You all know how much I love short stories, right? Well, enough to have published two collections so far, Infinite Waters being the latest one.
I recently entered a new short story of mine in a competition organized by Almond Press. While on their Dystopian Stories site, I noticed they have this great page with all sorts of short story competitions, with prizes up to $14,000. Naturally, I had to share.
And if you’re looking to get your short story published, check with my publisher friend Dan Dombrowski: he’s looking for stories to include in the next issue of his excellent Nonlocal Science Fiction Magazine.
Competition | Country | Closing Date | Max Words | Entry Fee | Top Prize |
The Pigeonhole Short Story Competition | International | August 3rd | 5,000 | Free | Publication |
The Reading Room Short Story Comp | International | October 20th | 2,000 | £3 | £50 + Publication |
Less than 100 words | International | Weekly competition | 100 | £20 | 99p |
The Short Story | International | Monthly | 2000 | £4.99 | £250 |
Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition | International | July 31st | 3,000 | £5 | €500 |
“Aestas” Short Story Contest | International | September 30th | 7,000 | $10 | $150 |
Wells Festival of Literature Writing Competition | International | July 31st | 2,000 | €15 | €2000 |
Cro Magnon Short Story Competition 2015: Primitive Humanity |
UK | September 31st | 3,000 | £5 | £100 |
Ilkley Literature Festival Competitions | International | July 31st | 3,000 | £5 | £200 |
Norwich Writers Short Fiction Competition | International | July 31st | 3,000 | £7 | £500 |
The Irish Times Amateur Travel Writer Competition | Ireland | September 26th | 600 | Free | Travel Assignment |
Alfie Dog Short Story Competition | International | September 30th | 2,000 | Check website | £200 |
2015 Rocky Coast Writing Contest for the Maine Review | International | 6pm (BST) every Friday | 2,000 | $10 | $100 |
International Hysteria Writing Competition | International | August 31st | 2,000 | £5.00 | £400 |
The British Fantasy Society Short Story Competition 2015 | International | June 30th | 5,000 | £5.00 | £100, £50, £20 |
Daily Science Fiction | International | — | 1,500 | $0.08 /word |
Free |
Bath Flash Fiction Award | International | Upon receipt of 1000 entries | 300 | £9 | £1000 |
Erewash Writers Short Story Competition | International | 24th September | 2,000 | £3 | £100 |
The Sunday Times Short Story Prize | International | 26th September | 6,000 | Free | £30,000 |
Zoetrope All-Story’s Annual Fiction Contest | International | 1st October (tentative) | 5,000 | $35 | $1,000 |
Aura Estrada Short Story Contest | International | 1st October | 5,000 | $20 | $1,500 |
Danahy Fiction Prize | International | 30 November | 5,000 | $20 | $1,000 |
Manchester Fiction Prize | International | 29th August | 2,500 | £17.50 | £10,000 |
Scottish Arts Club Short Story Competition | International | 12th September | 1,500 | £10 | £800 |
For an updated version of the page, don’t forget to bookmark the Dystopian Stories Creative Writing Competitions page. If you’d like to add an event to their list, you can contact them using this submission form.
Reblogged this on theowlladyblog.
Thanks so much for sharing! I was thinking of starting to submit short stories, but there’s always something else to do…like write another one. 🙂
Lol – how true 😀
Thanks Nicholas. I used to write more short stories years back but not so much these days. Thanks for the information. It might come handy.
Best of luck if you do take part in any of these 🙂
Reblogged this on Margaret Langstaff.
Good luck with the competition, and thank you for sharing the others 🙂
A pleasure! Hope to see you in one of them 🙂
This is a very handy list. Thanks, Nicholas. I adore short stories and am practically addicted to reading them, writing them, and blogging them. The companionship of flash fiction during a lunch hour makes a good day. While my books have won some awards, I haven’t done short story competitions much. You’ve inspired me, Nicholas! I have a few Kindle Singles but sales are spotty. Nicholas, do you think collections of short stories are more marketable than single shorts on Amazon?
I’m so glad to hear that my post has inspired you! 🙂
As for your question, I haven’t seen any data on that. Or, to be more precise, I’ve seen contradictory data. So, in all honesty, I don’t know.
I do know what makes financial sense, though: a 20,000 book (novella size) may contain four 5,000-words short stories and sell for $2.99 – so you’d make $2.10 on each sale.
If each of the short stories sells for $0.99, you’d make $0.30 on each sale. In other words, you need to sell seven times as many singles.
To me, that implies that selling collections is seven times easier – unless you’re looking to saturate the market instead of making money 🙂
Yes, you make a good point. I sell my short stories as singles right now for 99 cents and money is not the object, but building readership is. Part of the problem is where does one promote short stories for 99 cents? Facebook groups and Twitter for short fiction doesn’t seem to connect, and most internet promotion sites require book length fiction.
Sounds like you’ve done your homework, so if you wish to share what you’ve discovered so far on a guest post, I’d love to host you 🙂
@Paula – Can you combine them? All I say is, “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. It had 101 stories. Once I heard the presentation of a gut, who said that 101 is the magic number, but a) I have forgotten who it was and b) I cannot remember that this person quoted any research. Maybe s/he just adopted the idea because Canfield was so successful with his “Chicken Soup”
Thanks for the link to the short story competitions. I entered something in the RPLA for Florida. It didn’t get far. I think it has some legs on it – just needs a different track to run on!
In that case, I hope one of these alternatives proves to be just the right track for you 🙂
Thank you for sharing! 🙂
A pleasure! I do hope you take part in some of these 🙂
I would love to. I need to clean off my plate for the next month or so before I can even think of adding anything else for now. But I’ve definitely bookmarked the links. Thanks again. 🙂
Reblogged this on Barrow Blogs: .
interesting info. I’m always so torn about writing short stories with books in the works, screaming for attention. I don’t know how you do everything you do. Amazing.
You’re too sweet, as always 🙂
I use short stories to “wash the palate” – pretty much like a lemon sorbet between dishes. When I collect enough of them, I send some to competitions and publish the rest in collections. It’s pretty simple that way 🙂
😀 You make it sound so effortless!
Lol – well, *some* effort might be involved 😀
Jackpot! Thanks a lot. My money worries are finally over 😉
Lol – oh, absolutely. Minus my standard finder’s fee, of course 😀
Cool. How does a cut of 0.763% of the post-tax and post-spending-spree profits grab you? Along with car, dental and other benefits, of course.
I’m afraid that won’t do at all. I was planning to spend my fat profits on a motorbike, to join the sports car already in my desk drawer.
Thanks Nicolas, I might try my hand at that.
Leslie
Excellent! Best of luck, and do let me know how it goes 🙂
If I win the prize you’ll probably know. Chuckle.
Leslie
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
For all of you who write short stories, Nicholas Rossis has the mother lode of competitions.. I have not entered a story for several years but I think I might just get on with it… thanks Nicholas for the prompt..
Wonderful info! Saves having to search for oneself, and makes it easier to find out which have too high a fee. Thanks, Nicholas!
(By the way, I think the posting for Daily Sci-Fi is backwards: Free to submit, pays $0.08/word. Yes?)
Lol – probably. I’ll check, thanks 🙂
Reblogged this on FastPencil.com Self-Publishing Blog.
Great info, thanks. I’m looking forward to reading your book…love those short story collections ! ☺
That’s such a wonderful thing to hear; thank you! 😀
Which one have you got? I’d be happy to send you the other one as a thank-you gift for all your support 🙂
Thank you, but no need. I love buying them. It’s a way to appreciate and reinforce the writer’s effort. ❤️
I wish you lived closer, so I could bring you some cookies. As it is, I hope this will do:
https://a121.g.akamai.net/7/121/21164/20120106105918/flowercontent.net/fyf/images/products/large/WGX772.jpg
Reblogged this on BOOK CHAT and commented:
Do you write short stories? Nicholas Rossis shared links to creative writing contests.
Good luck, Nicholas!
Thank you, Michelle! Likewise, if you choose to participate in any of these 🙂
I really have to start writing these one day. 🙂
Sometimes I wonder if I should really be self-publishing my short stories, or sending them to competitions and magazines.
You know what I’d suggest, but it’s your call. I do think they’re quite good if that helps.
Thanks! 🙂
Reblogged this on Legends of Windemere and commented:
Step into the ring . . . sort of . . . Just have fun.
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
LOTS of links to LOTS of Creative Writing Competitions – GOOD LUCK EVERYONE 😀
A very useful list, Nick, thank you and good luck with your entries.
Thanks, Ali! I do hope you’ll enter some of these yourself 🙂
I may do that… Not had much success so far this year, though!
Lol – what hope do I have, then, if a wonderful writer like you has no luck? 😀
Ah, your Greek blarney is back… Are you sure you don’t have any Irish ancestors, lol!
Lol – I think the Greek part is more than enough 😀
I think Greek and Irish would be a wonderful combination!!!
Scary. We’d take over the world in no time 😀
Well wouldn’t it be a fun place to live then???
😀
Good luck with your entry!
Thanks! I can’t even remember which one of these it was; I have to check my emails 😀
Heheh, if not you’ll find out when they get back to you 😉
That happened when Runaway Smile won the International Book Award. I had completely forgotten all about it until the email came 😀
🙂
No wonder you are so cool. @Nicholas. It also happened to a school college of mine who won a major science award in Austria. She told me, it took so long, which makes sense when it comes to the sciences (physics) almost half a year, by the time it actually happened she had forgotten. LOL
Lol – thanks for the “coolness” comment. It has more to do with my goldfish memory, of course 😀
That’s a handy list Nicholas, and my first experience of realising how many opportunities there are. Some of them do seem to be simple money-raisers though.
‘Less than 100 words’ costs £20 to enter, but has a prize of 99p?
Still, I have no doubt that the cachet of winning may well boost sales of existing work, so good luck to everyone entering them.
Best wishes, Pete.
A fair point (and one that’s crossed my mind, too, to be honest) 🙂
@beetleypete
Personally I think winning a half a dozen award s is enough. How much more multi-award winning than multi-award winning can one get? Probably the first two or three awards are really important and after that this gets to be a difficult question. In the past I used to think that it’s not important but I happen to know that Jim Carrey enters each of his kids’ books at the Readers Favorite Award. That’ s Jim Carrey. One would think he does not need any awards. Since he (or his publisher) enters apparently there must be a reason.
An interesting perspective. Thanks for that!
I have to agree that six awards is enough. i would consider myself lucky to receive one, if I ever entered any such competitions. I wish everyone well, with whatever they do to get recognition for their work.
Regards from Norfolk. Pete.
Amazing! I was just trying to figure out where to start searching for short story competitions.
I was looking for competitions myself a couple of weeks ago, which is why I was so happy to discover this. Glad to have helped!
Reblogged this on Books and More.
Good luck with this Nicholas. Having read ‘Infinite Waters’ – I would hope that you win a major award.
Each story stands on its own…and as mentioned before, when I came to the of end of one story I was sad, but then immediately gripped by the next.
Have a lovely day. Janet.:)
That’s such a sweet thing to say; thank you!!! The day is certainly lovelier now 😀
Good…and hope you enjoy a lovely weekend. Janet:)
Thanks! You too 🙂