Kudos Featured Competitions

Don’t forget to enter Wirral Poetry Festival’s 15th Open Poetry Competition –
deadline for entries 30th May.

Poems on any subject, of not more than 40 lines, in English,Open prizes adjudicated by Helen Ivory and Martin Figura;  Wirral Prizes by Pauline Rowe.Open prizes: 1st prize £250, 4 £25 runner-up prizes.
Wirral prizes (for entrants living/working in Wirral): 1st Prize £100, 2 £25 runner-up prizes.Entry: £4 per poem / £10 for 3 poemsFull details and online entry at www.wirralpoetryfestival.org.ukWinners to be notified by 11 July 2025
and invited to a competition celebration
during the Wirral Poetry Festival in October.

Competition results posted online on 18 July 2025

The Kipling Society’s John McGivering Literary Competition 2025

Who hath desired the Sea – the sight of salt water unbounded?

The heave and the halt and the hurl and the crash of the comber wind-hounded?

The sleek-barrelled swell before storm – grey, foamless, enormous and growing?

Stark calm on the lap of the Line – or the crazy-eyed hurricane blowing?

His Sea in no showing the same – his Sea and the same ’neath all showing?

                                                            The Sea and the Hills

What is a woman that you forsake her,

And the hearth-fire and the home-acre

To go with the old grey Widow-maker?

            Harp-Song of the Dane-women

Rudyard Kipling, fascinated by the sea, from his childhood in Southsea onwards,
often wrote about the ocean – its beauty, allure and danger,
and its challenge to human courage and discipline.
The Kipling Society’s John McGivering Literary Competition 2025 is open to poems
of up to 30 lines about any aspect of the sea, connected directly or obliquely
with the writings and/or life of Kipling.

There are separate competitions for adults and for younger poets aged 12 to 17
A first prize of £350 will be offered for the adult competition

and one of £75 for the younger poets’ competition

£5 entry fee for either competitionDeadline: 1 May at 23.59 BST
via the Kipling Society website: www.kiplingsociety.co.uk

FEDERATION OF WRITERS SCOTLAND
VERNAL EQUINOX COMPETITION 2025
Five categories, poetry (any number of poems, no more than 40 lines each),
short stories (any number, between 501 and 2000 words each),
flash fiction/mini-story (any number, up to 500 words), Scottish Gaelic and Scots
(poetry, line limit as above).
Prizes in each category: 1st prize £100, 2nd prize £25, 3rd prize £10
Brian Whittingham Memorial Prize £50.
Open entry.
Closing date for the competition 15 April 2025.
Entry fee is £4 for each entry, £10 for 3 in any one category, £4 for each subsequent entry
fwscompetition@gmail.com
For full rules go to https://www.federationofwriters.scot/competition

Fish Publishing Short Memoir Prize

Word Limit: 4,000

Closes: 31 January 2025

Results: 1 April 2025; Anthology published: July 2025

Entry Fees: €20; €14 subsequent entries
(Optional Critique €56)

Prizes:
1st: €1000
 2nd & 3rd: Writing Course (online) + € 300;
Best 10 memoirs published in the FISH ANTHOLOGY 2025
Judge: Ted Simon
Online writing courses in short story, flash fiction, poetry and memoir;

and full range of editorial services for writers, see www.fishpublishing.com

Kent & Sussex Poetry Society Open Poetry Competition 2025

Judge: Kit Fan
40 lines maximum per poem
Open to anyone aged 16 or over, from anywhere in the world
Deadline 31 Jan 2025
Seven Prizes from £1000 to £50 plus publication in annual ‘Folio’ anthology
Entry £5 per poem; 3 or more poems £4 each
Details atwww.kentandsussexpoetry.com

Limnisa Short Story Competition

Don’t just dream about it—write your way to paradise

The annual Limnisa Short Story Competition is open for submissions

*Maximum. 1500 words

Deadline: February 2nd, 2025

*Stories in English

*Theme: ‘August Blue’

*Contribution: Free. But please share the competition and follow us on social media

Win a writing holiday with your sort story.

Read the rules: www.limnisa.com

November 25

Bradt Travel Guides & The Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards

Unpublished writers

Three finalists invited to attend the prize-giving:
the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards Presented by Viking in London in early 2025

1st prize: 4-night break to Pas-de-Calais in northern France, with a tailormade itinerary taking in the region’s towns, coastal villages, countryside and cultural sites.

Winner also commissioned to write an article about their trip,
to be published on the Bradt website, as well as in Traveller magazine.
2 runners-ups: three Bradt guides of their choice.

All shortlisted pieces published on the Bradt website.

Judges: Hilary Bradt, founder of Bradt Guides; Adrian Phillips, MD of Bradt Guides;

Hugh Brune, Commercial Director of Bradt Guides; Amy Sohanpaul, editor of Traveller Magazine; Jonathan Lorie, travel-writing trainer and author of The Travel Writer’s Way.

Theme: ‘A Hasty Exit’

NB, do not use as title but original piece of writing, 600 and 800 words
which focuses on this topic. Not compulsory to include the phrase
but must very clearly adhere to this theme: true story,
based on the writer’s personal experience, written as a first-hand account,
in the first person and in English.
Travel Writing Competition, Bradt Guides, 31A High Street, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1BW

www.bradtguides.com/new-travel-writer-of-the-year-2025/

The 39th Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition

Judge: Kim Moore

Deadline: 30 November 2024

Submission: A collection of 20 pages of poetry
Prize: The two winners will receive expert close editing and support in extending their entry
if they wish to up to 28 pages for pamphlet publication
under our award-winning imprint Smith|Doorstop Books.
They also receive £500 each, publication in The North magazine,
and readings at The Wordsworth Trust and online.
Four runners-up receive publication in a feature in The North magazine,
an online reading and an honorarium of £100 each.
Cost: Full-price entry is £29.
Subscribers to The North, Friends of the Poetry Business, and members of the Poetry Society
are eligible for the discounted fee of £27.
All entrants receive a 10% code that can be used to purchase Poetry Book Society membership.
More details:
https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/competitions/the-international-book-pamphlet-competition/

The 2024 National Poetry Competition

Run annually by The Poetry Society since 1978,
one of the most prestigious poetry competitions for a single unpublished poem

Open to all poets worldwide aged 18 or over

1st prize: £5000
2nd: £2000; 3rd: £1000; commendations: £500 each.
Top three winners published in The Poetry Society’s journal The Poetry Review

Notified by the end of February 2025; awards event, Spring 2025

Judges: Romalyn Ante, John McAuliffe, Stephen Sexton
Fee: £8, then £5 each.
Poetry Society members (including those joining at time of submission): one additional poem free.

Length: 40 lines

Enter online by midnight on October 31

www.poetrysociety.org.uk/npc

The Bedford Competition

International Short Story & Poetry Awards
Over 17s
Deadline: 31 October 2024

Short Story Competition – up to 3000 words Poetry Competition – up to 40 lines

TBC is a nonprofit group, with donations made to literary causes

Short Story judge: Liv Maidment; Poetry Judge: Jessica Mookherjee

Prizes: £1500, £300 and £200

Cygnature Prizes, sponsored by the University of Bedfordshire, for writers aged 17-25
Also, prizes for local Bedford residents

Entry fees: £8.50 or 3 for £17. Students, £6 or 3 for £12

Details: www.bedfordwritingcompetition.co.uk