More and More Competitions

By Rosemary Johnson

A few months ago, I was writing on this blog about how publishing a novel isn’t the be-all and end-all, and it isn’t.  Some of us have poems, short stories and articles published occasionally and others have not got to that point.  The Association of Christian Writers exists to ‘encourage, equip and inspire’ all writers, from authors who are household names to beginners and those - as yet - unpublished. 

If you have only just started writing, or feel you are stalling, a good way to put your work about is to enter competitions.  When ACW members receive their Christian Writer magazine in the next week or two, they will find themselves reading about two competitions.  (Non-members will find some information on http://www.christianwriters.org.uk/competitions shortly.)

ACW Writing for Children Competition

This is three competitions in one, as there are three categories:

Fiction for Children Aged	Word Limits
0-5 years	500 words
5-8 years	1000 words
9-12 years	1500 words

First prizes (£25 worth in book tokens) will be awarded for each category and all three winning entries will appear in Christian Writer.  ACW members enter for free and, for non-members, entry costs just £3 for first entry and £2 for the second.  All competition entries must be emailed to the ACW Competitions Manager at competitions@christianwriters.org.uk (that’s me) by Monday 30 September 2019.

The judge will be Amy Scott Robinson, who has published several children’s books through Kevin Mayhew.  Her latest, Gladstone the Gargoyle, will appear in September.

ACW Rolling Competition for New and Unpublished Writers

This new competition is open only to writers who have not published or self-published a book and whose work has not been included in a print magazine or ezine with a circulation of over one thousand.  If this is you, you are invited to write about your writing journey, in 800 words (or less).  There are no monetary (or book-token) prizes but your work would be considered for publication in Christian Writer (which has a circulation of 700, by the way).  Email your entry to competitions@christianwriters.org.uk.  This is a rolling competition with no deadline.  If your entry was too late for one Christian Writer magazine, it would be considered for the next one.

Of course, winning a competition is a great confidence booster, but, even if you don’t win, in many competitions you can request a critique of your story.  Go for it!

Rosemary Johnson has had many short stories published, in print and online, amongst other places, Cafe Lit, The Copperfield Review and 101 Words.  She has also contributed to Together magazine.  In real life, she is a part-time IT tutor, living in Suffolk with her husband and cat.  Her cat supports her writing by sitting on her keyboard and deleting large portions of text.