Archive for the 'Competitions' Category

Narrative writing contest

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 6 March 2014 in Competitions. 0 Comments

A US-based magazine, Narrative, is hosting a competition for fiction and non-fiction stories. There is an entry fee of $22. More info here http://www.narrativemagazine.com/winter-2014-story-contest

The Winter Story Contest is open to all writers, and all entries will be considered for publication.

• $2,500 First Prize
• $1,000 Second Prize
• $500 Third Prize
• Ten finalists receive $100 each.

Deadline: Sun., Mar. 31, at midnight, PDT.

See the Guidelines. Read prior winners, and view recent awards won by Narrative authors.

They say: ‘We are committed to paying our authors, to providing excellent editorial support, and to encouraging a wide audience for good writing. ‘

Narrative reaches a worldwide audience of more than 170,000 readers.

Theatre playwriting opportunity

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 8 January 2014 in Competitions, Scriptwriting and Theatre. 0 Comments

Could you write a short play to be staged in a pub? And by short I mean 5 – 10mins? (About the time it takes to stand in line for the next round or go outside for a quick puff). The 2014 Pint-sized play comp is now open for entries. Although UK based they accept submissions from anywhere in the world. Cheers! http://pintsizedplays.org.uk/

Letter writing competition

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 25 September 2012 in Competitions. 0 Comments

chris-russell-ten-lettersIf you could write a letter to someone just before you died, what would you say? Darton, Longman and Todd are hosting a letter writing competition to celebrate the release of Chris Russell’s Ten Letters: to be delivered in the event of my death.
The top three letters, as judged by author Chris Russell and a representative of DLT Publishers, will receive a signed copy of the book and have their letter published on the DLT website.

Competition Guidelines:

  • Read the first letter in Chris Russell’s book on the DLT website
  • Write a letter in fewer than 500 words to a real person.
  • You may change the name of the person to protect their identity.
  • The letter should address an individual but have a wider scope dealing with issues pertinent to society at large.
  • Submit your letter as an attachment with ’10 letters comp’ in the subject line to CarolanneM @ darton-longman-todd.co.uk
  • Closing date for submission is Friday 19 October 2012.
  • Entrance is free.

For more information and to read the extract from Ten Letters visit the DLT website.

Please note, this is not a Crafty Writer competition. We are simply letting you know about it so please don’t contact us asking for more information than is already here. If you want to know more, contact DLT Publishing through their website.

Red Squirrel Press poetry competition

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 28 June 2012 in Competitions and poetry. 0 Comments

Red Squirrel Press are running the Fourth Annual James Kirkup Memorial Poetry Competition.

CLOSING DATE: 30 December 2012

Prize: Publication of a 28 page pamphlet. Winner receives 50 free copies

Judges: Anne Connolly, Elizabeth Rimmer

RULES:

Entry fee is £5 via PayPal or cheque, please make cheques payable to ‘Red Squirrel Press Ltd’

  • You may enter up to 4 poems.
  • Poems may be up to 40 lines on any subject.
  • You must be over 18 years of age.
  • Your poem(s) should be typed on one side of A4 paper.
  • Your poem(s) will not be returned to you.
  • Poem(s) must be in English (or English dialect).
  • Poem(s) must not have won or be under consideration in other poetry competitions.
  • Poem(s) must not be a translation of another poet’s work.
  • Anyone published/ scheduled to be published by Red Squirrel Press is not eligible to enter.
  • Red Squirrel Press regrets entries by email will NOT be accepted.

Please send entries to:

James Kirkup Poetry Comp
Red Squirrel Press
Briery Hill Cottage
Stannington
Morpeth
Northumberland
United Kingdom
NE61 6ES

Showcase your writing with Circalit

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 14 November 2011 in Competitions, novels, Resources, screenwriting and Writing Opportunities. 0 Comments

I’ve just come across a great new resource for writers called Circalit. You can showcase your novel, short story or screenplay online through one of the many community fora. You can get feedback from other users. In addition, Circalit run periodic competitions with their partners which include book publishers and film producers. Some of these competitions are free. For more information visit http://www.circalit.com/public/

True animal stories contest

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 20 May 2010 in Competitions, Non-fiction writing, short stories, Writing for Children, Writing Opportunities and Young Adult. 1 Comment

Ruby, the rescue dogIn my creative and non-fiction writing classes there are always people who want to write stories about animals. Here’s a contest for you. 

The Angel Animals Network 2010 True Story Contest is now accepting submissions of true stories of animals helping children, parents, and families deal with difficult situations and circumstances. Animals featured can be dogs, cats, horses, gerbils, rabbits, ferrets, or any house pet or animal in nature. They can be family pets or therapy, assistance, or service animals.

The stories can be written by parents or guardians of children or by the children or teens themselves. Stories can also be written by adults who recall a special animal from childhood or teen years who helped them through a tough period.

This contest hopes to find real-life stories that demonstrate animals comforting and helping to heal children during everyday ups and downs or traumatic events such as divorce or other losses. The stories can depict how children and teens de-stress with animals while learning valuable life lessons.  The deadline is 15 September 2010. For more details visit Angel Animals.

Rushes Soho Short Film Festival

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 13 July 2009 in Announcements, Competitions, Film, screenwriting and Scriptwriting. 11 Comments

My film, Enemy Lines, has been selected in the short film category at this year’s Rushes Soho Shorts Festival:

soho shorts film festival

140 new films from 18 countries will be competing in 8 categories:  Long Form, International, Newcomer, Short Film, Documentary, Animation, Music Video and Broadcast Design. The Official Competition Screenings will be held at The Institute of Contemporary Arts in central London.  The Awards Ceremony will be held on Thursday 30th July 2009.

enemy lines short film

Enemy Lines will be screened on Thursday 23 July (6.30pm , Cinema 1; Saturday 25 July (9pm, Cinema 2) and Wednesday 29 July (9pm, Cinema 1). 

Other films to be screened at the festival include Sadie Frost’s Directorial Debut, Danny Boyles End Credit Sequence for Slumdog Millionaire, actors such as Michael Bryne (Gangs of New York), Juliet Stevenson (Bend It Like Beckham), Nick Nolte (Hotel Rwanda, 48 Hours), Connie Fischer (Sound Of Music), Russel Tovey (Being Human), Chris Hehir (Green Street), Danny Cunningham (24 Hour Party People), Jack O’Connell (This is England), comedians such as Adam Buxton Lulu McClatchy and Alexei Sayle, and music videos from McFly to Royskopp, Will Young to Goldfrapp, Coldplay and U2 and many more.

Having grown dramatically every year since its inauguration in 1998, this year’s festival runs over 10 days and offers a wide range of events including the Opening Night Premiere ‘The Calling’, BAFTA Short Filmmakers Market, seminars, panel discussions, guest screening programmes, receptions and exhibitions held in 15 different venues in Soho district.

All events and full booking details can be found on their website:  www.sohoshorts.com.

I’ll be going down for the Wednesday screening and will be meeting up with my director, Michael Steel. Please let me know if you’re going to any of the screenings.

True Life Stories – market opportunity

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 5 November 2008 in Competitions, Non-fiction writing and Writing Opportunities. 0 Comments

Field Report.com is a community website that features true-life stories. Membership is free, and you simply have to ‘rate’ five other stories in order to qualify to up-load your own 2000 word story. They’ve currently got a competition going with the closing date now extended to 31 December 2008.  Each month, the winning story will win $1,000 and be entered into a $250,000 prize draw in January 2009. I thought this might be too good to be true so I checked it out and found that both the Guardian and Time Magazine have featured the website and this contest and seem to think it’s legit.

So what are you waiting for? Get writing! If you need some tips on writing from life, check out this session in our free non-fiction writing course.

Talking Animal Stories – Wind in the Willows MK II?

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 8 March 2008 in Competitions and Writing for Children. 5 Comments

In my writing for children classes I often catch myself reciting the mantra: publishers aren’t interested in talking animals anymore. It’s what you hear at every writing conference and read on most publishers’ websites. And yet, I have published my own ‘talking animals’ book, Donovon’s Rainbow and many of the books I read to my three-year-old daughter feature talking animals too. One of her favourites is Bringing Down the Moon by Jonathan Emmett and, to my delight, the Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne. Continue reading ‘Talking Animal Stories – Wind in the Willows MK II?’

My First Poem competition

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 16 October 2007 in Competitions, poetry and Writing for Children. 0 Comments

On National Poetry Day I was delighted to receive an invitation to judge a poetry competition at my daughter’s nursery, Westerhope Village Nursery School. Megan is only two-and-a-half, so it was the ‘big’ children who entered the My First Poem competition run by Forward Press. With over a dozen budding poets completing a ‘fill-in-the-gap’ sheet, it was desperately hard to pick three winners. These were the ones that caught my eye … Continue reading ‘My First Poem competition’

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