The Welkin Writing Prize 2023 / Submission Guidelines / (Prize: £150 + Writers HQ Membership)

 The Welkin Writing Prize is currently open for entries of 400 words from writers of all forms of writing, including historical fiction, humorous prose and speculative fiction.

 

The Welkin Writing Prize 2023 is the first from its organizer. According to them, they are running the competition as a thank you to the writing community which has done so much to support both their writing and their freelance work over the past few years.

“ In September 2022, I was lucky enough to receive a DYCP grant from Arts Council England to fund paid research and writing time, and this competition feels like a small thing that I can do to pay forwards my good fortune. As such, the competition is free to enter and I hope it will be a welcoming space for all writers. The competition is open to all forms of narrative prose, be that flash fiction, short-short, vignette, haibun, hermit crab, prose poem or work that sits outside such labels. There is a whole universe (or welkin) of possibilities.”

 

Eligibility Guidelines for the Welkin Writing Prize 2023

• Entrants must be 18 years or over on the closing date.
• This is an international competition, therefore it is open to entrants from all countries. 
• Entries must not have been previously published or accepted for publication, either online or in print, prior to the announcement of results. This includes blogs and personal websites.
• As the competition is being judged by Matt Kendrick, pieces written and shared on his Write Beyond the Lightbulb courses are not eligible; nor are pieces that have been sent to Matt for feedback or line edits.
• Entries which are deemed to be racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist or otherwise promoting views not in-line with the normative writing-community position will be disqualified.
• Entries must be the sole work of the entrant. Any pieces that are deemed to have plagiarised existing work or breached copyright (e.g. by use of song lyrics) will be disqualified and will become ineligible for any prize monies.
• Entries should be written in English. However, all variants and dialects of English are welcome.
• The competition is for any form of narrative prose aimed at adults. Traditional poems, stories aimed at children, and essays are unlikely to be successful.
• The competition doesn’t differentiate between fiction and non-fiction, and welcomes narrative prose in any form that meets the above criteria – flash fiction, short-short, vignette, haibun, hermit crab, prose poem etc.
• The competition doesn’t have a theme, thereby allowing entries on any subject and written in any style.

 

Submission Guidelines for the Welkin Writing Prize 2023

• Entries must be no more than 400 words. Titles are not included in the word count. There is no minimum requirement. 
• The prize will open for entries on the 1st December 2022 , therefore entries submitted prior to this date will not be eligible.
• Entry is through their Google form . However, you are required to carefully check your email address before submitting your entry.
• If you wish to enter but don’t have a Gmail / Google account (or if this would be helpful to you for accessibility purposes), you may send your entry via email.  Include a short bio, and indicate if you are eligible for any of the additional prizes) to welkinprize@gmail.com. However, if you do have a Gmail / Google account, it would be appreciated if you could use the Google form to reduce admin time on behalf of the competition organiser.
• You will receive an acknowledgement email within a week of submission. Although, if you have not received an email after this time, please contact the competition organiser at welkinprize@gmail.com.
• Each writer may only enter one piece. If more than one is interested, consequently the multiple entries from the same writer will be disqualified.
• Simultaneous submissions are accepted. However, please notify the competition organiser if your piece is accepted elsewhere.
• No alterations post-entry will be accepted.

 

Submission Format

• Entries must not include personal information, especially; your name, address, email, telephone number.
• Entries should use Arial, 14pt font and should be single-spaced.
• The filename of your entry should be the title, punctuation removed. If your title is longer than five words, please only use the first five words. Additionally, i[f your entry is untitled, please use the first five words of the piece itself.

 

Prize

• The competition will award prizes for:
  1. 1st place (£150 + annual membership of Writers’ HQ worth £190)
  2. 2nd place (£75 + AdHoc Fiction book voucher worth £25)
  3. 3rd place (£50 + a copy of “Deflection” by Roberta Beary)
• There are additional prizes of £25 for the best non-placed:
  1. a writer with a disability or chronic health condition
  2. LGBTQ+ writer
  3. working-class writer
  4. writer whose first (or home) language isn’t English
  5. carer for an adult-dependent
  6. new writer (for a writer with five or fewer publishing credits)
• There will also be additional prizes of £25 for the best non-placed:
  1. historical fiction
  2. humorous prose
  3. speculative fiction

 

Deadline

The deadline is 28^th February, 2023.

Read more about the contest on their website.