Competitions, submissions and other opportunities
The latest writing competitions and submissions windows for writers.
Deadline: 23 June 2025
FFF Competition Twenty-Eight
FFF (Free Flash Fiction) is currently seeking submissions for its twenty-eighth flash fiction competition. Writers are invited to submit works between 100 and 300 words in length on any subject or theme. Submissions can be made via FFF’s website.
Accepted forms: Flash fiction.
Prize: 1st prize €500 and publication of FFF’s website; highly commended €70 and publication; shortlisted €60 and publication.
Entry fee: £3.95 per story (or £2.55 via BACS).
More Information here:
freeflashfiction.comDeadline: 27 June 2025
Gradam Filíochta Bliantúil i gCuimhne ar Mhícheál Ó hAirtnéide 2025 / Michael Hartnett Annual Poetry Award 2025
The Michael Hartnett Poetry Award is an annual poetry award given in alternate years to books of poetry in either English or Irish. This year, the award will be give to a poet writing in Irish. Specifically, the award of €8,000 will be made to the winning poet on the basis of a second or subsequent book of poetry, published in the last two years, i.e. 2023 – 2024. This year’s adjudicators are Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhaigh and Louis de Paor.
See the Limerick County Council website for details on how to apply.
More Information here:
www.limerick.ieDeadline: 30 June 2025
Anthropocene Poetry Magazine
Anthropocene is currently seeking submissions of original, unpublished poems for its next issue, guest-edited by poet Joe Wright. Writers are invited to submit up to three poems, along with a short biographical note, to anthropocenepoetry@gmail.com.
Accepted forms: Poetry.
Contributor fee: None.
Entry fee: None.
More Information here:
www.anthropocenepoetry.orgDeadline: 30 June 2025
The Eavan Boland Award 2025
The Eavan Boland Award is a biennial poetry award founded by Poetry Ireland which seeks to celebrate Eavan Boland’s legacy as a pathfinder, teacher and leader in the world of poetry by fostering emerging and mid-career poets via two cross-residency opportunities at Trinity College Dublin’s School of English and University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing. This year’s selectors are John McAuliffe, Professor of Poetry at the University of Manchester, and Dr Rachael Hegarty, poet, educator and Dubliner.
Who is it for? Early-career poets based in the UK and mid-career poets based in Ireland.
Prize: One early-career UK poet will receive a residency at the TCD School of English (Creative Writing) in November 2025, and one mid-career Irish poet will receive a residency at the University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing in October 2025. Each poet will receive €2,000, plus travel, accommodation, and two post-residency mentoring sessions with the adjudicators, plus the opportunity to participate in seminars and creative discussions.
More Information here:
www.poetryireland.ieDeadline: 30 June 2025
The Four Faced Liar: Competition Issue
The Four Faced Liar is currently seeking submissions for its upcoming ‘competition issue’. Writers can apply in any one of the following four categories, each of which will be judged by a special guest writer: short stories (judged by Roisín O’Donnell), poetry (judged by Micheál McCann), non-fiction (judged by Tim MacGabhann) and flash fiction (judged by Cathy Sweeney). Each selected piece will be published in Issue 4 of the Four Faced Liar.
See the Four Faced Liar’s website for full details on word limits and how to submit.
Prize: 1st prize €500; 2nd prize €300; a number of highly commended writers will receive a prize of €200 for short stories/non-fiction and €100 for poetry.
Entry fee: €12.
More Information here:
www.the4facedliar.comDeadline: 30 June 2025
The Frazzled Lit Short Story Award 2025
Frazzled Lit is currently accepting submissions of original short stories (750-2,000 words) for its annual short story competition. Entries must be made via Duosuma, and will be blind-read by Jennifer and Laura from Frazzled Lit. The overall winner will be chosen by Nuala O’Connor (author of Nora [2022] and Seaborne [2024]). All ten shortlisted stories will be published in a special issue of Frazzled Lit.
Accepted forms: Short stories.
Prize: 1st prize €1,000; 2nd prize €500; 3rd prize €300.
Entry fee: €12 (twenty free places available to low-income writers).
More Information here:
www.frazzledlit.comDeadline: 30 June 2025
Heroines Anthology / Heroines Women’s Writing Prize
Heroines Anthology publishes literary writing by women. It 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. The editors welcome writing on witchcraft as an old religion, remembered or imagined, and the depiction of witches in fairytale, folklore, literature and film (both good and bad) across cultures.
All submissions will be considered for the Heroines Women’s Writing Prize.
Accepted forms: Poetry, short fiction.
Prize: 1st prize $500. May be won by either a poem or a piece of short fiction. All short-listed entries will be published in Volume 6 of the anthology.
Entry fee: $15.
More Information here:
www.writingtheheroine.comDeadline: 30 June 2025
The Moth Short Story Prize 2025
The Moth Short Story Prize is an international short fiction 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.
The judge for the 2025 prize is Evie Wyld.
Accepted forms: Short stories (max. 3,000 words).
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
Poetry Ireland Review
Poetry Ireland Review is currently seeking submissions for Issue 146, guest-edited by Rooney Prize-winning poet Stephen Sexton. Of his approach Sexton says, ‘For Poetry Ireland Review 146, I invite poets new and established to send poems that surprise and delight in their turns and tones. Alongside those full of the mischief of midsummer, the folkloric, the fanciful, I welcome poems of skeptical magic and ordinary (and extraordinary) humanity: poems of the personal and the political, elegies and laments, war poems and love poems.’
Accepted forms: Poems, and proposals for articles and interviews, from Ireland and abroad, in Irish or English.
Contributor fee: €100 minimum.
Entry fee: None.
More Information here:
www.poetryireland.ieDeadline: 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.
Accepted forms: Fiction, life writing, poetry.
Prize: £1,000 for first prize in each category 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
Southword Creative Non-Fiction Award 2025
Southword is currently seeking pieces of creative non-fiction for its new, annual non-fiction award. The competition will be judged by Southword’s poetry editor, Patrick Cotter, and is open to writers working in the fields of memoir, innovative essay-writing, and/or a mixture of both. Submissions are to be made in either .doc, .rtf or .odt format and can be submitted up to 30 June.
Accepted forms: Creative non-fiction.
Prize: 1st prize will receive €1,000 and publication in Southword; eight runners up will receive €400 and publication in Southword.
Entry fee: €20.
More Information here:
munsterlit.ieDeadline: 30 June 2025
Wells Festival of Literature’s Creative Writing Competitions
Wells Festival of Literature is currently seeking submissions of original writing for its four annual writing competitions. Entrants can apply in any of the following categories: short stories, books for children, open poetry, and young poets. An amount of £5,000 will be given out in cash prizes across the four categories, with £100 being 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: 30 June 2025
The Lilliput Press: Manuscript Submissions 2025
The Lilliput Press is one of Ireland’s most prestigious publishing houses. They publish a wide variety of Irish-interest books, and are proud to represent authors such as James Joyce, John Moriarty, J.P. Donleavy and many others. They specialize in biography, historical non-fiction and memoir, and are also one of the leading fiction publishers in Ireland, having discovered exciting new talents such as Donal Ryan, Rob Doyle, Elske Rahill and Adrian Duncan.
Accepted forms: Literary fiction, non-fiction and history with an Irish interest.
Guidelines: Writers are invited to submit up to three chapters of their manuscript, along with a one-page cover letter featuring a synopsis of their book, a description of their writing background, and an explanation of why they believe the Lilliput Press to be the best fit for their work.
More Information here:
www.lilliputpress.ieDeadline: 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 public 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: 1st prize €1,500; two 2nd prizes of €500.
Entry fee: None.
More Information here:
www.hubertbutleressayprize.comDeadline: 9 July 2025
The John Broderick Residency 2025
Westmeath County Council Arts Office and the Arts Council are currently accepting applications from writers (in particular, writers of fiction) for the 2025 John Broderick Residency.
€16,500 will be granted to a selected professional writer for a 10-week period beginning in September 2025. An additional accommodation stipend of up to €1,200 will be made available where accommodation in Athlone is necessary. Writers must be able to demonstrate an ability to mentor emerging writers, young people and those interested in developing their writing skills in their application.
See the Westmeath Arts Office website for the full details on how to apply.
More Information here:
westmeathculture.ieDeadline 10 July 2025
Irish Country Magazine Short Story Competition
Irish Country Magazine is looking for readers and followers to send in works of fiction for its regular short story section. Stories must be at least 800 words but no longer than 1,000 words, and must revolve around the suggested theme – in the next issue, ‘Last Days of Summer’. Submissions are to be made to cmurrihy@irishcountrymagazine.ie with the words ‘Short Story Competition’ in the subject line. The winning story will be published inside the magazine, while the story that comes in second place will appear online.
Accepted forms: Short stories.
Contributor fee: None.
Entry fee: None.
More Information here:
irishcountrymagazine.ieDeadline: 15 July 2025
Ragaire Literary Magazine
Ragaire is currently seeking submissions of visual art, poetry, short stories and creative non-fiction for possible inclusion in its fourth issue (or until the maximum number of submissions has been met). Submissions can be made via the Google form on Ragaire’s website.
Accepted forms: Visual art, poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction.
Contributor fee: None.
Entry fee: None.
More Information here:
ragairemagazine.comDeadline: 18 July 2025
John Hewitt International Summer School 2025 Bursaries
The John Hewitt Summer School is currently accepting applications for its annual school bursary scheme for aspiring and emerging writers. Full bursaries including accommodation, and half-bursaries without accommodation, are available to those from the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) Council Area.
What does our bursary cover?
- Accommodation in Armagh for five nights (single en-suite)
- Creative writing course of your choice, with 6 hours tuition over 3 days
- Free tickets to all programme events (except Saturday workshops)
- Breakfast each morning, noon refreshments, and invitation to both dinner receptions
- Certificates of achievement
For any enquires about the bursary, contact festival@johnhewittsociety.org.
More Information here:
docs.google.comDeadline: 19 July 2025
CATZ: Community Action Tenants Zine
The Community Action Tenants Zine is currently open for submissions.
From CATU’s Instagram: ‘Do you have something to say about housing, home, or tenants’ rights? We’re looking for submissions! Deadline: 19th July at 5pm. We’re looking for writing, art, poetry, or reflections that speak to the realities and resistance of tenants and renters today.
Please send images or links of your work and your name, if you wish it to be stated to: catz@catuireland.org. In the case of text work we would appreciate 500 words max per person – we welcome pieces in any languages!’
More Information here:
www.instagram.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.bizDeadline: 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.
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: 31 July 2025
Wild Atlantic Words Short Story Competition 2025
The Wild Atlantic Words Festival is currently seeking submissions of original short stories for its annual short story competition – this year, to be judged by award-winning novelist Eimear McBride. Stories can run up to 3,000 words in length and should be submitted as a .pdf via the Wild Atlantic Words website.
Accepted forms: Short stories.
Prize: 1st prize €500; 2nd prize €250.
Entry fee: €10.
More Information here:
www.wildatlanticwords.ieDeadline: 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: 15 August 2025
Yale Drama Series for Emerging Playwrights 2026
The Yale Drama Series is currently seeking submissions of original, unpublished plays for the 2026 edition of its annual playwriting competition. The winner of the competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000; receive publication of their manuscript by Yale University Press; and receive a staged reading at the Schwarzman Center at Yale University.
The winning play will be selected by the series’ current judge, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
Accepted forms: Plays.
Entry fee: None.
See the Yale University Press website for full details on page count and formatting.
More Information here:
yalebooks.yale.eduDeadline: 31 August 2025
Wild Atlantic Writing Awards (WAWA) 11th Edition
Wild Atlantic Writing Awards has announced that its upcoming competition will revolve around the theme of ‘secrets’.
From the WAWA website: ‘Secrets mean many things to many people but one thing is certain, they are hard to keep and always can have intriguing consequences. Benjamin Franklin summed it up best when he said, “Three people may keep a secret, but only if two of them are dead.”‘
Accepted forms: Flash fiction and creative non-fiction (max. 500 words).
Prize: Winners in each category will receive €500, or €1,000 off any one of WAWA’s writing retreats in 2025 or 2026.
Entry fee: €10.
More Information here:
www.irelandwritingretreat.comDeadline: 28 August 2025
The 2026 V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize
The Royal Society of Literature is currently seeking entries of original, previously unpublished stories between 2,000 and 4,000 words in length for its annual V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. The competition, now in its 25th year, will be judged by writers Kirsty Gunn, Anjali Joseph, and Tom Vowler. For full details see the RSL’s website.
Accepted forms: Short stories.
Prize: £1,000 and publication in the RSL Review.
Entry fee: £8 per entry (fifty free places for low-income writers).
More Information here:
rsliterature.orgDeadline: 10 September 2025
2025 Taiwan-Ireland Poetry Translation Competition
Founded in 2021 by the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, the Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation at Trinity College Dublin and the Taipei Representative Office in Ireland, the Taiwan-Ireland Poetry Translation Competition invites translators from around the world to translate Taiwan poetry into English, fostering lively cross-cultural dialogue and inspiring a wealth of interpretive creativity.
This year’s featured poem is ‘Like a Song — To 107-year-old Mumu on her journey’ (如歌——致107歲mumu遠行) by Indigenous Taiwan poet and academic Dong Shu-Ming (董恕明). A moving tribute to her grandmother’s 107-year life, the poem weaves together Mandarin, English, Puyuma, and traditional melodies, echoing the century-long story of the Puyuma people and showcasing the rich linguistic and cultural depth of Taiwan Indigenous literature.
For full details on how to apply, see the application form on Google Forms.
More Information here:
docs.google.comDeadline: 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.comDeadline: 30 September 2025
Creative Writing Ink Short Story Competition 2025
Creative Ink is currently seeking submissions of original short stories (max. 3,000 words) for its annual short story competition. Entries can focus on any theme, subject or genre, and can be made via Creative Ink’s Submittable page. Writers are allowed to submit multiple entries as long as each entry is paid for individually and includes a separate entry form.
Accepted forms: Short stories.
Prize: 1st prize £1000, a free creative writing course of the winner’s choice, and publication on Creative Ink’s website; runners-up £200 each and publication on Creative Ink’s website.
Entry fee: £12.
More Information here:
creativewritingink.co.ukOpen 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.
