09 January, 2025
Opportunities for Writers: January 2025
Take stock of the current opportunities available for writers this weekend. See a list below of January/early February deadlines for submissions, competitions, bursaries, residencies and other opportunities. For the full list of opportunities, check out: Competitions, submissions and other opportunities and Bursaries and funding
Submissions:
Deadline: 31 January 2025 (Poetry) 28 February 2025 (story story)
Southword New International Writing (Journal)
Southword: New International Writing is a print literary journal published twice a year by the Munster Literature Centre. They welcome submissions of up to four poems per submission period. If your work has been published in Southword before, they ask that you please don’t submit again for at least one year after publication. The poetry editor is Patrick Cotter.
Accepted forms: Poetry and short story
Writer’s fee: €50 – €30
More Information here: munsterlit.ie
Deadline: 3 February 2025
Ragaire Literary Magazine
Ragaire is a literary magazine based in Galway. They are accepting poetry, short stories and creative non-fiction for possible inclusion in Issue 3 (or until our maximum number of submissions have been met.)
Writer’s fee: They are not in a position to pay at the moment, however all contributors receive a complimentary copy of the issue in which they are published.
More Information here: ragairemagazine.com
Deadline: 10 February 2025
Unapologetic magazine
Unapologetic magazine is a multidisciplinary, literary, cultural, and artistic response to the social issues and creative opportunities in contemporary Ireland. They centralise academics, creatives and activists from marginalized communities. Founded in 2020, they have just released the call for contributors for our fourth issue. The theme is “What is a Home.” They are looking for poetry, prose and visual arts.
Accepted forms: Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Academic Essays
Writer’s fee: The Unapologetic team is working hard to secure funding to pay you for your work. As soon as we secure funding, you will be paid for your work.
More Information here: www.unapologeticmag.net
Deadline: 19 February 2025
Winter Papers
Winter Papers is Ireland’s annual arts anthology. Edited by Kevin Barry and Olivia Smith. The submission window for the next volume of Winter Papers will be open during the period Wednesday 5th February 2025 to Wednesday 19th February 2025.
Accepted forms: short stories, non-fiction, photography, and visual art.
Writer’s fee: €500 – €600 depending on length.
More Information here: https://winterpapers.com/submissions
Competitions
Deadline: 15 January 2024
The Bournemouth Writing Prize
The Bournemouth Writing Prize is an annual international short story and poetry competition. Winners of this writing contest receive personal feedback from industry professionals and there is a cash prize for each category.
Accepted forms: Short story and poetry
Competition prizes: Short Story £500 cash prize, plus an hour-long consultation with our short story judge, Greene and Heaton agent, Laura Williams. Poetry; £500 cash prize, plus an hour-long consultation and feedback session with our poetry judges, indie publisher Dithering Chaps.
Entry fee: £10
More Information here: thebournemouthjournal.com
Deadline: 25 January 2024
The Nine Dots Prize
The Nine Dots Prize is a writing prize which seeks to reward original thinking in response to contemporary societal issues. It is judged anonymously and seeks submissions from both established writers and emerging talent. Entrants must respond with 3,000 words.
Accepted forms: Non-fiction
Competition Prize: The winner receives $100,000, editorial support and their book published by Cambridge University Press, plus the opportunity to spend a term at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at Cambridge University.
Entry fee: free
More Information here: ninedotsprize.org
Deadline: 31 January 2025
Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize 2025
Founded in 2010, and now going into its 15th year, the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize is renowned for championing and launching the careers of exceptional women and non-binary writers. The prize attracts a wealth of literary talent and is actively seeking submissions that seamlessly blend literary merit with captivating storytelling – the “unputdownable” novel. The Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize has gone from strength to strength with many shortlisted and winning authors securing publishing deals and furthering their writing.
Accepted forms: Fiction (unpublished novel)
Prize: £1,500 and all shortlisted authors will benefit from a one-on-one consultation with a literary agent at prize sponsor WME, including editorial feedback and invaluable publishing advice.
Entry fee is £12.
More Information here: www.lucy.cam.ac.uk
Deadline: Friday 31 January 2025
The Cúirt New Writing Prize 2025
The Cúirt New Writing Prize, kindly sponsored by Tigh Neachtain in memory of Lena McGuire, is now open for submissions. This year Wendy Erskine is the short fiction judge, Victoria Kennefick is the poetry judge, and Liam Carson is the Irish language poetry and short fiction judge. Poetry entries must consist of three poems under 50 lines each. Short stories should be no longer than 2,000 words.
Accepted forms: poetry, short fiction, and short fiction and poetry in Irish.
Prize: The winner in each category will be awarded a €500 cash prize and the opportunity to read at the 40th annual Cúirt International Festival of Literature which will take place in Galway between 8th – 13th April 2025.
Entry fee €10
More Information here: www.cuirt.ie
Deadline: 31 January 2025
2025 International One-Act Playwriting Competition
The Carlow Little Theatre Society 2025 International One-Act Playwriting Competition is now open. In addition to the final three shortlisted scripts, there will be a separate category and a monetary prize for the ‘Best Irish Play’. The competition is open to all writers over 18 years old, both members and non-members, local and international. The play submitted must be in English and be an original work of the entrant that has not yet been published, nor performed on stage previously, nor received any awards previously. The script length / duration of the play should be between 20 and 40 minutes.
Accepted forms: Play
Prizes: €500 for 1st place, €300 for 2nd place, €200 for 3rd place and €300 for Best Irish Play. The winning play will potentially be performed to an audience later in 2025, depending on circumstance.
Entry fee of €15
More Information here: www.carlowlittletheatre.com
Bursaries
Deadline: 23 January 2025
Touring of Work Scheme, The Arts Council Ireland
The Touring of Work Scheme 2025 – Round 2 invites applications for proposals seeking funding to support the touring of work across all artform and arts practice areas for tours taking place in the Republic of Ireland starting from July – December 2025 and Advanced Planning of Tours for January – December 2026.
Award: unlimited
More information here: www.artscouncil.ie
Deadline: 13 February
Literature Bursary Award, The Arts Council Ireland
The objective of the English Language Literature Bursary Award is to enable professional writers, comic book artists and children’s picture book makers (working mainly through the English language) to spend more time on their creative work.
Award: €20,000 (maximum)
More information here: www.artscouncil.ie
Deadline: 21 February 2025
Fingal Artists’ Support Scheme 2025
Fingal County Council is pleased to announce the 2025 edition of the Fingal Artists’ Support Scheme. This funding stream offers professional Fingal artists the opportunity to apply for up to €5,000 to support travel and professional development opportunities, a residency, or towards the development of work. The scheme is designed to nurture and advance the practice of individual professional artists in Fingal and is open to practitioners at all career stages working in the disciplines of music, visual art, drama, literature, film, and dance.
More information here: www.fingal.ie
Other Opportunities
Deadline: 14 January 2025
Centre Culturel Irlandais Residencies 2025/2026 (Paris)
The annual residency programme for artists of all disciplines is now open at Centre Culturel Irlandais (CCI) in Paris. This is an important means of showcasing Ireland’s dynamic contemporary culture on an international stage. Receive a month long residency at CCI (Paris). Applicants must be Irish citizens or normally resident on the island of Ireland, with professional involvement in a creative practice.
Accepted forms: The residency is open to practitioners in all art forms
What do you receive: The award covers travel and accommodation in the Centre Culturel Irlandais.Each resident artist will receive a stipend of €800 per month.
More Information here: www.centreculturelirlandais.com
Deadline: 31 January 2025
Druid’s annual New Writing Script
Founded in 1975, Druid is a touring theatre company, anchored in the West of Ireland and looking to the world, led by Tony Award-winning director Garry Hynes. The aim of the New Writing process in Druid is to find new writers and voices based in and working in Ireland that can be nourished rather than a finished polished piece of work. Scripts can only be accepted from playwrights based on the island of Ireland.
Accepted forms: play
Prize: Each summer, the Druid Debut series features a number of new plays which have been submitted through our New Writing submission window.
Entry fee: free
More Information here: www.druid.ie
Deadline: 4 Feburary 2025
Phelim Donlon Playwright’s Bursary & Residency 2025
In association with the Irish Theatre Institute and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, this opportunity provides a playwright with time and resources towards writing a new play. Named in honour of Phelim Donlon- an independent theatre producer for many years, he was committed to the arts and was a passionate advocate for new and emerging talent. This award, now in its 10th year, is an acknowledgement of his valued contribution to Irish theatre. The recipient will be announced in late March.
Award: a bursary of €2,000 and a 2 weeks’ fully resourced residency in Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annaghmakerrig.
More Information here: www.irishtheatreinstitute.ie
The Irish Writers Centre is the leading support and development organisation for writers in Ireland. Each year, we runs up to 20 free and exciting programmes to support writers’ development. Carrying out it’s work on an all-island basis, the Irish Writers Centre offers a range of support schemes, residency opportunities, mentoring, and other development programmes. View more opportunities for writers here.
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Please get in touch with Communications Officer Jo Morton at communications@irishwriterscentre.ie if your organisation has a competition, submission, residency, bursary or funding opportunity for writers that you would like us to include in our monthly round-up blog post.
