Writing Down Under
Writing resources for Australia and New Zealand.
Competitions open to southern writers
The ABC Fiction Award is presented annually to the winner of a nationwide competition held by ABC Books, with the support of ABC Local Radio and ABC Television.
The competition seeks the best, original, unpublished, adult fiction manuscript, written by an Australian resident over the age of 18. The submitted manuscript cannot be under consideration by any other publisher or award and should be a minimum of 60,000 words and a maximum of 120,000 words in length. Entry fee is $25.00. For more information,visit here.
One of the most enticing literary competitions in the world, The Bridport Prize, with a £5000 1st prize for short stories and for poems, is the biggest open creative writing competition in the English language. Register online to send your entries from their secure site or buy an anthology of past winners. For further information, visit here.
Celapene Press - Charlotte Duncan Award
Celapene Press invites you to enter a competition for a short story for young readers aged 9-12 years. A percentage of the proceeds from the awards is donated to the neo-natal unit at the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital. The entry fee is $8.00 or or $20 for three entries. For further details, visit here.
Firstwriter.com poetry competition
The prize for first place is £500, with $150 for the best runner-up from the United States and £100 for the best runner-up from the United Kingdom (haven't yet discovered any bonuses for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere). Ten special commendations will also be awarded and all the winners will be published in firstwriter.magazine and receive a free year's subscription to the site worth $29.99 / £19.99! For entry details, visit here.
Firstwriter.com short story competition
Entries must be up to 3000 words in length but can be written in any style and on any subject. First prize is £200. For details of fees etc, visit here.
(Firstwriter.com also boasts a comprehensive data base of competitions, many of which are relevant and open to writers in Australia, New Zealand and our near neighbours. More information is available from their website - www.firstwriter.com)
Jane Austen Short Story Award
The inspiration for your short story must be taken from any theme in a Jane Austen Novel. It can be inspired by one of her characters or even a single sentence or paragraph in one of her works. First prize is £1,000 and two runners up will receive £200 each. Details can be found here.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest
The annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books. Any type of original short story, essay or other work of prose is eligible. Prizes totaling $5,350 will be awarded, including a top prize of $2,000.
Submission Period
Entries accepted July 15, 2008-March 31, 2009 (postmark dates). Early submission is encouraged.
What to Submit
Short stories, essays or other works of prose, up to 5,000 words each. There are no restrictions on style or theme. For more information visit here.
Katherine Susannah Prichard Short Fiction Award
Closing date: Friday September 25, 2009
Word length: 1000 - 3000
There are two sections to the competition. The first is the Mundaring Community Bank Open Award and the second is the Mundaring National Young Writers Award (for 20 years and younger). First prize is $600 for the open section and $75 for the young writer's section. More information can be found on the website.
