Opportunities & Competitions: August 2022

Each month we update our Competitions & Submissions page, 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 in August!

Competitions & Opportunities

Waterford Poetry Prize
Deadline: 12th August 2022

First prize is €400 plus attendance at a designated writing course at the Molly Keane Writers Retreat, Ardmore in 2023 (This prize valued €250 is non-transferable and no cash alternative will be awarded in lieu).

Second prize €300 plus attendance at a designated writing course at the Molly Keane Writers Retreat, Ardmore in 2023 (This prize valued €250 is non-transferable and no cash alternative will be awarded in lieu).

Third prize €200.

Bray Literary Festival Poetry & Flash Fiction Competitions
Deadline: 15th August 2022

€700 in prizes
Prizes in each category:
Winner €300
Runner-up €50
Third Prize €25

Flash fiction up to 500 words
Poetry up to 40 lines

We are delighted to announce that this year’s judges are:

Poetry: Anne Tannam, whose most recent poetry collection is 26 Letters of the Alphabet (Salmon, 2021)
Flash fiction: David Butler, whose most recent short-story collection is Fugitive (Arlen House, 2021)

Ledbury Poetry Competition 2022
Deadline: 24th August 2022

The competition is part of the Ledbury Poetry Festival that takes place each July in Ledbury, England. The competition is for original, unpublished poems up to 40 lines. This year’s judge is Joelle Taylor. The competition is international, open to poets writing in the English language.

Anthology Short Story Award
Deadline: 31st August 2022

Established to recognise and encourage creative writing and provide a platform for publication, this short story award is open to original and previously unpublished short stories in the English language by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. Stories submitted must be on the theme of ‘Courage’ and not exceed the maximum of 1,500 words. Writers can submit as many entries as they wish.

Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition
Deadline: 31th August 2022

Page limit: 16–24
Entry fee: €25 per manuscript

The competition is open to new, emerging and established poets from any country. At least one of these winners will be the highest scoring manuscript entered by a poet with no solo collection (full-length or chapbook) previously published. The other winner may have previously published poetry books. Up to 25 other entrants will be publicly listed as “highly commended”.

Bursaries & Grants

Arts Council of Northern Ireland: SIAP Major Individuals Award
Deadline: 15th August 2022

Major Individual Awards are intended to create the circumstances in which established artists with national / international recognition may develop extended or ambitious work. Awards can be for specific projects, specialised research, personal artistic development and materials/ equipment. 4 awards of up to £15,000 each are being offered in 2022/23.

Arts Council of Northern Ireland: SIAP Minority Ethnic Residency & Mentoring Programme
Deadline: 22th August 2022

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland recognises and welcomes the diversity within our society. In working to create the conditions for the widest variety of art and creativity for both artists and audiences through our Support for the Individual Artist Programme, we are seeking to address the numerous and complex barriers to access, progression and representation in the arts encountered by minority ethnic artists with this mentoring and residency scheme.

These awards have been informed by the Arts Council’s Intercultural Arts Strategy and framed within our Five Year Strategy Inspire Connect and Lead. Our aim is to support individual artists and creative practitioners from minority ethnic backgrounds and migrant backgrounds at every stage of their career. Through this Minority Ethnic Artist’s Mentoring and Residency Programme we wish to create opportunities for specialized training, research, cultural exchanges, networking and learning for individual artists, creative practitioners and arts administrators from minority ethnic and migrant backgrounds.

Kavanagh Fellowship
Deadline: 22nd August 2022

Specifically for Irish poets in their middle years.  Poets in order to be eligible must have published a substantial body of work, and show that they are in particular need of assistance.

Arts Council of Northern Ireland: Support for Individual Artists Programme (SIAP)
Deadline: 30th August 2022

The aim of the overall Support for Individual Artists Programme (SIAP) is to support artists across all disciplines to create work and develop their practice. Broadly, awards can be for specific projects, specialised research or personal artistic development.

You can find further information on each of these opportunities, and many more, over on our website.