June 2022 Writing Opportunities

Novel-length children's fiction. ***ENDING SOON*** The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition seeks novel-length (30-80,000 word) fiction from unpublished and unagented authors, suitable for children aged 7-18 years. Entry costs £20 for a top prize of a £10,000 advance, publishing contract and literary representation. Deadline is 1 June. Details here.

Poetry. ***ENDING SOON*** The Canterbury Festival's Poet of the Year 2022 seeks poems of up to 60 lines. Entry fee is £5 per poem (with all proceeds supporting the Canterbury Festival) for a top prize of £200. Deadline is 3 June. Details here.

Short story / flash fiction / poetry. ***ENDING SOON*** Write by the Sea Literary Festival seeks short fiction up to 3000 words, flash fiction up to 700 words and poems of up to 40 lines. Entry fee is  €10 per entry, or €25 for three entries (which can be in any or all of the three categories). Deadline is 6 June. Details here.

Short story. Black Ink New Writing Competition seeks short fiction of up to 2000 words from writers from the African or African Caribbean Diaspora. Entry is free for a top prize of £500. Deadline is 13 June. Details here.

Short story & poetry. The Aurora Prize for Fiction seeks outstanding short fiction and poetry with no restriction on genre. Entry costs £9 for the first entry (£7 per entry thereafter) for a top prize of £500. Deadline is 13 June. Details here.

Short story (children's literature). The FAB Prize seeks short fiction for children written by adult writers of Black, Asian or non-white minority ethic background. Writers must be resident in the UK or Ireland and must be unpublished. Stories should be up to 5000 words. Entry is free for a top prize of £1000. Deadline is 17 June. Details here.

Memoir. The International Amy MacRae Award for Memoir celebrates the life of Amy MacRae and supports her legacy of improving the outcomes of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Writers from around the world are invited to submit personal essays of up to 2000 words by 21 June 2022. Entry fee is $25 for a top prize of $1000. Details here.

Scriptwriting. The Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award is open to adult non-US citizens under 30 years of age and seeks unproduced television drama scripts.  Entry is free for a top prize of $2500. Deadline is 29 June. Details here.

Short story & poetry. The Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize seeks short fiction or poetry of up to 3000 words from unpublished writers of any nationality. Entry costs £10 (single) or £16 (double) for a top prize of £1000. Deadline is 30 June. Details here.

Short story. The Writing Magazine Grand Prize seeks short fiction of up to 2000 words in any form on any topic. Entry costs £10 (subscribers) or £15 (non-subscribers) for a top prize of £1000. Deadline is 30 June. Details here.

Short story / novel excerpt (crime fiction). The Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction seeks short fiction of up to 10,000 words or the first two chapters plus synopsis of a work in progress. Writers should be from the north east of England or celebrate the area in their work. Entry is free for a top prize of £2500. Deadline is 30 June. Details here.

Poetry. The Poetry London Prize is open to poets anywhere in the world and seeks poems of up to 80 lines. Entry costs £4 (subscribers) or £8 (non-subscribers) for a top prize of £5000. Deadline is 30 June. Details here.

Short Story. The Fiction Desk has two open calls for short fiction: one seeks stories of up to 10,000 words on the theme of films and cinemas, the other seeks short fiction of up to 10,000 words on any topic. Entry costs £4 and payment is £25 per 1000 words. Deadline is 30 June. Details here.

Short story. The Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine is always open for mystery stories of up to 12,000 words (though most published stories are considerably under this upper limit). Payment is $0.05-$0.08 per word. Details here.