The Wells Festival of Literature's Short Competition #seanocarolan.com #Writing #Contest #competitions #Wells

The Wells Festival of Literature's Short Competition

This year there are three prizes for the winners, £500, £200, £100, in all three categories plus the Hilly Cansdale local poetry prize of £100 and the Wyvern local short story prize, also £100. Entries are open to anyone throughout the world.

For the SHORT STORY COMPETITION, entries may be on any subject and should be between 1,000 and 2,000 words in length.



ALISON MOORE will judge the 2016 short story competition and present the prizes.

Our judge’s short fiction has been included in various anthologies including Best British Short Stories and Best British Horror.​ A selection from her debut collection, The Pre-War House and Other Stories, has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Her first novel, The Lighthouse (2012), won the McKitterick Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Awards. Her second novel,He Wants (2014), was an Observer Book of the Year. Her third novel, Death and the Seaside, will be published in 2016.



Entries in the POETRY COMPETITION may be on any subject but may not exceed 40 lines in length.



GRETA STODDART will judge the 2016 Poetry Competition and present the prizes

Greta’s first collection At Home in the Dark (Anvil) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for BestFirst Collection and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 2002. Her second book, Salvation Jane, was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award 2008. She was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem in 2012. Her third book is Alive Alive O (Bloodaxe, 2015) of which the TLS writes – “a compelling book, defiant in the face of life’s losses.”

For the STORY FOR CHILDREN COMPETITION they may be on any subject but be suitable for the age range 10-16



We require the first three chapters or 30 pages (whichever is the shortest) plus a synopsis of no more than two sides.



JEREMY DE QUIDT will judge this competition and also present the prizes.

Jeremy de Quidt is a writer living and working in Somerset. His debut book, The Toymaker, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. His second, The Feathered Man, was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His latest, The Wrong Train, will be published by David Fickling Books in October 2016.






Click the button to enter on-line (from 1st April)



DEADLINE FOR ALL ENTRIES IS 30th June 2016

Click HERE to read the full Rules of Entry