Competition
Meridian Writing is pleased to announce our spring short story writing competition is now open. We will accept stories of up to 3,000 words, and is open to both published and unpublished writers.
Please note that all entries must be accompanied by an entry form and correct fee.
First Prize £100
Second Prize £50
Third Prize £25
In addition to Prize Money, all winning authors will receive a firstwriter.com voucher worth $15/£10/€15, allowing them to take out a free subscription to firstwriter.com, providing access to details of hundreds of publishers, literary agents, writing competitions, and magazines. firstwriter.com will contact the winning authors directly.
Closing Date - 31st March, 2010
Competition Rules
- The competition is open to both published and unpublished authors writing in any genre, including children's fiction. Stories must not have been previously published elsewhere either in print or online.
- Authors must be sixteen years of age or older.
- Stories should be a maximum of 3,000 words in length, but there is no lower limit.
- The entry fee for each story is £5.00 GBP. There is no limit on the number of entries any one person may enter but no author may win more than one prize in any competition. Multiple entries may be made on one entry form with all stories listed.
- Each entry must be accompanied by an entry form (which can be copied from our website, or obtained from our contact address: please enclose a SAE) or the Online Entry Form.
- The Judges wish to make an unbiased decision on all entries, so please ensure that only the story title is printed on the story itself. Any entries which do not comply with this rule will be disregarded from the competition.
- The closing date for the current competition is: 31st March.
- The winners will be announced in April, with the winning stories being published on the Meridian Writing website, and in a planned annual anthology.
Entry Details
- If you would like confirmation that your postal entry has been received, or the list of winners, please enclose a suitable SAE (either marked 'Received' or 'Winners'). Online entries will receive a confirmation email once we have determined the correct fee has been received.
- Your story should be clearly typed or printed in English (12pt, Times New Roman preferred) on one side only A4 paper, a word count included and double spaced. Include a 'header' which contains your story title and page number. Online entries will be accepted as an attachment saved as a .doc (or equivalent) file and mailed to our email Entry Address. Please ensure stories are emailed at the same time as the online form is submitted to avoid confusion.
- If someone else is paying for you via PayPal, please enter a note to this effect to avoid any confusion.
- Please refer to the 'Contact Us' page to see details on how to pay the entry fee.
- No stories will be returned, so make sure you keep a copy of your story.
- The winning and runner-up stories will be published on the Meridian Writing website.
- The Judges' decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
- Winning authors will be required to supply a short (50 - 100 word) bio which will be published alongside their story.
- Copyright remains with the author, but Meridian Writing has the unrestricted right to publish winning stories online and once in any future planned anthology. Additional publishing of any stories will be made with the consultation and agreement of the author.