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: Writing Competitions
- Word of the Day. An unusual word to keep your writing fresh
- Humorous Quote
- Writing Inspiration
Write Here, Right Now: Writing Events
Following are writing competitions that close during August and October 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: Buzzwords Open Poetry Competition
Proceeds of this competition are used to fund ‘Buzzwords’, a long-running regular poetry gathering in Cheltenham.
About: A competition for poets with a poem of up to 70 lines long
Open to: International. Age limit not stated
Word count: Maximum 70 lines
Theme: Not stated
Closes: 22 August 2020
Entry fee: £4 per poem or 3 poems for £10 (postal entries only). Email entries have a surcharge for printing costs: One poem £4.35, two poems £8.70, three poems £11
Prize: 1st = £600, runner-up prize = £300., five commended = £50 each. The Gloucestershire Prize = £200 (for Gloucestershire residents only)
Details here:
https://buzzwordspoetry.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_14.html
Comp 2: The Masters Review Summer Short Story Award for New Writers
Apart from the prizes shown below, all winners and honourable mentions will receive agency review from the following: Sobel Weber, The Bent Agency, Writers House, Fletcher & Company, Compass Talent and Carnicelli Literary Management. Go for it, writers!
About: This competition is open to emerging writers only. Self-published writers and writers with story collections and novels with a low circulation are welcome to submit
Open to: International emerging writers, in English only
Word count: 6,000 words
Theme: Open genre, open theme
Closes: 30 August 2020
Entry fee: $20
Prizes: 1st = $3000 + publication online. 2nd = $300 + publication, 3rd = $200 + publication
Details here:
https://mastersreview.com/short-story-award-for-new-writers/
Comp 3: Edinburgh International Flash Fiction Award
Aside from the prizes below, the top 20 shortlisted writers are invited to the Edinburgh annual Flash Bash and are offered publication in the organiser’s anthology. Main prizewinners also receive 1-year free membership to the Scottish Arts Club.
About: Flash fiction award for writers internationally on any theme up to 250 words
Open to: International 16+, published and unpublished
Length: Up to 250 words
Theme: Any theme
Closes: 31 August 2020
Entry fee: £6
Prizes: 1st = £600, 2nd = £300, 3rd = £150
Details here:
https://www.storyawards.org/enterflash-fiction-award
Comp 4: Not So Normal Narrators
This competition is for ‘diverse and unusual teen voices’. As the organisers say, ‘Think about the YA heroes you’ve not seen yet, and be the strange you wish to see in the world!’
About: An opportunity for teen writers of YA short story fiction for a competition that is ‘seeking short stories told through underrepresented and unusual teen voices. We’re hoping to see central characters of different ethnic, cultural and class backgrounds, characters who identify as LGBTQ, characters with disabilities or mental health issues, or just any young character with circumstances or a perspective outside of the mainstream
Open to: International teens 14+
Word Count: 2,000 – 5,000 words
Theme: YA fiction
Closes: 30 October 2020 (deadline extended from 31 August 2020)
Entry fee: £4
Prizes: 1st = £200, 2nd = £100, 3rd = £50
Details here:
http://contest.oddvoiceout.com/
Word of the Day
hygge (pronounced ‘hyoohguh’)
This is a Danish noun that appears to have entered the English language recently, around 2016, when it was shortlisted for the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year. It means the ‘practice of creating an environment of cosiness, which, in turn, fosters feelings of contentment and wellbeing’ (Macquarie Dictionary). A very cosy word.
Humorous quote
Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet—Anonymous.
Get Inspired
Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on—Louis L’Amour (1908—1988). American novelist and short story writer of mainly Western novels but also historical fiction, science fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Many of his stories were made into films.
Keep well, keep safe, keep writing 🙂
