Competitions!

Here's a roundup of some recent competitions we've found - just the thing to get everyone ready for summer! Click on the titles to see more...

1. Brava's Writing with the Stars Competition.
This year, we’re looking for original romance novellas of 15,000 – 20,000 words rather than full-length books. Submissions in any sub- genre will be accepted, providing they’ve never been published in print or ebook form and have a sensuality level suitable for our Brava imprint. (You know just how hot that is, because you’re our most loyal readers.) So that means historical romance, contemporary, paranormal or romantic suspense. We need your submission by midnight of August 15, 2011 – plenty of time for you to write the winning novella or polish up one you’ve already begun.

Once again, Brava authors and editors will narrow down the entries to our top eight contestants, and each of the writers selected will be given a Brava mentor to help her navigate the four challenges ahead. Romantic Times readers will be voting each month to narrow the field, and the winner will be announced at the awards ceremony of the RT convention in April, 2012. Here’s your chance to work with professional writers, publicize your story and win a contract with a New York publisher.
This one is for unpublished authors only, and 15,000-20,000 is pretty do-able by mid-August, do keep us posted if you enter!

2. The Fish Short Story Prize.
This prestigious Irish competition is open from 1st August. Here's the details:
The Fish Short Story Prize welcomes stories on any theme written in English, with a maximum of 5,000 words. The Anthology will be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival, July 2011.
The winner and nine runners-up will be published in the 2012 Fish Anthology.

First Prize - €3,000 - (of which €1,000 is for travel expenses to the launch of the Anthology.)
Second Prize - a week at the Anam Cara Writers' & Artists' Retreat in West Cork's Beara Peninsula, with €300 traveling expenses.
Third Prize - €300. All those who are published in the Anthology will receive five complementary copies.

3. Stephie Smith's Contest List - lots for romance!
Check out this link for lots of romance competitions, mostly in the US, but many open internationally.

4. Mslexia 2011 Women's Novel Competition
The competition is open to unpublished women novelists writing in any genre for adults, including literary fiction, women’s fiction, young adult fiction, science fiction, fantasy, chick-lit, crime fiction, thriller, historical fiction... but not nonfiction or fiction for under 13s. To constitute a novel, your book must total at least 50,000 words.

Closing date: 30 September - Entry fee: £25
Send up to 5,000 words – which must be the first 5,000 words of your novel. Please make sure you have finished the novel before you send your entry.
Who is the competition aimed at?
•Women with an unfinished manuscript languishing in a bottom drawer. (Could this be the impetus you need to finish it?)
•Women who took up the write-a-novel-in-a-month challenge with NaNoWriMo and have a rough first draft. (Why not polish it up and send it to Mslexia?)
•Women who’ve submitted their completed novels over and over, and have despaired of finding an agent. (If you reach our shortlist, they’ll all sit up and take notice.)
•Women who’ve always wanted to write a novel, but could never find the time.
Get your book noticed
Because publishers specialise in different genres, we cannot guarantee a publishing contract at this stage. But we can guarantee that agents and editors will be falling over themselves for a first read of the winning manuscript. And the prize is £5,000!

There are plenty more out there, if anyone knows of a great competition we've missed, do share it in the comments box! Good luck!