of Ireland No entry fee
Prize: 
£20,000

Welcome to The Daily Mail Penguin Random House First Novel Competition. Before sending in your entry please read all the rules as any entries that do not comply with all the conditions will be discounted.  Read more

National Novel Writing Month 2017

Information

Closing date: 
30 November 2017
Entry: 
Open to all writers of 13 and over No entry fee
Prize: 
You win by writing a 50,000 word novel

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing.

Committed to writing 50,000 words in the 30 days of November?

If you sign up online, you'll be able to use the online resources to help you:  Read more

Mslexia Women's Novel Competition 2017

Information

Closing date: 
18 September 2017
Entry: 
Open to women of any nationality and age Entry fee £25
Prize: 
£5,000

MslexiaStylish and lively site for quarterly UK literary magazine read by 12,000 'committed' women writers. Good range of quality writing, information and advice with news, reviews, competitions and interviews, all presented in a friendly fashion. Praised by Helen Dunmore as 'astute, invigorating and above all an excellent read.' www.mslexia.co.uk Women's Novel Competition 2017 is for novels of at least 50,000 words written for adults (and young adults) in any genre by previously unpublished women novelists. The competition is open to women of any nationality from any country, and welcomes 5,000 word extracts of completed, unpublished novels of at least 50,000 words in length.  Read more

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27 July 2020 - What's new

July 2020
  • ‘Dear Aspiring Writer, you are not ready. Stop. Put that finished story away and start another one. In a month, go back and look at the first story. RE-EDIT it. Then send it to a person you respect in the field who will be hard on you. Pray for many many many red marks. Fix them. Then put it away for two weeks. Work on something else. Finally, edit one last time.
  Read more

‘Dear Aspiring Writer, you are not ready.'

27 July 2020

‘Dear Aspiring Writer, you are not ready. Stop. Put that finished story away and start another one. In a month, go back and look at the first story. RE-EDIT it. Then send it to a person you respect in the field who will be hard on you. Pray for many many many red marks. Fix them. Then put it away for two weeks. Work on something else. Finally, edit one last time.  Read more

'"Writer's block" is just a fancy way of saying "I don't feel like doing any work today."'

— Meagan Spooner

20 July 2020 - What's new

July 2020
  • ‘If something in the script did not ring true in the context of early post-independence India - and how could Andrew possibly have known every detail of that? - I pointed it out, and he took it on board.
  Read more