WRITER’S NEWS
Single poem, super prize
by Tina Jackson
Win £5,000 for a single poem in The National Poetry Competition 2020, the annual competition from The Poetry Society.
To enter, send original, unpublished poems up to forty lines.
The first prize is £5,000. There is a second prize of £2,000 and a third prize of £1,000. Seven commended poets each get £200. This year’s judges are Neil Astley, Jonathan Edwards and Karen McCarthy Woolf.
The entry fee is £7 for the first poem and £4 for any subsequent entries. Poetry Society members get one free second poem.
The closing date is 31 October.
Website: https://npc.poetrysociety.org.uk/
New novelists take note
The Caledonia Novel Award 2021 offers a £1,500 first prize in the competition for unpublished and self-published novelists.
The international, Edinburgh-based award is given annually to the writer of an original, unpublished novel for adults or young adults in any genre. Manuscripts must be at least 50,000 words long.
The first prize is £1,500 and there is a special prize for the best novel by a writer from the UK and Ireland of a free place on a writing course at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre. This year’s judge is literary agent Laura Williams, of Greene & Heaton.
To be eligible to enter, writers must be unagented.
Send the first twenty pages and a 200-word synopsis. Longlisted writers will be invited to submit their full manuscript by 6 December.
The entry fee is £25. Some sponsored entries are available for writers on a low income.
The closing date is 1 November.
Website: https://thecaledonianovelaward.com/
Lucky beggars
Win a £2,000 first prize for short fiction up to 6,000 words in the The Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize 2020/21
The prize is awarded for original, unpublished short fiction up to 6,000 words. Any author, published or unpublished, may enter.
The winner will receive £2,000. Shortlisted authors will each be awarded £200 and longlisted authors wil receive £50-worth of bookshop vouchers and a four-book subscription to Galley Beggar Press. This year’s judges are Sam Fisher, Catherine Taylor and Eley Williams.
There is an entry fee of £10 per story.
The closing date is 30 September.
Website: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/prize
Monsters at the movies
Horror in Hollywood, Dead Head Reviews’ first short story competition, is for horror stories set in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
Enter original, unpublished short stories up to 4,000 words. Cross-genre stories are welcome. The prize packages for the winners include books, prints, promotional activity on Dead Head Reviews, manuscript edits by Elle Turpitt and the opportunity to guest on a Dead Headspace podcast.
The competition is open to international entries. Entry is free.
Submissions open on 15 September and close on 30 September.
Website: www.deadheadreviews.com
Feed this journal
With an aim to create a writing community ‘founded on the principles of inclusion and diversity and give a platform to a wide variety of voices’ The Hunger journal is published three times a year, describes itself as a ‘journal of visceral writing’ and contains fiction, non fiction, poetry, hybrid work and visual art.
When you think of hunger for this journal you don’t need to confine yourself to food as editors invite you to feed them ‘hungers and thirsts of all kinds: sexual, romantic, familial, individualistic, spiritual, creative, sorrowful, conflicted, humanistic and/or existential’.
Maximum word limits for submissions are 4,000 for fiction and 5,000 for non fiction. There is no specified word count for hybrid/experimental pieces. Submit 3-5 poems in one document and a maximum of five jpg art/photography images.
THE HUNGER
You may also submit to The Glutton’s Digest column which features restaurant/food reviews, recipes, eating/not eating experiences and ‘any wild experiment in food writing’. Weirdness is encouraged.
Simultaneous submissions will be considered with the usual proviso and no submission should have been previously published online, in print, on a blog or social media. There is currently no payment for contributions, but this is hoped to change soon.
The submission window for the Winter issue is from 1 November 2020 to 1 January 2021.
Email your work, no more than two per genre per reading period, as a doc or pdf file, in accordance with the online guidelines.
Email: editors@thehungerjournal.com
Website: www.thehungerjournal.com
UK MAGAZINE MARKET
Cool running
Tina Jackson
Runner’s World, edited by Andy Dixon, is a monthly magazine aimed at recreational runners across the board.
‘That includes anyone from a beginner or someone who runs now and again for health, fitness or mindspace reasons, right up to serial race runners who are into improving their performance and personal bests, and everyone in between,’ said Andy.
Readers come from all walks of life. It’s really difficult to say what a typical reader might be like because our readership is so varied,’ said Andy. ‘But obviously it would be someone who loves running and would identify themselves as a runner, and would consider it a key and ongoing part of their life. They will be engaged and passionate about their sport.’
Runner’s World offers expert advice on training, general health relating to running, nutrition (both for general health and performance), injury-prevention, gear tests and reviews, race reports and human interest stories about runners that are designed to inspire.
The inspirational aspect is what Andy is most passionate about. ‘Although the backbone of the magazine is the advice and service it offers to readers, I think what gives it its heart and soul, and what also makes it endlessly fascinating, are the inspirational stories about how running has changed and improved people’s lives – whether that’s giving them more confidence, helping them find more me time, right through to helping them beat adversity, depression or ill health. Although non-runners might not see or believe it, running really is a life-changing activity, and the stories that I enjoy the most have that element in them.’
The magazine’s coverage prioritises human interest and engagement.
‘Features can be about anything to do with running, but the ones that tend to work best are interviews or people profiles with notable or interesting runners, stories about running culture and history, visual features about great trail runs or epic global races, or features on big subjects that relate to running,’ said Andy. ‘For example, this year we’ve done themed issues covering mental health and also sustainable running, which was about running’s impact on the environment and what runners can do to help.’
Feature lengths vary from 1,000 to 3,000 words. ‘Content-wise we are looking for ideas that have wide appeal to our varied readership. In general, clear and accessible writing, rather than super complicated stuff works better for us.’
Andy is happy to receive pitches from running writers who know their stuff. ‘I look for compelling and clearly and concisely expressed ideas,’ he said. ‘It helps when a freelance pitch shows the writer knows the magazine and might even suggest what section of it their idea is meant for.’
Andy’s advice to freelances is to think creatively round the subject, and always bear the readers’ interests in mind. ‘Try to think beyond the obvious. A few of the staff have been with the title for years, and because it’s a relatively specialist area we’ve seen and done lots of ideas throughout the years. If something is surprising and possibly quirky rather than a well-established idea it’s got a better chance of grabbing our attention. But also try to think if the story has resonance to the widest possible audience of runners.’
Contact Andy by email
