Too many options when it comes to submitting your work? Here’s our top five comps and subs for December 2024.
Name: The Failing Writers Festive Flash Fiction Competition
Deadline: Midday on 13th December 2024
Wordcount: 350 words excluding the title
Genre: Flash Fiction
Description: Failing Writers Podcast are running their annual Festive Flash Fiction Competition. The story needs to be a festive-Christmassy-type story and include the phrase: ‘Too many forks.’ The winner gets £500, and their story will also be turned into a piece of audio drama by a team of professional voice actors and will feature on the podcast. Runners up will also have their stories read on the podcast, and 2nd and 3rd place runners-up will get a free code for Scrivener.
Entry fee: £1
Website: https://www.failingwriterspodcast.com/post/win-500-in-our-festive-flash-fiction-competition
Name: Globe Soup 2024 Open Short Story Competition
Deadline: 23:59 (UK time) 16th December 2024
Wordcount: 8,000 words maximum (no minimum) excluding title
Genre: Short Story in any genre (literary fiction, sci-fi, historical or anything else).
Description: Globe Soup Open Short Story Competition is open to stories of any length up to 8,000 words, there is no minimum word count and each story is judged on their own merit regardless of length. The winner will receive £2,000 and their story will be published on the website. Before entering the competition, there’s also the opportunity to get feedback on your stories through Globe Soup’s Facebook page.
Entry fee: Early entry fee: £8 for one story, £12 for two stories, £15 for three stories. General entry fee: £16 for one story, £24 for two stories, £30 for three.
Website: https://www.globesoup.net/2024-open-short-story-competition
Name: Arkbound Writing Competition
Deadline: 31st December 2024
Wordcount: Under 4,500 words
Genre: Contemporary landscape writing, poetry
Description: Arkbound is a publisher supporting people from disadvantaged backgrounds into the world of writing and publishing. For their writing competition they are looking for pieces written in or inspired by contemporary landscape style emphasising the relationship between self and place, nature and culture. On their website they say: “Participants are encouraged to submit works of poetry and prose, analysing and reflecting on Scottish landscape, its hand in shaping national identity, environmental preservation, biodiversity, urban pollution.”
Entry fee: £8
Website: https://arkbound.com/writing-competitions/
Name: Dream Catcher
Deadline: December 2024 – February 2025 for their June/July issue
Wordcount: Prose: maximum of 2,000 words
Genre: Short story, poetry, creative non-fiction
Description: Dream Catcher is an international arts journal offering readers a mix of poetry, prose, artwork, and reviews. They are not restricted to any style, theme, or genre and seek to publish a broad range of high quality work. They currently only accept postal submissions. Writers can submit up to six poems of any length or three prose pieces.
Entry fee: Free
Website: https://www.dreamcatchermagazine.co.uk/submissions
Name: Discoveries 2025
Deadline: 11.59pm on 13th January 2025
Wordcount: First 10,000 words of novel and a synopsis of between 500-1,000 words
Genre: Fiction
Description: Curtis Brown Creative and the Curtis Brown literary agency have partnered with the Women’s Prize Trust and Audible to run the fifth Discoveries prize for unpublished women living in the UK or Ireland. Writers don’t require to have a finished novel, they are looking for writing that shows real potential, not necessarily polished drafts. The winner will be offered representation by Curtis Brown Literary Agency and a cash prize of £5,000. One promising writer, named Discoveries Scholar, will receive a free scholarship to attend a three-month Writing Your Novel course with Curtis Brown Creative. All six shortlisted authors will be offered a mentoring session with a Curtis Brown agent, and a free place on a six-week online course.
Entry fee: Free
Website: https://www.womensprize.com/writers/discoveries/
