March Roundup: Competitions, prizes and more!
Lots of opportunities for novelists, short story writers, essayists and poets 🌟 | Let's get your work out into the world!
Hello and Salam my friends,
Ramadan Mubarak! I hope you’re well and writing is going well too. Feels like it’s been a while since I’ve written here – I’ve been preoccupied with my thesis , and I’m trying to take life easy. Writing hasn’t actually been so bad, though most of it has been towards uni work; I’ve been having a really good time writing short stories and exploring different characters and voices.
Short stories are tough, but my supervisor has been so kind and helpful, and his generosity and approach allow me to not be afraid to show up on the page even if it’s a very crappy draft with barely head or tail. I’ve found the conversations from our meetings helpful in how I approach a short story. I am also excited to be tackling one of my biggest writing problems – the tendency to cram the plot with way too much, such that I don’t end up doing justice to each strand of the story.
I recently started working on a novel, and I’d been struggling with getting into flow, and it’s only after sharing my first chapter with my writing group and a conversation with a friend and fellow writer, that I realised I was repeating my error. Following our conversation, I returned to the drawing board to really strip back the story to its barebones, and I’m a lot more confident about where the story is headed now.
I’ve been thinking more and more about community on a small and large scale, and last week Friday, I was blessed with the opportunity to meet a member of this newsletter community in person. It brought me so much joy to hear her express her love for this space, and SubhanAllah, our meeting was the gift I didn’t realise I needed. I am so excited to be working with her on bringing to fruition one of the dreams I have for this community. Will be sharing more information in a future newsletter in shaa Allah.
Before sharing the many opportunities out in the world, I would like to leave you with an excerpt from care is a verb, empathy is not, Safia Elhillo’s most recent newsletter post, which has stayed with me since I encountered it earlier this week:
We are told so often and in so many ways that the role of the arts is to get people to care, but where is the proof? In an age of almost unlimited surveillance, almost unlimited documentation, what has the visibility of human suffering done to reduce human suffering? What has the performance of my suffering done to ease the suffering of my people, to stop the war, to feed the hungry, to bring back the dead? I do not say this as an expression of despair, as an excuse to throw my hands up. I say this only to remind myself who I am really talking to in my work, to remind myself to reject the outward-facing project of trying to humanize myself or my people to anyone who doesn’t already hold that a core belief. (read full post)
⚡️Opportunities to apply for:
A Public Space Writing Fellowship: For the short form (fiction and non-fiction) writers and poets, this fellowship is a great opportunity which includes editorial support to prepare your piece for publication in the magazine, a $1,000 honorarium, guest pass to attend Master Classes and much more. A Public Space publishes great work, so you will certainly be in good hands! | Deadline 31st March 2024
First Pages Prize: Calling al un-agented writers worldwide, this prize invites you to enter the first five pages (~1250 words) of a longer work of fiction or creative non-fiction. Winners receive cash awards, developmental mentorship and an agent consultation. | Deadline: 10th April 2024 | Entry Fee: $20
Working Class Writers Nature Prize: Are you a UK resident and the new voice in nature writing? Submit 1,000 words of your work – whether fiction, non-fiction or poetry, for a chance to win a cash prize, mentorship with an agent and a commissioning editor, a free Arvon course and much more. | Deadline: 19th April 2024
Cheshire Novel Prize: Open to unpublished, self-published or un-agented novelists of every genre. You need a 500-word synopsis and the first 5,000 words of your novel. There are so many perks to this prize such as the agent showcase for writers who make the top 100 (including longlist and shortlist). | Deadline: 1st May 2024 | Entry fee: £29
First Novel Prize: A literary contest open to unpublished and independetly published novelists – the aim is to discover an original new voice in fiction. All you need is submit a synopsis and opening extract from your novel, amounting to 5,000 words. | Deadline: 1st May 2024 | Entry fee: £25
Mo Siewcharran Prize 2024: One for the fantasy writers! Submit your 700-word synopsis and the first 10,000 words of your novel. The prize includes cash, mentorship opportunity with an editor, introductory meetings with two literary agents, consideration for publication among other perks. | Deadline 1st May 2024
The Yeovil Literary Prize: An international writing competition with five categories including novel, short story, poetry, children’s & young adult and ‘writing without restrictions’. Each category has a different rule and different entry fees, and there are different cash prizes to be won too. | Deadline: 31st May 2024
The Wilde Foundation Writers’ Festival Short Story and Poetry Competition: Submit 3,000 words of fiction or up to 3 poems. There are categories for many age groups, and the winners will be offered a free place on Curtis Brown Creative six-week courses, for their respective genre. | Deadline: 31st May 2024
Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize: Submit your short work (~3,000 words) of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. Open to anyone who’s not published or signed a contract to publish a book-length work. | Deadline: 1st July 2024 | Entry fee: £12
2025 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition: If you’re working on a non-fiction book whether narrative or experimental in nature, this one may be for you. There’s a $1000 cash prize and a publication opportunity with Vine Leaves Press. | Deadline: 1st July 2024 | Entry fee: $25
One More Chapter: If you’re an un-agented writer with a complete novel manuscript, this one’s for you. This publisher, a HarperCollins imprint, accepts fiction in the following genres: Crime & Thriller, Historical, Romance, Contemporary, Romantasy, Horror, YA/Crossover/Adult fantasy.
✍🏾Writing Prompt
Today’s prompt is from a poem by a poet and essayist I greatly admire, Hanif Abdurraqib (read the full poem here):
… speaking of the heart, I love most what it is until it decides / it isn’t
Feel free to share your writing in the comments:
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Till next Friday,
Suad x