Too many options when it comes to submitting your work? Here’s our top five comps and subs for February 2025.
Name: Writers & Artists’ Short Story Competition 2025
Deadline: Midnight (UK time) 14th February 2025
Wordcount: 2,000 words
Genre: Short Story
Description: Writers & Artists are running their free annual short story competition; they are looking for short stories for adults on the theme of wonder. The winner will receive a place on an Arvon Residential Writing Week, and their short story will be published on the website along with the stories of two runners-up.
Entry fee: Free (entrants must be registered on the Writers’ & Artists website, it is free to register).
Website: https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/competitions/writers-artists-short-story-competition-2025
Name: Bourbon Penn
Deadline: N/A
Wordcount: 2,000 – 7,500 words
Genre: Fiction
Description: Bourbon Penn is an online magazine interested in speculative, absurd, and odd fiction. They want fresh voices and exciting prose. On their website, they say: “We are looking for highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd. Odd characters, odd experiences, odd realities. We’re looking for genre / speculative stories and are quite partial to slipstream, cross-genre, magic realism, absurdist, and the surreal.
Entry fee: Free
Website: https://www.bourbonpenn.com/submissions
Name: Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition
Deadline: 6pm (UK time) on 28th February 2025
Wordcount: 3,500 words
Genre: Short Story
Description: Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) and the Margery Allingham Society are running their annual international short story competition. They ask that the story fits with Margery’s definition of a mystery: “The Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it.” The winner will receive £500.
Entry fee: £18
Website: thecwa.co.uk/awards-and-competitions/margery-allingham-short-mystery-competition
Name: Kelpies Prize for Writing
Deadline: Midnight (UK time) on 28th February 2025
Wordcount: First five chapters OR a whole picture-book story
Genre: Children’s Fiction or Non-Fiction
Description: The Kelpies Prize is open to writers over 18 years old living in Scotland. They welcome entries from people whose backgrounds are not well represented in children’s books. Entrants are required to submit the first five chapters, either fiction or non-fiction, OR a whole picture-book story, a synopsis or summary of the book, and a short piece of writing (1,000-3,000 words) for children beginning with either of these phrases: It seemed like such an ordinary day…OR I opened the door and found…The winner will receive nine months of mentoring with an experienced editorial or design team, consideration for a publishing deal with Floris Books, and £500 cash.
Entry fee: Free
Website: discoverkelpies.co.uk/kelpies-prizes/
Name: The VOLE Spring Anthology Competition
Deadline: 28th February 2025
Wordcount: Poems up to 40 lines including title and stanza breaks
Genre: Poetry
Description: The theme of this year’s VOLE Spring anthology is titled: Can Spring Be Far Behind. The competition is judged by Jeremy Loynes. The winner will get £50, 2nd prize is £30, and third prize £25. Up to fifty short-listed poems will be published in the competition anthology, Can Spring Be Far Behind?
Entry fee: £10.50 for three poems