Guest post by Christopher Fielden

There are hundreds of short story competitions for aspiring writers to enter across the globe. Some offer small prizes, some large, and some monster prizes, which might make you think someone has made a typo when preparing the competition details.

The ones with the monster prizes tend to attract thousands of entries, so the likelihood of winning them or having your work published through them is slim. But if you do win, suddenly you have credibility and renown, so it has to be worth having a go, right? Hell yeah! I would just recommend that you also enter the smaller, more frequent competitions too, as there are fewer entries and therefore you have a better chance of success.

That said, below is a countdown of the biggest prizes currently offered in short story competitions.

5th Biggest Prize – Writers of the Future

First Prize of $5,000
This is an American competition which offers quarterly prizes and an annual prize to the overall winner. The maximum word count for entries is a whopping 17,000, which is the highest I have ever encountered in a short story competition. The competition favors stories of sci-fi or fantasy genre.

4th Biggest Prize – The Bridport Prize

First prize of £5,000
Widely regarded as one of the most prestigious awards in writing, this short story competition attracts thousands of entries every year. The maximum word count for entries is 5,000. They will accept any genre and you can familiarize yourself with the judges favoured styles by purchasing the previous years winning and short listed stories in an anthology.

3rd Biggest Prize – Manchester Writing Competition

First Prize of £10,000
This short story competition is run by Manchester University. In 2012 they are only concentrating on poetry, so you can’t enter a short story until 2013. The maximum word count is 3,000.

2nd Biggest Prize – BBC Short Story Award

First Prize of £15,000
You have to be a published writer to enter this competition (being self published does not count). Due to this rule, many professional writers enter the competition so the standard of the stories are extremely high. Needless to say, if you do win, it looks VERY impressive on your writing CV! Maximum word count is 8,000.

THE Biggest Prize – Sunday Times EFG Private Band Short Story Award

First Prize of £30,000
Like the BBC competition, you have to have been previously published to enter, but it has to have been in the UK or Ireland. Winning stories are published by the Times. Again, not bad for the CV! Maximum word count is 6,000.

Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award

First Prize 35,000 Euros
This competition actually boasts to be the biggest prize in short story writing in the world, but it is for a collection of short stories, not a singular short story, which is why I have not placed it in the top five.

Christopher Fielden is a UK based writer, who writes many short stories and uses his published stories as case studies, giving writing advice and short story writing tips on his website.

 
Image: pixbox77 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Cliffhanger Books is looking for new, previously unpublished short stories (approx. 6500-8000 words) for “Paramourtal 2,” the second volume of our award-nominated paranormal romance series. We are eager to read truly original fiction with unique (i.e. think beyond vampires and werewolves, though they are welcome, as well), well-defined, emotionally complex characters.

Our first book was nominated for 2010 Romance Anthology of the Year and we hope to win with this new edition.

Submissions are open to all U.S. and international writers age 18 and over. Stories must be submitted in English. While paranormal romance authors are generally female, we want story submissions from talented male writers as well.

Interested writers are invited to review our submission guidelines at http://www.cliffhangerbooks.com

Deadline for submissions is midnight, October 31, 2011 (Halloween!).

More on Writing Contests:

• Writing To Win:: The Colossal Guide To Writing Contests
• Write Ways to WIN WRITING CONTESTS: How To Join the Winners’ Circle for Prose and Poetry Awards, NEW EXPANDED EDITION
• Writing the Breakout Novel

Image: sxc.hu

The finalists for the Booker Prize has been whittled from from the Man Booker Prize longlist of 13 to just 6. According to the site, the Book Prize “has brought recognition, reward and readership to the outstanding new novels of the year. The shortlist was announced by Chair of judges, Sir Andrew Motion, at a press conference held at Man’s London headquarters.”

You know I’m all for anything that promotes books and reading, and the Book Price certainly does that. Here are the books on the list:

• Peter Carey for Parrot and Olivier in America


• Emma Donoghue for Room
• Damon Galgut for In a Strange Room
• Howard Jacobson for The Finkler Question
• Andrea Levy for The Long Song
• Tom McCarthy for C

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

Don’t you love a short week? I took Monday off for the Labor Day holiday here it the States, which I never do. I usually look at a day off as “more time to work!” I like working, but sometimes you need a break. And boy, did it feel good. I hope you all got a chance to catch up from the week so you don’t need to carry out your writing into the weekend. I’ll be doing some novel writing this weekend. I’m still looking for an agent, and have several new nonfiction articles ready to go. What are you working on?

I also found some links and news I think you’ll find of interest:

• Are you a poet? Here’s a contest you can enter from Dream Quest One Poetry.
• From Maria Media: Erica Jong’s 20 Rules for Writers.
• Have you read the Quips and Tips blogs from Laurie Pawlik Kienlen yet? Oh my, you need to do that right now. Here’s the thing, when I started at Suite101 over three years ago, I stumbled on this article that was so good, I kept reading. And reading. Turns out the article was from Laurie and I quickly became a fan of hers. Not only does she write for Suite, but for a host of other major mags as well. Then she started blogging “quips and tips” about subjects like achieving your goals and writing and more. Her latest blog is called Quips and Tips From the Working World. Check it out.
• Here’s some great advice I’m personally dealing with right now: “How to Deal With Contradictory Query Advice.” There are loads of really great advice out there, and I mean, really great advice. So many wonderful agents have blogs out there on what to do with query letters, but sometimes it’s a matter of preference. Nathan Bransford gives some good advice on how to deal with…. well…. the advice.
• An interesting post from BookBuzzr asks, “Are you wasting time checking your Amazon Sales rank?” I confess that I did this when my book first appeared on Amazon. But no more! I have been reformed.
• Interesting post from The Book Designer on POD publishing. Hint: Follow the money!
• There are a lot of factors to making a book and novelist successful. Among them? Timing.
• Over at Pimp My Novel, the talk is about breaking the rules. This is a great post about what the rules are, when to break them, and why. Read on!
• Advertising on Facebook? Here are some things you need to know.

Image: Morguefile

Contest for short fiction:

The Writer’s Digest 11th Annual Short Short Story Competition

We’re looking for fiction that’s bold, brilliant…but brief. Send us your best in 1,500 words or fewer.

But don’t be too long about it—the deadline is Thursday, December 1, 2010.

PRIZES
First Place: $3,000 and a trip to the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City
Second Place: $1,500
Third Place: $500
Fourth Through Tenth Place: $100
Eleventh Through Twenty-Fifth Place: $50 gift certificate for Writer’s Digest Books

* The names and story titles of the First-through Tenth-Place winners will be printed in the May/June 2011 Writer’s Digest, and winners will receive the 2011 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market and Agents, Editors, and You: The Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Book Published. Plus, all First through 25th place winners will receive a free copy of the 11th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition Collection. Enter the contest.

Image: sxc.hu.

Scriptapalooza is now accepting submissions of screenplays for its twelfth annual screenwriting competition.

Every script that is entered into Scriptapalooza is read by a manager, agent or producer at 90 participating companies including Disney, Miramax, Big Light, and Bender-Spink, among others.

Scriptapalooza has grown to be one of the most recognized screenwriting competitions with over 30 scripts optioned, two Emmy winners and is as the only screenwriting competition endorsed by the WGA.

What sets Scriptapalooza apart is that it offers what even the largest grand prize could never buy: a guarantee that an “unsolicited” script will be read by leading industry decision-makers. In many cases, the Scriptapalooza scripts are even bought outright by enthusiastic production companies.

The first place winner, chosen by Scriptapalooza, receives a $10,000 grand prize. In addition, the Scriptapalooza staff will promote the semifinalists and finalists for a full year after the winners are announced.

Deadlines are as follows:
. “early bird” deadline is January 5, 2010 (application fee $40)
. regular deadline is March 5, 2010 (application fee $50)
. final deadline is April 15, 2010 (application fee $55)

Please visit www.scriptapalooza.com for more information.

More resources on publishing and novel writing:

• Write a novel in 60 days
• Take your book from manuscript to the masses with self-publishing and print-on-demand from CreateSpace.
• Write an ebook in 7 days
• Real Writing Jobs

Many writers have a short story or two laying around that is fabulous and as of yet undiscovered. Why not enter it in the Writer’s Digest Short Story competition?

This is the 10th Annual Competition and you could win $3,000 if your story is chosen. Deadline is December 1st, and here’s what they’re looking for:

We’re looking for fiction that’s bold, brilliant…but brief. Send us your best in 1,500 words or fewer.

But don’t be too long about it—the deadline is Tuesday, December 1, 2009.

PRIZES
First Place: $3,000
Second Place: $1,500
Third Place: $500
Fourth Through Tenth Place: $100
Eleventh Through Twenty-Fifth Place: $50 gift certificate for Writer’s Digest Books

* The names and story titles of the First-through Tenth-Place winners will be printed in the May/June 2010 Writer’s Digest, and winners will receive the 2010 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market and Agents, Editors, and You: The Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Book Published. Plus, all First through 25th place winners will receive a free copy of the 10th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition Collection.