30 September, 2026
Opportunities for Writers: October 2026
Our monthly list of submission windows, competitions, bursaries, residencies and general literary opportunities is now live. This list offers information on opportunities with September deadlines. For information on other upcoming opportunities, see our competitions and submissions and bursaries and funding pages.
Irish Writers Centre Climate Writing Prize
Deadline: 23rd October 2026, 5pm
Each session of the Climate Writing series will end with hosts leaving a writing prompt for attending writers. Attendees can then enter the Climate Writing Prize with up to 1,500 words of fiction or up to 60 lines of poetry based on any of the five sessions prompts. The winning piece will be awarded €250 and publication in Channel, with a runner-up receiving a course bursary worth €250. The aim of the Prize is to encourage writers to develop their work beyond the sessions, and to explore the genre of climate writing.
More information here.
Opportunities
Reed Magazine: Call for Submissions
Deadline: 1st October
Celebrating 160 years, Reed magazine is now accepting submissions of fiction, creative non-fiction, visual art, and poetry for a special anniversary issue.
More information here.
Arts Council Writer Fellow at Trinity College Dublin
Deadline: 1st October
The Arts Council and Trinity College Dublin are inviting applications for the Writer in Residence Fellowship 2027, supporting mid-career and established writers in Ireland to engage with the university community while advancing their own creative practice.
Based at the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, the residency provides writers with opportunities to work with students and staff through workshops, mentoring, public events, and outreach activities. From July onwards, the Writer Fellow will be supported to focus primarily on their own creative practice.
The fellowship provides a €25,000 award, along with accommodation and dedicated workspace during the initial residency period.
More information here.
A Play, a Pie and a Pint: Established Writers Submissions Open
Deadline: 6th October
Writers who have had a play produced or commissioned for the stage before can submit for this opportunity to produce a new work. Note: This opportunity is open only to Scottish, or Scotland-based writers.
More information here.
Omnibus Theatre: Next Page Season Submissions
Deadline: 12th October
Omnibus Theatre is now accepting plays-in-development for rehearsed readings at their home in Clapham for the January 2027 season.
More information here.
Bat City Review
Deadline: 15th October
Open for submissions with the theme ‘Bread and Circuses.’ Open to poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and visual art.
More information here.
The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2026
Deadline: 18th October
The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2026 will be judged by Camilla Grudova, Tim MacGabhann and Ayşegül Savaş.
The winning stories will be published in future issues of The London Magazine. Winners will also receive cash prizes and be celebrated at a prize-giving ceremony at the end of the year. The magazine is looking for unpublished short stories of no more than 4,000 words.
More information here.
Porter House Review: Call for Submissions
Deadline: 20th October
Open for poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and visual art.
More information here.
28th Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award 2026
Deadline: 29th October
Entries to this prize must not exceed 40 lines of poetry. Submissions are welcome in both Irish and English. The winner will be invited to read at the annual Francis Ledwidge Commemoration at the National War Memorial Gardens in July 2027.
More information here.
Broken Sleep Books: Smut Anthology Call for Submissions
Deadline: 31st October
Broken Sleep books are open to submissions for a new anthology of smutty poetry, edited by Broken Sleep Books co-founder Emma Kennedy. The anthology is currently untitled and is tentatively scheduled for publication in mid 2027.
More information here.
Wexford Pride Creative Writing Competition
Deadline: 31st October
Wexford Pride are accepting submissions of short fiction – 2,500 words or less for their 2026 competition with the theme of ‘Queer Joy.’
More information here.
Please get in touch with the team at info@irishwriterscentre.ie if your organisation/journal 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.
