Now going into its 14th year, the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize is famous for helping undiscovered women writers launch their literary careers, and developed a formidable reputation for attracting first-class writing talent and as such judges are seeking entries that combine literary merit with 'unputdownability.' The Prize is for a novel by a woman over the age of 18 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.
The winner of the 2024 prize will receive guidance and support from literary agent and sponsor Peters Fraser Dunlop as well as a cash prize of £1,500.
Entrants need to submit 40-50 pages of their novel and 3-5 pages of synopsis.
Entries for "The People's Friend" 155th anniversary fiction writing competition are now open. Submit your romance, thriller, or comedy short story for your chance to win a £10K writing bursary!
As "The People's Friend" celebrates 155 years of creativity, we are also looking forward to discovering a new voice in fiction."The People's Friend" has championed reading and the best stories right back since its inception in 1869. That's 155 years of commitment to wonderful writing and those who put pen to paper to create it. Here at the "Friend", we are determined to keep bringing you the most fabulous stories from exceptional writers. To illustrate our ongoing commitment, we are launching a very special fiction competition, to find a new writer, a new voice and a new source of entertainment for our readers.
As we celebrate our 155th anniversary, we would like to give one new writer a helping hand by paying them a bursary of £10K which includes a contribution from the Olwen Richards Memorial Fund to help fund their writing journey as well as being published in the "Friend". Could this be you?
Writing competition brief
Entries are invited from across the UK for those aged 18 and over.
Entrants must be amateur, unpublished writers. They should submit a never-before published story that can be printed across DC Thomson titles without restriction. Copyright for the original stories remains with the authors at all times.
Submissions must have a word count of 2,000 with no more than 10% over or under that number.
Accepted categories are Romance, Thriller and Comedy, with each category having an under 30 age group and over 30 age group subcategory (based on age at date of short story submission). Entrants can submit one short story per genre category (Romance, Thriller and Comedy), totalling a maximum of 3 entries. We would appreciate if each story was emailed separately.
Entries should be typed and emailed as a Word document to 155@thepeoplesfriend.co.uk and include a synopsis (100 words), the short story and a personal bio on the author. Please add your name, the age category you are entering and the genre (Romance, Thriller or Comedy) on the cover page of your story.
Entries should arrive no later than Monday February 5, 2024 at 23:59pm.
