05 January, 2024
Opportunities and Competitions January 2024
Photo credit: A Dublin City Seagull taken by our Communications Officer Jo Morton
Each month we update our Competitions, Submissions & Opportunities webpage, along with our Bursaries & Funding, to ensure that we are connecting our writers with the best upcoming opportunities. Here are a few deadlines we wanted to highlight this January.
Submissions:
Abridged
Deadline: 16th January 2024
Abridged aims to publish and exhibit contemporary/ experimental poetry plus contemporary art. They are funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and each of their issues are beautifully curated and presented.
For their next issue they are looking for submissions that explore the concept of ‘Home’ in contemporary society – what’s hiding in the dark of its foundations, and what it might mean to be broken.
You can submit up to 3 poems.
Tower Magazine
Deadline: 31st January 2024
Submissions to TOWER VOL. 3: FAMILY will be open January 10-31 2024. They accept all genres of story, essay, poetry and art and encourage submissions of horror, sci-fi, fantasy and erotica. Perpetuation of aristocracy, mistreatment of single mothers, homophobic and transphobic legislation, Silicon Valley eugenics, and much more; for centuries abuse has been excused and oppression increased in the name of ‘protecting the family’. VOL. 3: FAMILY seeks work that takes on taboo topics and reexamines the role of the family in society.
Competitions:
Guernsey International Poetry Competition 2024
Deadline: 15th January 2024
The Guernsey International Poetry Competition 2024 is accepting submissions until January 15th. This exciting competition presented by the Guernsey Literary Festival together with Guernsey Arts offers a hefty prize purse as well as the opportunity to have your work displayed publicly around the island of Guernsey.
The Open Poetry category is open to writers from anywhere in the world. It costs £4 entry per poem or you can enter three poems for £10.
Winning entries are displayed in two phases: 21 poems will be chosen to be displayed on buses, and the top 9 of these will take part in a second, larger exhibition, first at Guernsey Airport, then all over the island. Not only that but the first prize is £1000.
If that’s not enough to get you excited, the competition is also being judged by current Ireland Professor of Poetry and Pulitzer prize winner Paul Muldoon.
The Prototype Prize
Deadline: 1st February 2024
The Prototype Prize is a new, biennial prize for published or unpublished writers and artists working at the intersections of different literary and artistic forms. The prize, which is open only to writers or artists resident in the UK or Ireland, awards £3,000 plus publication by Prototype to the best book-length project, and a second prize of £2,000 plus publication by Monitor Books to the best short-form work. Both prize-winners will also have an excerpt of their work published by frieze. The judges for the inaugural prize are Bhanu Kapil, Tom McCarthy and Elizabeth Price, who will work alongside an editorial board from the publishers.
The Edinburgh Short Story Award
Deadline: 29th February 2024
Open to writers from anywhere in the world the Edinburgh Short Story Award is accepting submissions until the 29th of February. Your story can be on any topic (It does not have to be about Scotland!) and the word limit is 2000 words or fewer.
The entry fee is £10 per story and with a first 1st prize of £3,000, a 2nd prize £500 and a 3rd prize £250, it is definitely worth a shot!
The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition 2024
Deadline: 16th March 2024
Inaugurated in 2012 to honour Limerick poet Desmond O’Grady, the Limerick Writers Centre are now accepting applications to the 2024 Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition.
The first prize is €200 and it only costs €3.50 to enter one poem or €5.50 to enter three.
There are no restrictions on content or length and poems can be in either Irish or English.
The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2024
Deadline: 31st March 2024
The London Magazine is the UK’s oldest literary magazine. They have published some of the biggest names in poetry including Mary Jean Chan, T. S. Eliot, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and Philip Larkin and they are now accepting submissions to their 2024 Poetry Prize.
It costs £10 to enter one poem and £5 then for every subsequent entry. 1st prize is £500 and the winning poems will be published in future issues of London Magazine.
Irish Writers Centre Opportunities:
IWC/Kylemore Notre Dame Residencies 2024
Deadline: 10th January 2024
The Irish Writers Centre is still accepting applications for a new partnership with Kylemore Global Centre under the auspices of Notre Dame University. Three writers will be awarded with a fully-catered five day residency opportunity from April 15th to 19th, 2024 in the beautifully restored Kylemore Global Centre on the grounds of Kylemore Abbey in Connemara (Co. Galway). One of the residency places will be reserved for a writer who may require wheelchair access and accessible toilets.
Irish Writers Centre/Cúirt Young Writer Delegates 2024
Deadline: 31st January 2024
The Irish Writers Centre are inviting ambitious young writers aged 18-26 to apply for this extraordinary opportunity to attend and contribute to Cúirt International Festival of Literature 2024 as Irish Writers Centre/Cúirt Young Writer Delegates. The Young Writer Delegates will spend five days (four nights) at Cúirt International Festival of Literature 2024 from Wednesday 24 April 2024 to Sunday 28 April 2024. The programme will include mentoring from local writer-mentor Alan McMonagle, the opportunity to attend festival events, the chance to take charge of the Young Writer Delegates official Instagram page as well as a public performance at the Young Writer Delegate showcase.
Please get in touch with Administrative Assistant Tom Jordan at tom@irishwriterscentre.ie if your organisation has a competition, submission, bursary or funding opportunity for writers that you would like us to include in our monthly round-up blog post.
