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Welcome to the Writers Connect! newsletter
Writing is a human experience. It’s about connection with everyone and everything around us.
We understand you’re busy. So the newsletter usually has just four or five main items of content. A brief but satisfying read.
In this issue:
- Write Here, Right Now: What’s Happening in Writing
- Word of the Day. An unusual word to keep your writing fresh
- Interesting Fact
- Writing Inspiration Quote
Write Here, Right Now: What’s Happening in Writing
In this issue, we explore a selection of upcoming writing competitions with international reach and free entry that close during April 2020.
For competition closing dates, bear in mind these relate to the time zone where the competition originates, so check the relevant site.
Comp 1: The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize 2020
About: Awarded for the best piece of writing on the theme of the 2020 Alpine Fellowship Annual Symposium: Forgiveness and Retribution.
Open to: All nationalities, aged 18+. All genres. Text must not have been published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online, or have won or been placed in another competition at any time
Word Count: Maximum 2,500 per entry, one entry only per person
Theme: Forgiveness and retribution.
Closes: 1 April 2020
Entry fee: Free
Prize: Cash Prizes – 1st £10,000, 2nd £3,000, 3rd £2,000
Details here: https://alpinefellowship.com/writing-prize
Apply here: https://alpinefellowship.submittable.com/submit/156072/alpine-fellowship-writing-prize-2020
Comp 2: Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
About: Humorous poetry
Open to: No age limit (authors from all countries eligible except – due to US government restrictions – Syria, Iran, North Korea, Crimea), published or unpublished works, one entry per person only
Word Count: 250 lines maximum
Theme: Humorous poem
Closes: 1 April 2020
Entry fee: Free
Prizes: 1st: $1,000 + two-year gift certificate $100 value, 2nd: $250, Honourable Mentions: 10 awards of $100 each (US dollars).
Entry link here: https://winningwriters.submittable.com/submit/58279/wergle-flomp-humor-poetry-contest-no-fee
Comp 3: Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest 2020
About: One work of short fiction, mainly in English, original and previously unpublished
Open to: All writers 18+
Word Count: Under 5,000 words
Theme: Around climate change, any genre
Closes: 15 April 2020
Entry fee: Appears to be free
Prize: Winner: $1,000. Nine finalists: $100 (US dollars)
Submission link here: https://everythingchange.submittable.com/submit
Comp 4: Science-me a Story
About: Short scientific stories for children, promoting short stories as a tool to communicate science to children in a fun and engaging way.
Open to: All writers 18+
Word Count: Not stated, check website
Theme: Relating to the scientific method and the everyday life of a scientist, amongst other topics, to achieve engaging scientific communication. The competition has both English and Spanish categories. Must be original and unpublished
Closes: 20 April 2020
Entry fee: Free
Prizes: £150, £100 and £50
Details here: https://sruk.org.uk/initiatives/public-engagement/science-me-a-story/
Word of the Day
nanocephalous
A medical term meaning ‘having an abnormally small head’.
Interesting Fact
William Shakespeare, who died three days short of his fifty-second birthday, coined the terms dead as a doornail, in a pickle, wear your heart on your sleeve, star-crossed lovers and off with his head, along with many others. Amazing to think these terms continue in use five centuries later!
Get Inspired
‘Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window’—William Faulkner.
What is your writing target for this weekend?
