Too many options when it comes to submitting your work? Here’s our top five comps and subs for October 2025.
Name: Caledonian Novel Award
Deadline: 23:59 GMT 15 th October 2025
Wordcount: First 20 pages and a 200-word synopsis
Genre: Novel
Description: The Caledonian Novel Award is open to un-published or self-published novelists
only. Novels can be in any genre for adults or young adults and must be at least 50,000
words. This year’s judge is literary agent Alice Lutyens. The winner will receive £1,500;
highly commended will receive £500; there’s a free place on a writing course at Moniack
Mhor Creative Writing Centre for the best novel from the UK and Ireland. Sponsored entries
available for low-income writers.
Entry fee: £28
Website: https://thecaledonianovelaward.com/
Name: WestWord
Deadline: N/A
Wordcount: up to 5,000 words
Genre: Short Story Spotlight
Description: WestWord is a literary journal dedicated to publishing micro fiction, flash
fiction and short stories. Their Short Story Spotlight is open on a rolling basis for longer short
stories, which they publish along with an interview with the author about their craft. They
offer payment of £35. If flash fiction is more your thing, they have a Flash Focus feature for
flash fiction stories and all selected writers will also have an interview about the story that
will run alongside it.
Entry fee: £8 (Short Story Spotlight)
Website: https://westword.substack.com/
Name: Ironclad Short Story Competition
Deadline: 23:59 GMT 31 st October 2025
Wordcount: up to 6,000 words
Genre: Short Story
Description: The Ironclad Short Story Competition are looking for short stories in any genre
that respond in any way to the prompt: SWITCH. It is not required to use the word in the
title or the main body of the story. They expect the story to be inspired by the word in some
way. The winner will receive £100 and publication in Ironclad Creative’s upcoming
anthology due to be published in December 2025; second place will receive £50 and
publication; third place will receive £25 and publication. All shortlisted writers will also be
offered publication in the anthology.
Entry fee: £9 per story
Website: https://www.ironcladcreative.org/shortstorycompetition
Name: Together in the UK Writing Competition: ‘Then and Now’.
Deadline: 23:59 GMT 31 st October 2025
Wordcount: maximum 1,500 words (no minimum)
Genre: Poetry; Short Story; Essay; Song Lyrics
Description: Together in the UK ‘Then and Now’ Writing competition is inviting first or
second-generation migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, international students, or
international workers who has lived in or are currently living in the UK to tell their or their
families’ migrant stories. On their website they say the following on what they’re looking
for: “We want to hear about how you built your life in the UK: how you helped shape your
community, contributed to the economy in all kinds of ways through work and volunteering
and how you or your family navigated living in a new country.” First prize: £250; second
prize: a writing masterclass; a gift voucher for a bookstore or cinema.
Entry fee: free
Website: https://togetherintheuk.co.uk/competition/
Name: Flash500 Novel Competition
Deadline: Midnight (UK time) 31 st October 2025
Wordcount: Opening of novel up to 3,000 words along with synopsis of up to 750 words
Genre: Novel
Description: The Flash500 Novel Competition are looking for a novel opening of up to 3,000
words and a synopsis of the story. They welcome entries from published, self-published and
unpublished novelists, but the entry must be unpublished. The competition is judged by
Bookouture, a digital publisher of commercial fiction and a division of Hachette UK. First
prize: £500; second prize: £200.
Entry fee: £10 for one novel; £18 for two novels; £26 for three novels (optional: additional
£35 per novel for a critique)
Website: https://flash500.com/novels/
