2024 Short Story Competition

Enter our Short Story Competition and be in the running for winning one of our prizes to celebrate your success. First Prize is £750. Second and third prizes £300 and £200. Plus £100 for a local author. You can enter as many times as you like. Each entry must be between 1,000 and 2,000 words. If you think this is the year you are ready to share your story, make a note of 30 June 2024 when the competition closes.

Susmita Bhattacharya’s debut novel The Normal State of Mind was long-listed at the Mumbai Film Festival 2018. Her short story collection Table Manners won the Saboteur Award for Best Short Story Collection and was a finalist for the Hall & Woodhouse DLF Prize in 2019. The collection has also been serialised on BBC Radio and her latest commissioned Radio 4 short story The Gift is available on BBC Sounds. 

Susmita is a lecturer of creative writing and mentors under-represented writers through the Middle Way Mentoring Scheme. She is co-founder of the Write Beyond Borders Mentoring Project and is currently co-running the ACE funded ‘Bridges not Borders’ project in the Solent region.

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Make a note: Competitions open on 1 April, and close at midnight on 30 June 2024.
Prize Giving and Poetry Reading takes place on Friday 25 October starting at 10am as part of the Festival.

Please read the rules and terms and conditions before submitting your entry.