Competitions, Awards & Opportunities
Entries must be fiction but can be on any subject and written in any style or form. International competition based in the UK. Entries must be between 180-360 words.
The Horne Prize will be given for an essay of exceptional quality, of no more than 3000 words. The essay must address the theme ‘Australian Life’, be that a profile or a reported feature centred on a particular issue, or a series of vignettes or something else that explains who we are and how we live. Entrants need not be published or professional writers, but craft skills of professional calibre are essential. First prize is $15 000.
Knightville Poetry Contest: Three poems per entry. Up to 150 lines per poem. Machigonne Fiction Contest: Submit up to 5000 words of prose, anything from flash to long stories. Novel excerpts are welcome, as long as the manuscript functions as a stand-alone story. Previously unpublished work only. International submissions welcome.
The Somerset National Novella Writing Competition is offered by Somerset College and is part of its Celebration of Literature Festival. Competition open to all Australian secondary students. Entrants must be under 19 years of age at close of entries. Required word length is 8,000 to 20,000 words.
A free to enter short story writing competition. Ongoing monthly competition. Deadline: Last day of every month. Prize: $30. Submit short stories of up to 3,000 words. Open theme.
The Ampersand Prize aims to find brilliant debut novels by YA and middle-grade writers. Since its launch, the Ampersand Prize has quickly become the premier award for debut novelists in Australia and New Zealand. Manuscripts must be full-length novels. MG novels are usually between 30,000 and 50,000 words long. YA novels are usually between 50,000 and 90,000 words long.
The prize was created to discover and publish new writing talent. The winner of the prize is offered a publishing contract with Impress books with the aim of publishing the book in the year following the award. The Impress team also looks at all entries, whether on the shortlist or not, with a view to publication by Impress Books. 2019 dates to be confirmed
Founded by the world-renowned BBC Aeronautics Correspondent Reg Turnill and his wife, Margaret, to celebrate the life and works of HG Wells and encourage creative writing, especially among the young, the prestigious HG Wells Short Story Competition offers generous Senior and Junior prizes and free publication of all shortlisted entries in a quality, professionally published paperback anthology. 2019 dates to be confirmed.
Knightville Poetry Contest: Three poems per entry. Up to 300 lines per poem. Machigonne Fiction Contest: Submit up to 7,500 words of prose, anything from flash to long stories. Novel excerpts are welcome, as long as the manuscript functions as a stand-alone story. Previously unpublished work only. International submissions welcome.
The Nita B Kibble Awards (The Kibble Awards) recognise the works of Australian women writers of fiction or non-fiction prose. The work must be about or in connection with life in Australia and must be capable of being classified as ‘life writing’ which includes novels, autobiography, biography, travel and other writing with a strong personal element. Please refer to the Kibble website for more information on the next awards.