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The Bodley Head/FT Essay Prize 2020

Information
Closing date: 
24 September 2020
Entry: 
Open to anyone from across the world aged between 18 and 35 years of age. No entry fee
Prize: 
First Prize £1,000 cash and an e-publication with The Bodley Head, publication in the FT of their winning essay and a mentoring session with The Bodley Head. Two runners-up £300

Every year, the Financial Times and The Bodley HeadRandom House imprint, one of Britain's leading publishers of non-fiction, team up to find the best young essay-writing talent from around the world. Now in its eighth year, The Bodley Head/FT Essay Prize competition has been the springboard for many exciting writers. This year our regular judging panel is joined by the award-winning writer Yiyun Li and leading literary agent Emma Paterson. The judges are looking for 'a dynamic, authoritative and lively essay' up to 3,500 words and written in English. The essay can address any topic and the judges are 'simply looking for writing that brings its subject alive, and turns the reader's head with its style'.

The Bodley Head/FT Essay competition is open to anyone between 18 and 35 years old. The judges are looking for a dynamic, authoritative and lively essay of no more than 3,500 words in English, on any subject. The winner will receive: £1,000 cash and an e-publication with The Bodley Head, publication in the FT of their winning essay and a mentoring session with The Bodley Head. Two runners-up will win £300 cash each and an e-publication with The Bodley Head.

Stuart Williams, publishing director at The Bodley Head, said: "We're delighted to launch this year's prize. Reading hundreds of essays has become a revealing annual litmus test of what's on younger writers' minds, concerns that always range from the extremely timely to the timeless. I expect our profoundly changed world will be the catalyst for a lot of exceptional writing this year."

You can find tips on how to write a winning entry on this page. https://www.ft.com/content/c92be874-9da7-11e9-b8ce-8b459ed04726

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2020 Manchester Writing Competition

Information
Closing date: 
18 September 2020
Entry: 
Open to writers across the world. Entry fee £18
Prize: 
Two £10,000 prizes are awarded: the Manchester Poetry Prize for best portfolio of poems and the Manchester Fiction Prize for best short story

The Manchester Writing Competition offers the UK's biggest literary awards for unpublished work, offered by the country's most successful writing school. The Competition was established in 2008 by Carol Ann Duffy (UK Poet Laureate 2009-19) and has awarded more than £195,000 to writers. Each year two £10,000 prizes are awarded: the Manchester Poetry Prize for best portfolio of poems and the Manchester Fiction Prize for best short story. Designed to encourage and celebrate new writing across the globe, the competition is open internationally to new and established writers.

Poetry Prize: £10,000

Entry fee: £18 Deadline for Entries: 18th September 2020, 5pm (UK time)

Chair of Poetry Judges: Malika Booker

£10,000 prize for the best portfolio of three to five poems (maximum combined length: 120 lines). Open internationally to new and established writers aged 16 or over (no upper age limit).

Fiction Prize: £10,000

Entry fee: £18 Deadline for Entries: 18th September 2020, 5pm (UK time)

Chair of Fiction Judges: Nicholas Royle

£10,000 prize for the best short story of up to 2,500 words. Open internationally to new and established writers aged 16 or over (no upper age limit).

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The Moth Nature Writing Prize

Information
Closing date: 
15 September 2020
Entry: 
Open to anyone over the age of 16 with an unpublished piece of nature writing. Entry fee €15 per entry
Prize: 
€1,000 and a week-long stay at The Moth Retreat in rural Ireland.

THE MOTH NATURE WRITING PRIZE

Richard Mabey, one of the UK's foremost nature writers, will judge the inaugural Moth Nature Writing Prize. For five decades Richard has been a pioneering voice in modern nature writing, consistently exploring new ways of thinking about nature and its relation to our lives. Throughout his work there is a commitment to writing (and to other writers) and to language, which may be ‘our greatest ecological gift'.

The Prize will be awarded to an unpublished piece of writing - prose fiction, non-fiction or poetry - which best combines exceptional literary merit with an exploration of the writer's relationship with the natural world.

The prize is open to anyone over the age of sixteen, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished. The winning piece will be published in the winter issue of The Moth, and the winner will receive €1,000 and a week-long stay at The Moth Retreat in rural Ireland. Closing date 15 September 2020.

IN SHORT:
1st prize €1,000 plus a week at The Moth Retreat in rural Ireland. The Moth Nature Writing Prize is open to anyone (over 16) as long as their piece is previously unpublished. The word limit is 4,000 and there is an entry fee of €15. Closing 15 September 2020.

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Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition 2020

Information
Closing date: 
14 September 2020
Entry: 
Open to both new and established poets aged 18 and over from across the globe £5 to submit one poem or £4 per poem for more than three entries
Prize: 
Winners in each category will receive £1000 and both runners up £200

The Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre is excited to launch its 2020 International Poetry Competition to celebrate the power of poetry across the world!

Categories: Open and English as an Additional Language.

Deadline: 14 September 2020

£1000 to winners.

The competition is open to both new and established poets aged 18 and over from across the globe and has two categories:

Open category (open to all poets aged 18 years and over)
English as an Additional Language (EAL) category (open to all poets aged 18 and over who write in English as an Additional Language)

The winners of each category will receive £1000 and both runners up £200.

This year's judge is the the poet Fiona Benson.

The competition deadline is 11pm BST/10pm GMT on Monday 2 September 2019. It costs £5 to submit one poem or £4 per poem for more than three entries. Each poet can enter a maximum of ten poems. Please follow the instructions in the Oxford Brookes Shop. All entries must be unpublished work.

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