Competitions, submissions and other opportunities
The latest writing competitions and submissions windows for writers.
Deadline: 22 April 2025
Women’s Prize for Playwriting
The Women’s Prize for Playwriting was founded in 2019 to champion and produce plays by female and non-binary writers, campaigning for a fairer and more equitable industry.
The Women’s Prize for Playwriting is open to writers who are: female or non-binary, aged sixteen or older. Resident in the UK, Republic of Ireland or in a British Overseas Territory, or have a British Forces Post Office address.
Accepted forms: Play (last an hour or more in playing time). Any cast size.
Prize: The production of the play in a high-profile theatre and £12,000 fee.
Entry fee: None.
More Information here:
womensprizeforplaywriting.co.ukDeadline: 23 April 2025
FFF (Free Flash Fiction) Competition Twenty-Seven
FFF (Free Flash Fiction) is currently seeking entries for its bi-monthly flash fiction competition. Stories should be no more than 100 to 300 words in length and can focus on any theme. Submissions can be made via FFF’s website.
Accepted forms: Flash fiction.
Prize: 1st place receives $150 and publication; highly commended receives £60 and publication; shortlisted receives £50 and publication.
Entry fee: £3.95 fee per entry (PayPal/Stripe); £2.55 fee per entry (BACS).
More Information here:
freeflashfiction.comDeadline: 30th April 2025
The Pig’s Back
The Pig’s Back (named for Donegal’s Muckish mountain and for the phrase ar mhuin na muice, to be in luck) is a literary prose journal that aims to bring the rest of Ireland – and in turn, the world – to the northwest. Founded by the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny, it publishes short fiction and essays.
Accepted forms: The Pig’s Back seeks submissions of previously unpublished fiction and non-fiction. They accept work from anywhere in the world but currently can only accept English language pieces. They do not accept poetry.
Contributor payment: All contributors will receive a flat fee of €300. They will also receive two copies of the issue in which their work features.
More Information here:
www.thepigsback.ieDeadline: 30 April 2025
2025 Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize
The Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize is now open with a first prize of €2000, a stay at the Civitella Ranieri residency, and manuscript consultations. The goal of the prize is to give as much visibility and support to new writers, experimental writers, writers doing something daring. This year’s judges: Mariana Enríquez, Henry Hoke, and Ottessa Moshfegh
Shortlist selection: Early July 2025
Winner announced: Late July 2025.
Entry fee: €20 for the first entry, €10 for every further entry.
More Information here:
desperateliterature.comDeadline: 30th April 2025
Faerie Press: Anthology for Teens and Young Adults
Writing submissions for Faerie Press are now open! Following the success of our first book ‘Hide and Seek: An Anthology of the Inner Child”, we’re ecstatic to be bringing another opportunity for young creatives to step into the publishing industry. Faeire is Ireland’s first LGBTQ+ children’s publishing house.
Accepted forms: Poetry and short stories under the theme of ‘dreams’.
Submissions are open for young people aged 16-25 residing on the Island of Ireland or the United Kingdom.
Prize: your work published within our first book, launching in late 2025.
More Information here:
www.faeriepress.comDeadline: 30 April 2025
New Writers 100-Word Writing Competition 2025
The New Writers 100-Word Writing Competition 2025 welcomes entries of up to 100 words on any theme and from anywhere in the world. Entries can be poems or stories. The winner will receive £500 (with £200 for second place, £100 for third, and £50 each for fourth to tenth place). The ten winning entries will be published on the New Writers site and in a future New Writers Anthology. 10% of the proceeds from the competition will be donated to charity and split between First Story and The Funzi & Bodo Trust.
Accepted forms: Poetry or prose entries of up to 100 words (excluding title).
Prizes: 1st Place: £500; 2nd Place: £200; 3rd Place: £100; 4th-10th Place: £50.
Entry fee: £8 (one entry), £15 (two entries), £21 (three entries).
More Information here:
newwriters.org.ukDeadline: 30 April 2025
Quare Éire: An Anthology of Neo-mythmaking
Quare Éire is a digital anthology of neo-mythmaking, which invites artists and authors to “queer” Mother Ireland, a pervasive cultural symbol in the Irish imaginary, in the form of poetry, short stories, creative non-fiction, and artwork. Submissions are currently open.
David Halperin argues that “Queer is by definition whatever is at odds with the normative, the legitimate, the dominant”. Consequently, I do not simply mean that this figure can be represented as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community – though that is a possibility – I mean instead that authors can re-imagine, distort, or completely de-mythologise this figure in an effort to disturb and dismantle the status quo. This call for submissions invites authors and artists’ responses to the concept of a queer Mother Ireland. Responses can be as abstract or as literal as creatives want.
Contributor payment: None.
More Information here:
quareeire.wordpress.comDeadline: 30 April 2025
The Wild Umbrella
The Wild Umbrella is an ambitious new literary journal, eager to publish compelling prose and poetry from Ireland and around the world. They are currently seeking submissions of fiction, non-fiction and poetry for inclusion in their second online issue.
Accepted forms: Fiction, non-fiction, poetry.
Contributors will receive €10 per poem and €25 per fiction story or non-fiction essay.
More Information here:
www.thewildumbrella.comDeadline: 2 May 2025
F(r)iction Spring 2025 Writing Contests
F(r)iction is a triannual literary journal that publishes work from both industry legends and emerging writers alike. Each issue is carefully curated to evaluate an important cultural topic, always from vastly different perspectives.
The F(r)iction team is currently accepting submissions to their Spring 2025 Writing Contents. Entrants can apply in any one of four categories: short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction and flash fiction. Full details are available on the F(r)iction website.
Accepted forms: Short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, flash fiction.
Prize: $2,100 spread out across four categories.
Entry fee: $10-$15 (depending on category).
More Information here:
frictionlit.orgDeadline: 4 May 2025
Goldsmith Festival Poetry Competition 2025
The Goldsmith Festival Poetry Competition is now open for submissions until May 4.
Accepted forms: Poems in the English language that do not exceed 70 lines.
Entry fee: €10 (up to 3 poems).
More Information here:
olivergoldsmithfestival.comDeadline: 4th May 2025
Writer in Residence, Department of English, Kildare County Council Library & Arts Services, Maynooth University
Applications are invited by writers of established reputation for one position co-funded by Maynooth University and Kildare Library and Arts Services, which celebrates a decade-long partnership with this residency. The residency will run from 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2026, with duties expected to average approximately six hours per week contact time with students and the wider public. Writers-in-Residence at Maynooth University have included Catherine Prasifka, Fíona Scarlett, Paul Lynch, Christodoulos Makris, Eoin McNamee, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Sue Rainsford, Susan Tomaselli, and Joanna Walsh.
More Information here:
universityvacancies.comDeadline: 5 May 2025
2025 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize
Australian Book Review welcomes entries to the 2025 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, one of the world’s leading prizes for an original short story. The prize – worth a total of AU$12,500 – is open to all writers writing in English. They are looking for original short stories of between 2,000 and 5,000 words on any subject and in any style. This year, the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is judged by Julie Janson, John Kinsella and Maria Takolander.
The winner will receive $6,000; second place will receive $4,000 and third place will receive $2,500. All three shortlisted stories will be published in Australian Book Review.
Entry costs AU$20 for current ABR subscribers or AU$30 for non-subscribers.
More Information here:
www.australianbookreview.com.auDeadline: 15 May 2025
The Stinging Fly: Climate Crisis Focus in Issue 53
Climate-themed fiction and poetry will be welcomed through the the Stinging Fly’s Submittable portal from May 1 to May 15 2025. The link to the submission form will be made available on their main submission page during this two-week period.
Accepted forms: poetry and fiction
Contributor payment rate: Fiction and nonfiction: €45 per magazine page, with a minimum/maximum payment of €325/€1200. Flash Fiction/shorter essays (1 – 2 pages): €150. Poetry: €45 per magazine page, with a minimum payment of €70 per poem.
More Information here:
stingingfly.orgDeadline: 19th May 2025
Birr Writers’ Residency Award 2025
Birr Writers’ Residency offers professional writers’ accommodation and workspaces for five nights, at Brendan House in the centre of Birr, County Offaly. This Georgian Heritage Town in the midlands of Ireland has a remarkable history and is embedded in a community with a thriving arts culture.
The purpose of the residency is to provide an opportunity for artists to focus on a writing project (current or new) in a tranquil environment which supports and values high professional artistic development.
Accepted forms: It is open to professional writers of any genre, e.g. literary fiction, poetry, playwrights, journalism or travel writing.
Award: five night residency, County Offlay
More Information here:
www.offaly.ieResidency date: May 23rd-25th 2025
All-Weather Words Writing Retreat
Join us for the inaugural All-Weather Words Writing Retreat in Castlebar, Co. Mayo. Hosted by award-winning local writer, Alice Kinsella, this weekend retreat is designed to give you time and space to read, relax, meet like-minded peers, spend time in nature, and write. We’re delighted to be presenting this introductory offer of €265 is to celebrate our first retreat. Spaces are extremely limited. The cost of your retreat includes accommodation, breakfast, and creative writing workshops with Alice Kinsella.
More Information here:
www.thelinenhall.comDeadline: 23rd May 2025
RTÉ Short Story Competition
The 2025 RTÉ Short Story Competition in honour of Francis MacManus, one of Ireland’s longest established and most significant literary prizes, is now open for entries.
Writers over the age of 18 living in Ireland, and Irish writers around the world are invited to submit their short story to the competition; this year, Tristan Rosenstock and Jan Carson join returning judge Neil Hegarty on the panel. The literary prize, set up in 1986 to honour writer and broadcaster Francis MacManus, recognises and rewards the best new Irish fiction writing for radio.
Prize: The top prize is now €5000.
Entry fee: no entry fee
Deadline: 25 May 2025
Oxford / 42 New Writing Prize
The Faculty of English at the University of Oxford is delighted to announce the launch of a multi-disciplinary storytelling competition in conjunction with management and production company, 42. The Oxford/42 New Writing Prize is looking for talented new voices in storytelling. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 living, working or studying in the UK and Ireland at the closing date for submissions.
Accepted forms: Aspiring novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters.
Prize: £1500 along with professional representation by 42.
More Information here:
www.humanities.ox.ac.ukDeadline: 31 May 2025
Fiction Factory Short Story Competition
Fiction Factory is currently seeking original short stories (max. 3,000 words in length) for its annual short story competition. Winning stories will be published on the Fiction Factory website, as well as in a planned anthology (to be published at a later date). Entries should be formatted as a Microsoft Word document and can be submitted directly via the Fiction Factory’s email address (words@fiction-factory.biz).
Accepted forms: Short story.
Prize: 1st place £500.
Entry fee: £7 (£13 for 2 stories, £18 for 3 stories).
More Information here:
fiction-factory.bizDeadline: 6 June 2025
Write By The Sea Writing Competition 2025
Write By The Sea Festival is currently accepting entries to its annual writing competition. Writers can apply in any one of four categories (fiction, flash fiction, poetry and non-fiction/memoir), with a cash prize of €500 and a free weekend pass to the Write By The Sea Festival 2025 available in each. See the festival’s website for full details.
Accepted forms: Short Story: max. 2,500 words; Flash Fiction: max. 700 words; Poetry: max. 40 lines; Personal Essay/ Memoir: max. 1,000 words.
Prize: The winner of each category will receive a cash prize of €500 and a free weekend pass to the Write By The Sea Festival 2025.
Entry fee: Entrants can submit as many entries as they wish at €10 per entry, or enter 3 pieces, in the same or different genres, for €25.
More Information here:
writebythesea.ieDeadline: 30 June 2025
Heroines Anthology / Heroines Women’s Writing Prize
Heroines Anthology publishes literary writing by women. The anthology focuses on telling women’s lost history, untold stories, and myths, fairy tales, folklore or legends reimagined from the perspective of their women characters.
The special theme for the next edition is witchcraft: from the history of witches and witch trials, to medicine women, mystics and herbalists, spells and enchantments, shapeshifters and familiars, covens, hags, crones and sabbats. They welcome writing on witchcraft as the old religion, remembered or imagined, and the depiction of witches in fairytale, folklore, literature and film (both good and bad) across cultures.
Anthology copies can be ordered at a 10% discount. All submissions are considered for the Heroines Women’s Writing Prize.
Prize: First prize winner receives $500. The first prize may be won by either a poem or a piece of short fiction. All short-listed entries are published in Volume 6 of the Anthology
Entry fee: $15 per poem.
More Information here:
www.writingtheheroine.comDeadline: 30 June 2025
The Moth Short Story Prize
The Moth Short Story Prize is an international prize, open to anyone from anywhere in the world, as long as their story is original and previously unpublished. The winners are chosen by a single judge each year, who reads the stories anonymously. Previous judges include Ottessa Moshfegh, Kevin Barry, Mark Haddon, Ali Smith and Sarah Hall.
Accepted forms: short story (3,000 word limit)
Prize: 1st prize €3,000, 2nd prize a week at Circle of Misse plus open travel stipend, 3rd prize €1,000.
Entry fee: €15 per story.
More Information here:
www.themothmagazine.comDeadline: 30 June 2025
The Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize 2025
The 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize is currently open for entries. The prize supports writers who have not yet published a book-length work, with no limits on age, gender, nationality, or background. The sixteenth edition of the prize also welcomes entries in translation – across all three categories – for the first time since the prize was founded by Dr. Susheila Nasta.
Prize: £1,000 in each category (fiction, life writing, poetry) and publication in Wasafiri’s print magazine.
Entry fee: Single entry £12, double entry £16. Subsidised entry also available.
More Information here:
www.wasafiri.orgDeadline: 30 June 2025
Wells Festival of Literature’s Creative Writing Competitions
Wells Festival of Literature is currently seeking entries to its annual writing competition. Entrants can apply in any of the following four categories: short stories, books for children, open poetry, and young poets. A total of £5,000 will be given out in cash prizes, with £100 reserved for a local writer in each category.
Accepted forms: Short stories, poetry, children’s books.
Prize: Various.
Entry fee: £6 per submission.
More Information here:
wellsfestivalofliterature.org.ukDeadline: 4 July 2025
The Hubert Butler Essay Prize 2025
The Hubert Butler Essay Prize was founded to encourage the art of essay-writing with a European dimension and to expand interest in Butler’s work. The subject for this year’s prize is: “‘Men must endure / Their going hence, even as their coming hither’ – King Lear. Have we no more active rights over life, birth and death?”
Accepted forms: Essays/non-fiction.
Prize: €1,500 first prize; two second prizes of €500.
Entry fee: None.
More Information here:
www.hubertbutleressayprize.comDeadline: 31 July 2025
Fiction Factory Poetry Competition 2025
Fiction Factory is currently seeking poems (max. 40 lines in length) for its annual poetry competition. Winning entries will be published on the Fiction Factory website, as well as in a planned anthology (to be published at a later date). The overall winner will receive £100, feedback on five poems, and an hour-long mentoring session. Entries should be formatted as a Microsoft Word document and can be submitted directly via the Fiction Factory’s email address (words@fiction-factory.biz).
Accepted forms: Poetry.
Prize: 1st place £100.
Entry fee: £5 (£9 for 2 poems, £12 for 3).
More Information here:
fiction-factory.bizOpen from 1 May to 31 July 2025
The Hope Prize 2025
The Hope Prize is an international writing competition open to writers aged 18 and over from anywhere in the world. Stories should align with the core themes of hope, courage, and resilience, as personally experienced or imagined by you, the writer. The competition is limited to prose stories only – either fiction or narrative nonfiction (including memoir). It does not cater to poetry, essays, or academic writing. Applications open 1 May.
Accepted forms: Short stories/narrative non-fiction.
Prize: 1st prize $10,000 AUD; 2nd prize $2,000 AUD; 3rd prize $1,000 AUD. All highly-commended and winning entries will be will be published in an anthology by Simon & Schuster Australia.
Entry fee: $20 AUD (30 June); $30 AUD (until 31 July).
More Information here:
www.thehopeprize.comDeadline: 15 August 2025
Tyrone Guthrie Centre Bursary Awards for Children’s Books Artists in 2025
Children’s Books Ireland and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre are pleased to announce an opportunity for Irish Children’s books artists and illustrators to avail of a week-long residency, to take place between 3rd and 10th November and 17th and 24th November 2025
- One bursary is on offer to support an upcoming, unpublished, aspiring Irish children’s author
- One bursary is on offer to support an emerging artist, published but in their early career
- One bursary is on offer to support a children’s artist published in the Irish language, at any stage in their career
- The additional bursaries are on offer to support mid-career artists
More Information here:
childrensbooksireland.ieDeadline: 29 September 2025
Mount Stewart Global Plant Networks Creative Residency
The National Trust and the Historic Houses Global Crossroads project are delighted to announce the Mount Stewart Global Plant Networks Creative Residency, the first of two major artist residencies due to take place in historic National Trust properties in 2026.
This Creative Residency will develop new work inspired by the global histories of the plants, trees and shrubberies that make Mount Stewart famous. Developed by Lady Edith Londonderry following the First World War, the gardens are home to flora from across Asia, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, which have thrived within Mount Stewart’s sub-tropical local climate.
Applications are open to artists working in any medium. The appointed creative resident will engage in a six-week residency from May to June 2026 based at Mount Stewart.
See website for details on how to apply.
More Information here:
treatiedspaces.comOpen from 31 July to 30 Nov 2025
Anthology Creative Competitions 2025
Six new writing competitions have just opened at Anthology, with various deadlines starting 31 July 2025. Check out each one individually on their website.
Prizes range from €300, €500 and €1000 with entry fees starting at €10/12.
Short story: https://anthology-magazine.com/awards/short-story-competition/
Poetry: https://anthology-magazine.com/awards/poetry-competition/
Flash Fiction: https://anthology-magazine.com/awards/flash-fiction-competition/
Travel Writing: https://anthology-magazine.com/awards/travel-writing-competition/
Personal Memoir: https://anthology-magazine.com/awards/memoir-competition/
Nature Writing: https://anthology-magazine.com/awards/nature-competition/
More Information here:
anthology-magazine.comDeadline: Ongoing
Guernica: A Magazine of Global Arts & Politics
Founded online in 2004, Guernica is an award-winning 501(c)3 non-profit magazine focused on the intersection of arts and politics. A home for incisive ideas and necessary questions, Guernica publish memoir, reporting, interviews, commentary, poetry, fiction, and multimedia journalism exploring identity, conflict, culture, justice, science, and beyond. They offer honoraria of $50 for poetry, $100 for original essays, and $150 for original fiction and for reportage/journalism.
More Information here:
www.guernicamag.comDeadline: Ongoing
PN Review
PN Review considers submissions in hard copy form only (unless you are an individual subscriber to the magazine, in which case electronic submissions, word files rather than PDFs, will be considered). Writers wishing to send work should familiarise themselves with PN Review. Submissions should generally not exceed fifteen double-spaced pages of work (prose) or four poems/five pages (verse in English or translation). Copies of the original texts should accompany translations where possible. We discourage simultaneous submissions. Writers wishing to propose projects should send a synopsis and covering letter, with sample pages, having first ascertained from the website that the kind of proposal is suitable for PN Review.
We publish no short stories, children’s prose/poetry and very little non-poetry related work (academic, biography etc.) at the current time. We are not considering fiction in English or in translation at this time.
More Information here:
www.pnreview.co.ukDeadline: Ongoing
The Poetry Review
The Poetry Review, founded in 1912, is the magazine of the Poetry Society, UK, and has a long-standing policy of publishing the very best work by new, up and coming poets, and established poets. All submissions are read by the editor and considered on an equal basis. Unfortunately, due to the volume of submissions we receive, we cannot offer any individual criticism. Our aim is to accept or reject work within three months – but please read, and follow, the submission guidelines below, in order to facilitate our response.
More Information here:
poetrysociety.org.ukDeadline: Ongoing
The Dublin Review
The Dublin Review welcomes submissions of fiction and non-fiction previously unpublished in the English language. We do not accept poetry submissions. We especially encourage submissions from members of groups traditionally underrepresented in literary magazines and other cultural forums.
