Thursday 15 July 2010

Closing soon, twitch

Here's the round up I promised of places you could send stories to this month.

Closing soon:

Wasafiri New Writing Prize
Up to 3000 words
£300 first prize
£5 entry
Closes 30th July

Hay-on-Wye Short Story Contest
up to 2000 words
£400 first prize
£6 entry
Closes 31st July

Narrative Magazine Short Story Contest
Up to 15000 words (that's right, big word count)
$3250 first prize (that's right, big first prize - generous 2nd and 3rd prizes too)
Entry $20
Closes 31st July
(I'm quite intrigued by this one - the prize fund is huge, the magazine looks good, and the results are announced September 1st - a tres short turnaround.)

HISSAC Open Short Story Competition
Up to 2500 words
£400 first prize
£5 entry
Closes 31st July
(I like this, from the website: "All stories on any theme are welcome, the more interesting and unusual the better")

Sean O' Faolain Story Competition
Up to 3000 words
First prize 1500 euros
15 euros entry fee
Closes 31st July
(This one is being solely judged by Tania Hershman, and she has, very generously, posted a blog about what she looks for when reading short stories, and another on judging competitions.)



I'd like to enter all these competitions but realistically might just manage one or two. Good luck if you go for any of them.


Other news - I woke up at 4am this morning with a twitch on the left side (my left) of my upper lip. You know one of those involuntary twitches that you usually get in your eye? My lip's doing that. It still is, sporadically, 12 hours later. It's quite subtle but if you look closely I look like I'm trying to snarl. That's all.

9 comments:

Dan Purdue said...

Nicely rounded-up, Teresa. I'm doing the Hay one - I was attracted to the "Avarice" theme, as you might expect. Hoping to get something off to the Sean O'Faolain one too.

The Narrative one's interesting. $20 is fairly steep, but it's a big prize fund. I might have a rummage around.

I wouldn't worry about the twitch - it's probably just your inner Elvis making his presence felt. Uh-huh-uh-huh, etc.

Teresa Stenson said...

Nice bit of serendipity to 'Avarice', ha. I did have to go to dictionary.com to find out what it meant though.

Is $20 about a tenner? It is steep, but obv in line with the prize fund. It'll depend on which stories I have ready if I enter that one, I think.

Elvis is still present but his spirit is fading. I won't miss him.

Dan Purdue said...

20 bucks is about £13. Not quite as expensive as I thought (I was thinking in Euros, for some reason).

I don't think I've got anything suitable, and there's no way I'll get time to write anything new.

Ah well, maybe next year...

Rachel Fenton said...

Ooh ooh, temptation. Been working on bloomin novel so long not had time to dust me other bits and bobs - will see what's lurking in the files! Cheers for posting this!

I get the twitchy lip sometimes - the eye more - need more sleep! And chocolate: chocolate cures everything! No, really, it does. In fact, I'm going to get some right now and before you know it I'll have a wee story to ping off somewhere (Recycle bin most likely but, ahem)...

Teresa Stenson said...

Chocolate is a reliable cure for all. I just ate chocolate ice cream in bed while reading... How decadent. I've never eaten ice cream in bed before, it was ace. I was ON rather than IN the bed, if I'm honest. It was still very care-free of me though.

Did you dust down a story or two? Maybe working on your novel will give you a new lease of life with a short story or two. Good luck in whatever you enter, m'dear.

Writing Wanton Wrongs said...

You are so generous with these competition pointers, thankyou.

The twich-It greatly worries me that I can do that twitch/sneer on the left side but never on the right. Then again, partial facial paralysis could be enough of an excuse for not writing..or not. Perhaps not. :)

Teresa Stenson said...

You're welcome, Pearl.

Same - I can do it on the left but not the right. Maybe I should do a poll, see if anyone can twitch ambidextrously...

Writing Wanton Wrongs said...

ah but how to proceed if it turns out everyone can only do it on the left side? Could check medical journals..but that would spoil the fun. Glad to know I'm not the only half hearted 'elvis'

Teresa Stenson said...

I thought about Googling it, but I reckon there are enough fellow procrastinating writers out there to feel they *have to* participate before they write the next word or 2 of their masterpieces.