Tag Archives: Creative Writing

awards, competition, Events, Opportunities

COMMONWEALTH SHORT STORY PRIZE

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Application Deadline: 2 November 2024, 12pm GMT

LOCATION: United Kingdom

The search for some of the Commonwealth’s best short story writers has begun again. Commonwealth citizens aged 18 and over can enter a short story of 2000-5000 words for a chance to win £5,000.

ELIGIBILITY:

The prize is free to enter and open to any citizen of a Commonwealth country aged 18 and over. It is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words).

Entrants must be citizens of a Commonwealth country – please see Section 5 for the list of Commonwealth countries – or stateless persons currently residing in a Commonwealth country. The Commonwealth Foundation will request verification of citizenship status before winners are selected. Entries from citizens of non Commonwealth countries are not eligible.

For regional purposes, entries will be judged by country of citizenship. Where the writer has dual citizenship (of two Commonwealth countries), the entry will be judged in the region where the writer is permanently resident.

There is no requirement for the writer to have current residence in a Commonwealth country, providing that they are a citizen of a Commonwealth country.

Entrants must be aged 18 years or over on 1 November 2024.

All entries will be accepted at the discretion of the Commonwealth Foundation which will exercise its judgement, in consultation with the prize chair, in ruling on questions of eligibility. The ruling of the chair on questions of eligibility is final, and no further correspondence will be entered into.

Entries from previous overall winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are not eligible. Entrants who have won the regional prize three times are also not eligible to submit to the prize.

Entries from current staff at the Commonwealth Foundation are not eligible. Entries must be unpublished and remain unpublished in any language until 1 May 2025.

If your entry has been shortlisted or won a prize in other competitions, provided it has not been published, it is eligible.

BENEFIT:

One of the regional winners is then selected as the overall winner, who receives £5,000.

The regional winners will receive £2,500.

All five regional winning stories will be published on Granta

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awards, competition, Events, Opportunities

APILA FIRST IMPRESSION AWARD

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Application Deadline: 16 February 2025

LOCATION: Spain

The publishing house Apila Ediciones, in collaboration with the School of Design of Aragón and with the support of the Zaragoza City Council, announces the Apila’s First Impression Award 2025, the thirteenth edition of an International Illustrated Children’s Book competition aimed at strengthening graphic and literary creation by supporting illustrators who have not yet published any books.

ELIGIBILITY:

All illustrators who wish to participate, of any nationality, over 18 years old, may enter this award without any limitation on the number of projects. A necessary condition for participation is not having any published children’s book with an ISBN until June 14, 2024. However, those who have one or more self-published books with an ISBN may participate, provided that these books were not published through a publishing house or editorial services company. In cases where the project is a collaboration (text by one person and illustrations by another), the condition of not having any published books applies exclusively to the illustrator. Additionally, the rights to the submitted works must be free of commitments to third parties.

The works submitted, written in Spanish or English, may be originals or adaptations of stories free of copyright.

The projects may have any format, but may not exceed 40 pages (20 double pages), including legal pages (credits page and title page) and flyleaves. The cover: front cover, spine and back cover are not included in the 40 pages of the book.

To avoid postal mailings, entrants should submit the following files by e-mail to apilaediciones@gmail.com, indicating in the header of the e-mail message, “LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_FIRST_PRINTING”:

A PDF file (maximum 15 megabytes) of the finished book or, failing that, of the layout of the book with a minimum of five finished double-page spreads and the rest sketched. The file must be named, indicating the surname and first name of the illustrator plus the word “LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_BOOK.”.

BENEFIT:

The award will consist of the signing of a professional contract with Apila Ediciones for the publication of the selected work, which will include the payment to the author(s) of €4,000, equivalent to 10% of the value of the first print run of the book, as well as the dissemination and international distribution of the book. In the event that the rights of the project are shared between writer and illustrator, the percentage of 10% will be divided between them according to the prior agreement reached by both.

The award will be granted to one project only

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