Writing competitions and opportunities – November 2020
We’ve brought together November’s best writing competitions, contests and opportunities open to writers of novels, short stories, films, plays and poetry.
All the writing opportunities listed should be open to writers across the UK and most are open internationally too. We share details of prizes, requirements, eligibility, entry fees (some have free entry) and deadlines to help you choose the right ones for you.
Caledonia Novel Award
Submit the first 20 pages of a novel for adults or young adults into the international, Caledonia Novel Award. Authors must be unagented at the time of submission and novels must be at least 50,000 words in length.
- Prizes – Grand prize: £1,500, and a trophy designed by Edinburgh artist Lucy Roscoe / Special prize: The author of the best novel from the UK or Ireland will be awarded a free place on a writing course at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre.
- Deadline – 1st November.
- Entry fee – £25.
- Full details – Visit the Caledonia Novel Award website.
Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Enter unpublished, short fiction of between 2,000 and 5,000 words into the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
As well as stories in English or translated into English, fiction written in Bengali, Chinese, French, Greek, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Tamil and Turkish are also accepted from commonwealth citizens.
- Prizes – Grand prize: £5,000 / Regional winners: £2,500.
- Deadline – 1st November.
- Entry fee – Free entry.
- Full details – Visit the Commonwealth Writers website.
Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition
The latest, Fresh Voices competition seeks exciting, new voices and memorable stories that must be told. The aim is to help writers secure representation, options agreements and writing assignments to advance their careers. Executives, managers and producers are lined up to read this year’s winners.
- Prizes – Grand prize: $3,000, career consultation, industry read and meetings / Category winners: $300 and industry support / Honourable mentions: Screenplay evaluation and industry subscriptions.
- Deadline – 5th November.
- Entry fee – $70 – $80.
- Full details – Visit the Fresh Voices website.
Graphic Short Story Prize
Are you an aspiring graphic novelist? If you have an original story to tell, Jonathan Cape and Comica have come together with The Observer to offer you the chance to see your work in print and get your work read by industry experts.
- Prizes – First prize: £1,000 and publication in The Observer New Review / Runner-up: £250 and publication in The Guardian online.
- Deadline – 6th November.
- Entry fee – Free entry.
- Full details – Visit the Penguin website.
Globe Soup Poetry Competition
Enter poems inspired by a ‘sense of place’ into Globe Soup’s autumn poetry competition. Poems may be up to 50 lines and in any form or style.
- Prize – £1,000.
- Deadline – 11th November.
- Entry fee – £8.
- Full details – Visit the Globe Soup website.
Frontier Open Competition
Frontier Poetry is seeking outstanding poems for its latest, annual competition. There is no line limit. Poems may be any length or style and can cover any subject.
- Prizes – Grand prize: $5,000 and publication / Ten finalists: $100 and publication.
- Deadline – 15th November.
- Entry fee – $20.
- Full details – Visit the Frontier Poetry website.
Through the Mill Playwriting Prize
Hope Mill Theatre has launched its first playwriting prize, offering writers based in the UK an exciting opportunity to have their work fully produced.
The prize will culminate in a special evening held at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester during which each finalist will have a scene performed live to enable the panel of judges to select the winning play.
- Prize – £5,000, production and mentoring with award-winning playwright, Jonathan Harvey.
- Deadline – 27th November.
- Entry fee – Free entry.
- Full details – Visit the Hope Mill Theatre website.
Bath Children’s Novel Award
The international, Bath Children’s Novel Award is open to emerging novelists writing for children or teens. The judge is Stephanie Thwaites from Curtis Brown literary agency who will make a selection from a shortlist chosen by junior judges aged 7 to 17 years.
Submit the first 5,000 words of your manuscript and a 300-word synopsis.
- Prizes – Grand prize: £3,000 / Shortlist prize: Manuscript feedback from the junior judges and literary agent introductions / Longlist prize: A place on Cornerstones Literary Consultancy’s Edit Your Novel the Professional Way Course (worth £1,800) for the most promising writer from the UK.
- Deadline – 29th November.
- Entry fee – £28 (sponsored places available).
- Full details – Visit the Bath Novel Awards website.
Café Writers Open Poetry Competition
Café Writers is passionate about showcasing the best poetry and its open competition invites entries of up to 40 lines. The judge is poet and visual artist, Helen Ivory.
- Prizes – First prize: £1,000 / Second prize: £300 / Third Prize: £200 / Five commended poets: £50.
- Deadline – 30th November.
- Entry fee – One poem: £4 / Three poems: £10.
- Full details – Visit the Café Writers website.
ScreenCraft Film Fund
ScreenCraft is seeking film projects to fund. Past recipients have been screened at Cannes, Sundance and SXSW. Features, TV pilots, documentaries and short scripts written by writers around the world are all accepted for consideration.
Submit a script or treatment and cover letter.
As a part of the program’s inaugural Diversity Award, at least one of the recipients will be from an underrepresented background.
- Awards – 2 to 4 projects will receive grants of $5,000 to $30,000 and mentorship with Literary Talent agent, Sola Fasehun.
- Deadline – 30th November.
- Entry fee – $59.
- Full details – Visit the ScreenCraft website.
Reflex Flash Fiction Competition
Reflex Fiction is a quarterly international flash fiction competition for stories between 180 and 360 words run by independent publisher, Reflex Press.
- Prizes – First prize: £1,200 / Second prize: £600 / Third prize: £300 / Fourth prize: £150.
- Deadline – 30th November.
- Entry fee – Entrants can choose what they can afford although the suggested fee is £7 for one entry, £6 for two and £5 for three or more.
- Full details – Visit the Reflex Fiction website.
That’s it for this month but do join us on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to our newsletter below to make sure you don’t miss out on new opportunities.
Our weekly, inspirational newsletter comes out every Monday, helping you to get each week started with a creative boost.
If you are running a great competition or are creating a wonderful opportunity for writers in the near future, do get in touch with us here. We publish the best every month on Lightbox Originals and promote even more on social media.
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