A quickish round-up, this. For those of you waiting for news of the Commonwealth Short Story Contest, they've notified all winners and will be posting the lucky names on their website in September along with details of the 2010 contest. If you ain't heard, in other words, you (like me) didn't make it this time. Luckily those lovely people at PANK leapt in to make me feel better by snapping up two of my stories, including My Camel Spits in the Sand (which was shortlisted for the Fish One-Page Prize under a different title). The editors wrote: "These stories are awesome. I'm so excited you sent them our way. We would be thrilled to include them in a forthcoming issue of PANK online, most likely November or December." That was a 24 hour acceptance - another reason to say Thanks PANK!Given the huge number of US run writing contests out there, I was very happy to discover some new (to me) UK biased ones. Including the Cheshire Literature Prize, exclusively for those of us with a connection to Cheshire. Huzzah! Nik, you'll be entering this one, yes? Who else is eligible? Their word limit is 1,500 (short for a story, long for a flash), but it's prompted me to write something new which is great. I've got an idea for a story I'm going to try out here. Note: the website is in the process of being updated but if you email they'll send a pdf of the details.
Moving a little to the west, there's the Rhys Davies Competition, exclusively for Welsh writers. Their website has an excellent selection of links to other contests, see the right-hand bar for details, some with associations to Wales, others not. Lots of poetry contests, too.
With so many contests feeing the life out of the art (£20 for an entry! £15 is too rich for my blood), it's good to see Aesthetica Magazine offers two entries for £10. And Willesden Herald is sticking at £3 an entry (details tbc). Heck, if you're quick, there's even a free to enter tiny flash contest from MiniWords with £250 in prize money.
Finally, does anyone have an inside track on whether or not Salt are still running the Scott Prize? I'm assuming the answer is Yes as the details remain on their website. And, yes, it's £18 to enter but then they have to read 45,000 words not a piffling 2,000.
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12 comments:
Thanks for letting me know about the Commonwealth notifying winners, guess it was a bit churlish of me to hope for something this year too :) Congrats about PANK, I saw it was a 1-day acceptance, wonderful! They are fabulous. And thanks for the other links, although I am not in Cheshire, but my grandfather was Welsh, is that enough??!!
And... the nice thing about Aesthetica is they accept previously published stories...
You did so well last time in the Commonwealth Contest, Tania! PANK was an amazingly quick turnaround - one of the stories they loved was one of my entries from Commonwealth so it helped take the sting from that. Not sure the Welsh granddad would swing it with Cheshire, but you could try the Rhys Davies crowd??
Oh and thanks for the tip re Aesthetica, I didn't know that.
Ah, but I found a Cheshire connection! I lived and worked in Runcorn during my year off before University... I should get a reward for that, eh :) Have emailed to see if that counts, they do say: "The writer must have been born, live or have lived, study or have studied,
work or have worked in Cheshire. For the purposes of the Prize, Cheshire is deemed to include the Wirral, as well as Warrington and Halton. Documentary evidence of eligibility may be required." Not sure how I can prove it...
A year in Runcorn, T?? You deserve compensation for that, certainly. My father used to refer to it as "Fortress Runcorn" on account of the impenetrable road system which was surely designed to keep unwary day-trippers out. I'll be interested to hear how they respond to your enquiry. Now I was born in Cheshire, raised in Cheshire, educated there and my mother still lives there. I may have to prove that also, I expect, since my postcode is now so far removed...
I was 18, my first time away from home, they put us up in a housing estate that was later condemned by Prince Charles, which had packs of dogs roaming and where someone was murdered! My dad almost wept when he dropped me off! I think that should at least get me one foot in the door of the Cheshire prize :) (I had a wonderful time, by the way!)
How do you prove your origins?
Oh my God, T! No wonder your poor dad cried. I guess I have my birth certificate showing I was born in Knutsford. And my degree certificate, again in Cheshire. But those have my maiden name. So then I'll need my marriage certificate...
OK. And then I have to write 1,500 words of story? Hoops!
Wow, some comp where you have to send your birth certificate and your marriage license! And... write something? Blimey... fingers crossed, for you and for me and my tenuous Cheshire roots. And PANK has a lovely comp too, you should go in for that. 1,001 awesome words.
Expensive entry fee for PANK, ain't it? Thanks for the link, T.
Good news, I am eligible for the Cheshire comp! Ah, those heady days in Runcorn weren't for nought... actually, they were really fun!
Excellent news, T. I shall try not to stamp my foot if you scoop the prize, you Runcornian, you!!
Yes PANK congrats, Sarah - and yes I think I'l be entering.
(Sorry - I thought I'd already commented on this - evidently not!!)
N
Great, Nik, and thanks!
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