A writer is up against thousands of other writers who hope for, work for and dream of the same thing: Getting published. Getting recognized. Having some acknowledgement for their labors of love. Writing competitions are a great way to hone your skills, beef up your writing muscle and get a bit of a thicker skin in the world of writing. And you can make money if you put your shoulder to the wheel. Competitions make you get very detailed and concise, they make you edit better, and they offer you a community of people who can give you feedback in some cases. You can win a chance to have a publisher publish your work, you can get an editor, win cash prizes, win writing paraphernalia that you might not afford otherwise and a myriad of other things. But most of all you get to practice your art and by conforming to the guidelines of any competition you can be more focused and dig deep into your own creativity. So, this competition is one of the largest prizes in short story competition. Dive in. Get out there. Be brave. Write.
The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award: $38,000 Grand Prize
The deadline for this year’s contest is September 28th, 2017.
As we wrote last year, you have to do a bit of legwork to be eligible for the contest. Primarily, you need to participate in the U.K. or Ireland literary community by publishing a short story by an “established” publisher in the region. This may mean you need to plan on entering next year’s contest, focusing on getting published this year. That seems to be a big part of the goal of the contest; to encourage participation in the U.K. literary scene by writers around the world.
If you’re not a U.K. citizen, don’t worry. Most of the winners have come from abroad. They seem to truly want to encourage diverse writers from around the world to participate in the contest.
According to their website:
“The prize, worth £30,000 to the winner, is an international award, founded in 2010, that is open to any story of up to 6,000 words written in English. Stories need to have been either previously unpublished or only published after 31 December 2016. Five other authors shortlisted for the award will each receive £1,000. The prize is administered by the Society of Authors. To be eligible, the author must simply have a record of prior publication in creative writing in the United Kingdom or Ireland..”
The deadline to submit is September 28th, 2017. Be sure to read the complete rules before submitting, to make sure that you are eligible.
To learn more, read this page.
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