The Big List of UK Writing Competitions & Awards 2024 (Part 1)
this one's a biggie
Hello writery pals!
*Fanfare music* Welcome to the big list of 50 writing competitions and awards for UK writers in 2024.
Whether you write novels, short stories, flash fiction, poetry, prose poetry or anything in between, whether you’re unpublished or published, there’s something for everyone.
The opportunities below come along with some impressive prizes. From free places on writing retreats (I’m dying to go on one of these!) and mentoring with industry experts, to tens of thousands of pounds in cash prizes.
Disclaimers — sounds boring but, trust me, they’re worth reading
If you’re a new writer, I’d recommend going only with the free entry opportunities in the first instance. Tip: search this page for the word ‘free’ to find them quicker.
The more prestigious awards on this list are highly competitive and some have more expensive entry fees than others, so only go with what you can afford.
Most of the bigger competitions also offer a number of free or sponsored entries for writers on low incomes.
For any opportunities you’re particularly interested in, I’d recommend signing up to the organisation’s mailing list (most of them have one) and following them on social media for updates. I say this because some deadlines or competition details may change as organisations gear up for the 2024 round.
Always make sure you read the full T&Cs for any opportunity you enter.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are tons of other amazing opportunities out there, some still to be announced. If there are any you think should be added to this list, let me know in the comments.
Happy writing!
The Big List of UK Writing Competitions & Awards 2024 — Part 1
JANUARY
This flash competition is open to writers from around the world. Entries should be 300 words maximum. New Writers is offering a top prize of £1,000, a second prize of £300 and a third prize of £200. The deadline is midnight (UK time) on Wednesday 31st January 2024 and £1.00 from each entry will be donated to First Story.
Entry fee: from £10
Deadline: 31st January 2024
There are no restrictions on genre for this contest. Story Unlikely says, “we don't care as long as it's written and told with quality and care.” The word limit is 4,500. The competition is open to writers of any age and location.
A prize package of $1,000- $1,500 will be divided up into: $750 first place, $500 second place, $250 third place. The winning story will be featured on Story Unlikely’s website and will be strongly considered for their annual print sample magazine.
Entry fee: unknown but looks like it’s free
Deadline: 31st January 2024
FEBRUARY
Submit your best flash fiction to this industry favourite award at 300 words or less. 50 longlisted writers will be offered publication in the end of year print and digital anthology. Longlistees will also receive a free print copy. £1,000 prize for the winner, £300 second and £100 third. Two commendations will receive £30 each.
Entry fee: from £7.50
Deadline: 4th February 2023
The Gillian McAllister Novel-Writing Scholarship for Disabled Writers awards one disabled writer a free place on their online Writing Your Novel – Three Months course. With weekly teaching and workshopping from author Christopher Wakling on CBC’s interactive platform, the winner will also receive one-to-one tutorials and advice from authors and literary agents.
The course will help the winning writer hone your craft and develop their novel.
Entry fee: free
Deadline: 11th February 2024
W&A’s free annual short story competition offers the winner a place on an Arvon Residential Writing Week (worth £850) as well as publication on our site.
To enter, all you have to do is submit a short story (for adults) of no more than 2,000 words on the theme of risk via our online competition form. Make sure you have a (free) account on their website.
Entry fee: free
Deadline: 12th February 2024
Founded in 1971, Watson, Little Ltd is a long-established literary agency offering a full service to its clients across all aspects of media.
Indie Novella is an online hub providing free advisory services to aspiring writers and a free online forum to help make novel writing and publishing more transparent and accessible. In celebration of this commitment, they are jointly launching a Fiction Prize for emerging writers.
The Prize is for fiction of all lengths (novels, novellas or stories), open to all unpublished (self-published also accepted) UK-based authors aged 16 and over. Writers are invited to write to fit one of three themes.
Entry fee: unknown but looks like it’s free
Deadline: 14th February 2024
The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition is a distinguished national writing competition for writers born or living in Wales. The first prize is £1,000 and publication in a short story anthology to be published by Parthian Books. 11 x finalists will win £100 each and publication in the anthology.
Entry fee: £8
Deadline: 15th February 2024
The 2024 Next Generation Short Story Awards is open to all authors, even first time authors, in the USA, Canada or internationally, who have an original short story of 5,000 words or less. Entries should be previously unpublished and written in English.
Entry fee: from $20
Deadline: 28th February 2024
The London Library Emerging Writers Programme is a unique opportunity which offers writers, in all genres and disciplines, one year’s free membership of The London Library and includes writing development masterclasses, networking opportunities, peer support, access to and guidance in using all the Library’s resources and publication in the cohort anthology.
Entry fee: free
Deadline: 28th February 2024
Every year since 2014, the CWA and the Margery Allingham Society have jointly held an international short story competition. The word limit on this one is 3,500.
The goal of this competition is to find the best unpublished short mystery, one which fits into Golden Age crime writer Margery Allingham’s definition of what makes a great mystery story.
Entries are welcomed from published and unpublished writers, written in English. The prize for the winner is £500.
Entry fee: £18
Deadline: 29th February 2024
The Edinburgh Short Story Award is open to writers everywhere with stories on any topic up to 2,000 words. The first prize is £3,000 and there’s a £750 prize for the top entry by an unpublished writer living in Scotland.
Entry fee: £10 per story
Deadline: 29th February 2024
P.S. Check out the other awards from the Scottish Arts Trust including the Write Mango Award and Isobel Lodge Award. Entries for these close at the same time as the Short Story Award.
The Kelpies Prize for Writing is for writers in Scotland who are keen to start a career in children’s books. The prize package includes a mentorship with an experienced editorial team, consideration for a publishing deal and £500 cash, “which we hope will help our winner take their first steps as a children’s author.”
Entry fee: free
Deadline: 29th February 2024
Established to recognise excellence in the craft of poetry writing and provide a platform for publication, the Anthology Poetry Competition is open to original and previously unpublished poems written in English. Entries are welcomed from poets of all nationalities, living anywhere in the world.
There is no restriction on theme or style. Poems submitted should be 40 lines or less. There is no limit on the number of entries per person. Each submission requires a separate entry form and will be subject to a separate entry fee.
The winner will receive a €1,000 cash prize and the chance to see their work published in a future issue of Anthology. The winner will also receive a one-year subscription to Anthology. Second place: €250. Third place: €150.
Entry fee: €10
Deadline: 27th February 2024 for very early bird entry fee
MARCH
This is one of the most significant short story competitions in the UK. The prize is awarded yearly by the BBC. Writers entering this award must have a prior record of publishing creative work in the UK (so this one is for established writers only). Stories up to 8,000 words are accepted and may be submitted by the author or by their agent. First place: £15,000.
Entry fee: unknown but looks like it’s free
Deadline: estimated March 2024
The Tempest Prize will award one unpublished LGBTQ+ writer based in the North of England a £1000 bursary, mentoring from Andrew McMillan and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Talent Network. It will be open between February and March 2024 to submissions of poetry, fiction and narrative non-fiction. The prize will be judged by Andrew and a co-judge still to be announced.
Andrew McMillan is the writer of award-winning poetry collections physical, pandemonium and playtime and his highly anticipated debut novel, Pity, is due for publication by Canongate in 2024. The Tempest Prize is the second to be set up and funded by a previous award-winner, after author Benjamin Myers inaugurated the Finchale Prize for Short Fiction in 2022.
Entry fee: unknown
Deadline: estimated March 2024
P.S. It looks like there’s no website yet so follow Andrew on social media and keep an eye out for this one.
This is the largest annual poetry competition in the UK. The prize recognises the best collection, best first collection and best single poem in the UK each year. All works put forward for the prize will also be considered for publication in The Forward Book Of Poetry, an annual anthology. Entries must be published works and individual poets cannot enter their own work. There’s up to £5,000 to be won depending on the category you enter.
Entry fee: unknown but looks like it’s free
Deadline: estimated March 2024
The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction (The Smokey) is a biennial competition celebrating excellence in flash.
The grand prize winner of The Smokey is automatically nominated for The Best Small Fictions, The Pushcart, Best of the Net and any other prize deemed appropriate. They’ll also pay the grand prize winner $2,500. Second place: $1,000. Third place: $500. Finalists: $100.
Entry fee: $14
Deadline: 1st March 2024
This prize is awarded for the best piece of writing on the theme of the Alpine Fellowship 2024 – to be announced. The winner will receive a cash prize and the runners up will receive travel expense support to attend the 2024 symposium. First place: £3,000. Second place: £1,000. Third place: £1,000
Entry fee: unknown
Deadline: 1st March 2024
PFD (Peters, Fraser and Dunlop) runs a Queer Fiction Prize for new LGBTQIA+ writers to find emerging talent. Winners will be signed to PFD and supported in completing their novels. There are two separate categories: Adult and YA & Children’s Fiction.
Any un-agented LGBTQIA+ writer who is in the process of writing a piece of fiction is eligible to enter. Submissions do not necessarily have to be about LGBTQIA+ experiences, though they do especially want stories with LGBTQIA+ characters or themes.
Works do not need to be complete as the prize will provide representation and support in writing to the end of your novel.
Entry fee: free
Deadline: 1st March 2024
Poets with a collection drafted, this one is for you! This is The Poetry Business’s 38th International Book & Pamphlet Competition, judged by Jane Clarke.
The two winning collections will be beautifully produced and promoted widely and entered for all eligible awards and prizes. They will also be sold in bookshops throughout the UK and through online stockists of The Poetry Business publications.
Entrants should submit a collection of 20 pages of poetry. The two winners will receive £500 each, publication in The North magazine, a reading at The Wordsworth Trust and a place on a residential writing course. Two runners-up will receive publication in East of The North plus an online reading and an honorarium of £100 each.
Entry fee: £29
Deadline: 6th March 2024
Poetry and short story entries are welcome for the Neil Gunn Writing Competition. In their entry, writers should respond to this line from Bloodhunt by Neil Gunn: “Mystery. That was the last word, the word you came to at the end. No corner of its coverlet could you lift.”
Entry fee: £10 per single entry or £18 for both a poem and short story
Deadline: 8th March 2023
A rare one for all you prose poets! The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize aims to shine a light on this exciting hybrid form. They welcome prose poems, up to 50 lines, and encourage writers to be experimental and play with readers' expectations. First prize: £750. Second prize: £200. Third prize: £50
Entry fee: £11 (£5 per additional entry)
Deadline: 31st March 2024
P.S. The Plaza Prizes has a host of other awards including crime, memoir, microfiction, audio poetry and much more. Check out the website for more information.
The Anthology Short Story Competition is open to original and previously unpublished short stories, written in English, by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world.
There are no restrictions on theme or style. There is a maximum word count of 1,500 words. Writers can submit as many entries as they like. Each submission will require a separate entry form and entry fee.
The winner will receive €1,000 and the winning story will be published in a future issue of Anthology. Second place: €250. Third place: €150.
Entry fee: €15
Deadline: 31st March 2024 for early bird entry fee
The Anne Brown Essay Prize awards £1500 for the best literary essay by a writer in or from Scotland. Essays can be on any topic, with a maximum word count of 4,000. Unpublished essays are especially welcome.
Entry fee: free
Deadline: 31st March 2024
This writer’s award was the first initiative of the Deborah Rogers Foundation. It was set up in 2015 in memory of the much loved and respected literary agent, Deborah Rogers.
In keeping with Deborah’s special talent for nurturing emerging writers, the Award offers a substantial prize. £10,000 will go to a previously unpublished writer whose submission of 15,000- 20,000 words demonstrates literary talent and who needs financial support to complete their first book. The submitted work can be fiction, non-fiction, children’s or short stories. Applicants must reside in the British Commonwealth or Eire. Two shortlisted authors will win £1,000 each.
Entry fee: estimated £6
Deadline: estimated 31st March 2024
APRIL
The Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize was established in 2019 as a celebration of the short story form and the resilience of independent booksellers. Funded by Brick Lane Bookshop, the competition is open to all UK residents and seeks to discover, publish and promote new, exciting and diverse voices in fiction. The prize is run by former Brick Lane Bookseller, Kate Ellis.
Each year, they invite a writer, a publisher and a literary agent to judge the competition. From a longlist of 12, they select a shortlist of six and three prize winners. The first prize is £1,000.
The 12 longlisted stories are published in their anthology which is available to buy from their website, Brick Lane Bookshop and many other good bookshops.
Entry fee: unknown
Deadline: estimated April 2024 (check Brick Lane Bookshop to confirm)
The Bristol Short Story Prize is an international writing competition based in Bristol, UK which aims to publish great short stories and promote writers as much as possible. Discovering previously unpublished writers is central to their mission. They are committed to celebrating the short story form and making it accessible and available to as wide an audience as possible.
First prize: £1,000.
Entry fee: £9
Deadline: estimated 26th April 2024 (check Bristol Short Story Prize to confirm)
The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Short Story Writing Competition is an international competition for new and experienced writers.
Three winning stories, selected by a panel including Jane Austen’s family, will be recorded as an audiobook by multi-award-winning narrator, Alison Larkin, and published worldwide to raise money for literacy projects in developing communities.
Entry fee: free
Deadline: 28th April 2024
MAY
The Mairtín Crawford Award invites writers working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories or a novel. Both published and unpublished writers are welcome to submit between 3-5 poems for the poetry award and a short story of up to 2,500 words for the short story award. The only stipulation is you can’t already have a published collection of poetry, short stories or a novel.
The winner of each award will receive a £500 cash prize. Each winner will also receive a ‘Time to Write’ package which includes a 3-night stay at Bullitt Hotel Belfast and 4 days of dedicated writing space in The Crescent. Two finalists for each category will receive a £250 cash prize.
Entry fee: estimated £6
Deadline: estimated 1st May 2024
The Creative Future Writers’ Award (CFWA) is a national writing development programme celebrating talented, underrepresented writers who lack opportunities due to mental health issues, disability, health or social circumstance.
The prizes sound amazing! They include £20,000 and top writing development prizes supplied by publishers and development agencies.
Entry fee: free
Deadline: estimated 14th May 2024
The SI Leeds Literary Prize is for unpublished fiction by UK-based Black and Asian women, aged 18 and above. The aim of the prize is to act as a loudspeaker for fresh literary voices from under-represented groups and to help them reach new audiences in the mainstream.
The writer of the winning entry in 2022 was awarded of £4,000 and a range of additional valuable benefits through the prize’s unique writer development scheme, including: a free place at an Arvon creative writing course, free manuscript assessment of their work from The Literary Consultancy, an invitation to New Writing North’s London summer salon event for publishers and agents, workshops and support, speaking engagements and serious consideration for publication by Peepal Tree Press.
Entry fee: £10 but they do have a number of free entry bursaries for writers on a low income
Deadline: estimated 25th April 2024
One of the largest short story prizes. The winning story will features in the Bridport Prize anthology, so you will see your words in print, maybe for the first time. The first place prize is £5,000. You will be invited to the awards celebration and get feedback from the judges and professional partners. Bridport will also champion you and your work. Second place: £1,000. Third place: £500.
Entry fee: from £11
Deadline: May 31st 2024
This award is open to unrepresented and unpublished authors for a novel in any adult fiction genre.
The winner receives £1,000 and an introduction with an agent. The runner up will get £500 and an introduction with an agent. And the highly commended writer will receive £150 and an introduction with an agent.
Entry fee: £24
Deadline: estimated 31st May 2024
The Bath Novel Award is an international writing competition based in Bath, UK for writers of novels in every genre. Now in its 10th year, the prize celebrates emerging authors who may be unpublished, self-published or independently-published.
First prize: £5,000 with full manuscript feedback for shortlistees and extract feedback for all listees. Additional longlist prize of a £1,800 course with the Professional Writing Academy & Cornerstones Literary Consultancy
Entry fee: £29.99 with sponsored places available for writers on a low income
Deadline: 31 May 2024
Open to all writers over 50, this award was created to address the lack of literary opportunities available to older writers eager to break into the publishing industry. The award also aims to celebrate and value the collected, distilled wisdom and a lifetime of reading and experience of writers over 50.
Debut novelists are invited to submit the first 5,000 words of their novels. The prize will consist of £1,000 and a week’s residential placement at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre (the dream!) for the winner. The runners up will receive mentoring sessions with experienced writers, editors and agents as appropriate.
Entry fee: unknown but looks like it’s free
Deadline: estimated 31st May 2024 (check the Jenny Brown Associates website for more details)
As well as compiling this list, I’ve also created a deadline calendar for you, populated with all 50 opportunities! This will make it even easier to keep up to date with writing competitions and awards throughout the year and never miss a deadline.
Soph x
Hi Sophie
Do let me know if you're compiling a 2025 list - I'd love to tell your about the Bournemouth Writing Prize which is open until January 2025. Details athttps://thebournemouthjournal.com/bournemouth-writing-prize/
Thanks
David Herring (ditheringchaps@gmail.com)