Writers Connect! Newsletter 38
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 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
- Inspirational Quote
- Writing Tip
Write Here, Right Now: What’s Happening in Writing
Competitions featured in this issue of Writers Connect! cater to all types of writers. So you have time to prepare, closing dates are from 12 February 2021.
For competition closing dates, bear in mind these relate to the time zone where the competition originates, so check the relevant site.
Comp 1: Writers’ and Artists’ Short Story Competition 2021
A short story competition for both published and aspiring writers.
About: Short story for adults
Open to: International
Word count: 2,000
Theme/Genre: No prompt; writers are free choose the theme
Entry fee: Free
Closes: 12 February 2021
Prize: First = Publication & Residential Writing Course
Information & Submission guidelines here: https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/competitions/writers-artists-short-story-competition-2021
Comp 2: Hippocrates Prize for Poetry & Medicine
This annual international award is for an unpublished poem on a medical subject.
About: The competition has an open and health professional category. You must choose ‘open’ or ‘health professional’ upon submission
Open to: International
Word count: 50 lines
Theme/Genre: Medical subject
Closes: 14 February2021
Entry fee: £7
Prize: £1000
Rules & entry here: http://hippocrates-poetry.org/the-hippocrates-prize/2021-hippocrates-prize/rules-2021-hippocrates.html
Comp 3: The Puchi Award
This is a publishing project that seeks ‘the most innovative, ground-breaking, vibrant book proposals in any genre, focusing entirely on their boldness and their links with present-day art language’.
About: Open to unpublished books in any genre or form: ‘literary and graphic projects of any kind that stand out by virtue of their premise, literary and graphic quality, originality, unconventionality or mould-shattering conception’
Open to: All authors of legal age from Spain or internationally. You may submit one or more original, unpublished works. Works may be written in any language, although a provisional translation into English of at least two pages must be submitted
Word Count: Check guidelines
Theme/Genre: Fiction & nonfiction, essays, informative literature, poetry, illustration, comics, cookbooks, geography books, combinations of these or any other type of work
Closes: 18 February 2021
Entry fee:
Prize: First = €8,000
Details: http://puchiaward.com/en/guidelines/
Comp 4: First Pages Prize 2021
The organisers ask for the first five pages of a longer work of fiction or creative nonfiction.
About: Must be unpublished. Judges want to receive ‘a sense of a bigger story emerging’ and be ‘hooked’ by your writing
Open to: International, un-agented writers, 18+
Word count: 1,250
Theme: Appears to be open; check guidelines
Closes: 21 February 2021
Entry fee: £20
Prize: 1st = $2,000, 2nd = $1,250, 3rd = $750, = – $500, 5th = $500 (USD) + partial developmental edit. First 3 winners receive agent consultation via Zoom
Guidelines & entry here: https://www.firstpagesprize.com/guidelines-and-termsconditions
Word of the Day
lagniappe
I can almost guarantee this is the first time you’ve heard or seen this word. It’s certainly a first for me! Meaning ‘Something given as a bonus or extra gift’, lagniappe is a noun, pronounced ‘lan-YAP’. It derives from Louisiana French and its origin is unknown.
Inspirational Quote
Sit here, so I may write you into a poem and make you eternal
― Kamand Kojouri, author, poet, educator
Writing Tip
Many top writers recommend that you put on the blinders – in other words, limit your distractions – to create the ideal writing environment.
