Tag Archives: writing contest

The A3 Review’s New Contest Themes

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issue_11_cover_grandeThe A3 Review has recently launched Issue 11. We’ve also just posted new themes for our monthly contests. Publication and cash prizes for winners. To enter and for more details, please visit our Submittable page by clicking here. The next few themes will be included in our “T” issue, so we’re looking for short stories (as well as poems and artwork) about : Tablets, Transformations, and Thanatos.

The two winning entries from September 2019 to February 2020 will make up the list of contributors to Issue 12 (The “T” Issue). From this list, three overall winners will receive cash prizes: 1st = £250, 2nd = £150, 3rd = £75. Issue 12 will appear in April 2020.

The word limit is 150 words, so we’d particularly like to see flash fiction and mini essays. Our $5 (approx £3.50) submission fee helps us cover admin and printing costs and makes sure we can keep offering cash prizes.

Visit The A3 Review’s website to see some back issues. The A3 Press also publishes chapbooks and is open for submissions until December the 10th.

The A3 Press is Open for Business

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a3 press logoThe A3 Press has just launched it’s first two chapbook titles, and three more will be released by the end of March 2019. Created by the folks who publish The A3 Review, The A3 Press will publish 10-12 chapbooks every year.

We are open for submissions, and are looking for prose, poetry and artwork that tackles what it’s like to be alive at this point in history. We celebrate urgent work that might struggle to find a traditional home, work that’s lyrical and intense, a bit weird, hybrid and experimental. We also welcome work that’s traditionally beautiful. Please visit our Submittable page for full details. Deadline for chapbook submissions is 31 May 2019.

You can see our first chapbook titles here.

The A3 Review continues to run it’s monthly contests and to publish two issues every year. To be in the running to qualify for our next issue, Issue 10, enter our February contest on the theme of Romance. Full details here.

We look forward to reading your work, and do get in touch with any queries: a3@writingmaps.com

Three New Things from The A3

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A3 press copyThe A3 Review & Press announces its new monthly contest themes: Romance, parties, and whatever the word “top” inspires you to create. Anything from spinning tops to top-shelf magazines. Click here to see all the new themes, each with a deadline on the 4th Saturday of the month.

The current issue of The A3 Review has recently been published and is available to order here. Stories, poems and artwork about fairs, fireworks, and fathers, along with flies and zebras, too. Nancy Stohlman answers questions in the issue’s A6 Q&A.

The A3 Press is soon to launch alongside The A3 Review. The press is looking for manuscript submissions for this new chapbook press. Deadline for submissions is the 20th of November. Do you have a series of short stories, or maybe a long story that can be spread out over several pages? Do you have a combination of drawings and short stories? Or even photographs without text that would fit into our The A3 Press’s map-fold format.

The A3 Press will be a place for work that might struggle to find a traditional home, work that’s lyrical and intense, a bit weird, perhaps, hybrid, experimental. For all the details, please click here.

If you’d like to support the new press, you can also pre-order the first 6 titles via the website here.

From LGBTQ+ With Love: The Fight Back Flash Competition

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Dearest compatriots, collaborators, friends, foes, gentlepeople, unicorns (both sparkly and plain), folkingtons, allies and everyone in between and either side and up and down and diagonal and round and round the whole glorious spectrum of humanity.

You may have heard about a rather unpleasant exclusionary flash fiction competition that’s been doing the rounds on Twitter lately. Not just exclusionary, but implying members of the LGBTQ+ community are somehow comparable to scenes of graphic violence or torture. Yeah. Not exactly what we want to see from a writing competition in 2018.

But you cannot fight hate with hate. The answer is love. Only love and always love. Whatever damn kind of love you’re into. Because love knows no bounds, people.

And so. Writers’ HQ are running a flash fiction competition on the theme: From LGBTQ+ With Love, with all proceeds going to MindOut, a mental health service for LGBTQ+ people.

Specifically, we want your LGBTQ+ stories, your stories of love, grace and compassion (and most importantly your creative swearing). Here’s the lowdown in a handy bullet list – click here for the full rules, FAQs and entry form:

SUBMIT YOUR STORIES HERE!

LGBTQ+ flash competition

12 Writing Tips To Get You Started

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As Anne Frank poignantly wrote: “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” Writing can be an incredible outlet, but sometimes there are stumbling blocks along the way.

Which is why the team at READ Foundation has put together a list of 12 Writing Tips to Get You Started.

Children writing in a classroom

READ is an education charity which builds schools and enables children from poverty-stricken backgrounds to access schooling. We’re currently running a writing competition for short stories, poems and personal essays which will inspire children in their educational path. Scroll down for more details on how to enter.

The charity has gathered the best tips from well-known writers, blogs and the wider web to help writers in their pursuit of the perfect prose.

  1. Write from the heart. A book without a pulse is like a person without a spirit. – Linda F Rad
  2. We love the tips in this Guardian article on the Top 10 Writers’ Tips on Writing. Particularly this one from Katherine Mansfield: “Looking back I imagine I was always writing. Twaddle it was too. But better far write twaddle or anything, anything, than nothing at all.”
  3. Enter competitions, send off examples to agents, read up on literacy festivals to attend, join writing clubs either locally or online – research as many places as you can which can help you on your writing journey, whether the aim is to get published, receive feedback, or simply learn more about the writing process from the people who do it professionally.
  4. Write on a computer which is disconnected from the internet (after you’ve finished reading this blog, obviously). It’s a distraction you can do without.
  5. The “show don’t tell” mentality is well-known for a good reason: it’s true. As fiction author Anton Chekhov puts it: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
  6. Oxford Dictionaries has some excellent general advice on better writing, whether it’s a letter, speech, email or something more creative. We like the tip “guide readers through what you write”. The advice is to “help readers understand your message quickly and precisely. To do this, it is necessary to show them clearly how the different parts relate to each other.”
  7. How about a writing tip from a Nobel winning author? Alice Munro, who was given the Nobel for Literature in 2013, has spent most of her writing life focussing on short stories. She said: “Usually I have a lot of acquaintance with the story before I start writing it….stories would just be working in my head for so long that when I started to write I was deep into them.”
  8. Proofread proofread proofread. It’s relly obviously when a sentennce has speling errors in it. If you’re entering a writing competition, judges may penalise you for the errors and it could mean the difference between winning or losing a contest.
  9. Write, even when you don’t feel like it. Get into the habit of writing on a regular basis. If you can commit to writing for a certain amount of time each day, for 30 days, it’ll soon become second nature. About 30-40 days is all you need to make a new habit stick.
  10. Recognise it’s not just your characters that are human – you are too! So if you have periods of struggle, you’re not alone. Don’t be too hard on yourself.
  11. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Julie Duffy, founder of Story a Day, says “Don’t wait to write until you’re older/wiser/invited to the party. Don’t wait until you have something ‘important’ to say.” Other experts have revealed their best writing tips for beginners.
  12. Enjoy the process! It’s a journey you’ll be proud you’ve taken. Good luck!

While you’re here, we have some exciting news for you. Education charity READ Foundation is running its very first writing competition and needs people like YOU to take part. Read all about it here. The deadline for entries is Wednesday, 10thOctober 2018.

Thieves and New Contest Themes

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new themes 2 copyOur next contest deadline is July the 28th, and we also have new monthly themes for other A3 Review contests till November. We’re looking for short fiction, mini essays, poetry and artwork on the theme of Ears, Hats and Triangles, for example.

Visit our Submittable page for all the details.

The next theme is Thieves. Hearts, heists, identities, or apricots from a neighbour’s tree. We like work that feels immediate and edgy, so check out the prompts and start creating now! We welcome submissions from around the world.

Three winners per issue receive cash prizes, and all monthly winners receive contributor copies, back issues and Writing Maps. All the details are here.

You can read some of the work that we feature in The A3 Review on our Instagram page.

Any questions, please do write to us at a3 [at] writingmaps.com

To the Moon and Back

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The A3 Review is looking for entries to their May contest. This month, they’re inviting stories, poems and artwork on the theme of The Moon. Mystery, cheesy, bloody, science-fictiony, or with cows jumping over it… they welcome all moon-inpired stories.

Stories about werewolves, high tide and low tide, moonlit sonatas, stories based on myths and folklore. Stories about dancing to the light of the moon. What happens to you on nights when the moon is full? Write about that!

For more lunar inspiration, and to enter The A3 Review‘s May contest, check out our Submittable page.

As always, the word limit is 150 words, and all artwork needs to fit into an A6 panel.

Mooning anecdotes most welcome!

Visit them at TheA3Review.com.

 

Going Round in Circles?

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circlesIf you’re going round in circles, we want to hear about it. This month’s theme is the title theme for our next issue, Issue 9, The Circles Issue.

The A3 Review is looking for stories, poems and artwork about circles of trust and circular logic, running circles around someone and being in or outside the circle. We’d love stories and concrete poems in the shape of a circle or a spiral. See our Submittable page for all the details and more inspiration.

Each month’s 2 winners are published in The A3 Review, receive gifts from Writing Maps, and are in the running to win cash prizes. All the details are here.

Our current issue, Issue 8, is at the printers, and should be on its way out into the world by the end of April. Pre-order a copy here.

UK/Turkey Short Story Competition

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UK/Turkey Short Story Competition

The British Council in Turkey aims to build a bridge between Turkish and UK writers, facilitate dialogue between literary professionals in both countries, and create a platform to showcase works by Turkish and British writers to new audiences.

To support this initiative, the British Council is launching a short story competition, on the theme of ‘diversity’, in partnership with two literary institutions: ITEF -Istanbul Tanpınar Literature Festival in Turkey, and Word Factory in the UK.

The winner will have the opportunity to work with Word Factory and The British Council and have their story published on a new British Council digital platform, alongside specially-commissioned stories by established authors from Turkey and the UK. The winning writer will receive £300 and will see their short story translated into Turkish accompanied by a specially commissioned illustration.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Entry is free
  • Writers must be based in the UK, writing in English
  • One story submission per writer
  • Writers must be at least 18 years old, and ‘early-career’ (may have had single stories published on printed or online media, but not a full collection, or novel). Stories should be 1,500 words or less
  • Stories should be broadly themed on the concept of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (though we welcome original and unusual takes on this theme). Please check the British Council website for further information about the British Council’s approach to EDI. 
  • The competition is open to all fiction genres
  • By submitting a story, you agree that it may be edited (with your final approval) by Word Factory prior to publication
  • Submission deadline is midnight 31 December 2017
  • By submitting a story, you agree that you have read and accept the full terms and conditions (see below)

The winner will be chosen by a panel from The British Council and Word Factory and announced by 28 February 2018 on the British Council website.

Please fill out the form and submit your application.

CroppedImage1396770-turkey-uk-edit

 

Don’t Betray Your Calling!

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One of the fun aspects of putting together The A3 Review is coming up with the themes and prompts for each month’s contest. This month’s theme is particularly rich. One of those themes that you really need an entire novel to tackle, and we’re inviting you to do it in no more than 150 words! Betrayal. In 12-and-a-half dozen words or less. Do not betray your risk-taking disposition as a writer and an artist! This month’s theme is for you.

We’re looking for stories, poems and artwork that are political, personal or both. Secret betrayals and double crossings. From the banal to the Biblical. Write the Samson story from Delilah’s POV, for example. Or: What would Judas say? Write a poem about feeling betrayed by someone’s Tinder profile. He, or she, is definitely not as cute in real life!

Find inspiration in the words associated with betrayal: back-stabbing, double-dealing, disloyalty, treachery and duplicity.

Or tell the story of the first time you betrayed someone. What happened and where is that person today? Put into words what it feels like to be betrayed. Or what it tastes like, smells like. Write a poem of rage or forgiveness. Possible opening phrases could be: “We knew we’d been betrayed when…” or “This is how I betrayed him…” or “Just before she did it she…” or “It wasn’t the first time that…”

Click here for more prompts, suggestions, and details about how to enter this month’s contest. Deadline is the 28th of October. There’s also info here about the next few contests. If you think “Betrayal” is a juicy one, then there’s “Losing It” and “Brief Encounters” coming up, too.

When you enter our contests, don’t forget our popular (and very affordable) Brief Critique option. For just $15 we provide a line edit of your submission, along with 250 words of feedback on ways to take your work to the next level. Tick the Brief Critique add-on, and you’ll be able to pay together with your entry fee. Critiques are provided once the month’s winning entries have been announced.

We hope you’ll enjoy this month’s theme.

New Things: An Issue, A Contest, The A3 on Instagram

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Screen Shot 2017-04-12 at 14.47.30Inspired by the How to Turn Food Into Words Writing Map, this month’s contest theme is Dinners. The A3 Review invites you to submit short stories, poems and artwork about the things that happen round a table. Or after dinner. Or in the build-up to a meal. School dinners and candlelit dinners. Dinners with friends and work dinners. Create stories out of dinners you remember and dinners you wish you could remember.

Visit our Submittable page here for more suggestions and inspiration. Follow us on Twitter, too. A bit late to the party, but we’ve recently made it to Instagram! Read pieces from back issues, and see more closely what we’re up to here at The A3 Review. Click here to visit us on Instagram.

The April deadline is the 22nd. As always, we welcome short stories, flash fiction, poetry, comics, graphic stories, a snippet of memoir, photographs, illustrations, and any combination of the above. The only restriction is a word-limit of 150 and images should fit well into an A6 panel.

One more bit of news (drumroll, please)… Issue 6 is here! That means we’ve been around for three years already. Take a look at the new issue by clicking here. The contributions to Issue 6 take us from Sicily to Los Angeles via the Outer Hebrides. Oranges, fire, Lenin, kittiwakes and Dali’s Crucifixion are just some of the people and things glimpsed along the way.

Join us on our journey at: http://thea3review.com/

Keep writing!

The Woods, the Trees, and The A3

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We’re busy as beavers here aTree Map SIDE B NEWt The A3 Review, assembling Issue #6 and choosing the overall cash-prize winners. The issue will be out in early April, and we’re wild about the fact that ShortStops’ own Tania Hershman will be our Guest Writer!

Meanwhile, talking about wildness, Issue #7 is already, ahem, logging up entries for our March contest on the theme of Forests and Woods (deadline is March 25th).

Woodlands have inspired writers and artists for hundreds of years – now it’s your turn. Submit stories, poems and art inspired by the arboreal! Whether it’s tropical, mystical, tundral (is that even a word?!), or your own backyard. So many folktales and fairytales happen in forests. Find a story you love and update it. Think “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Hansel and Gretel”, and Baba Yaga. Think: Robin Hood or Tarzan. Be outrageous. Be controversial. Surprise us with new takes on old stories.

For more inspiring prompts, check out the Writing with Fabulous Trees Writing Map (see pic).

And for even more ideas and inspiration, and details about prizes, visit The A3 Review’s Submittable page. You can also purchase all back issues on The A3 Review‘s site.

We welcome short stories, flash fiction, poetry, comics, graphic stories, a snippet of memoir, photographs, illustrations, and any combination of the above. The only restriction is a word-limit of 150 and images should fit well into an A6 panel.

Good luck and keep writing!

PS. The A3 Review‘s editor, Shaun Levin, is running an online writing course, starting on the 24th of April. Click here for all the details.

The Leaders and Followers Contest

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the-a3-review-6Happy New Year from The A3 Review. We’re here to help you make it a creative one!

Because we have a feeling it’s going to be that kind of year, we’re looking for writing and artwork on the theme of Leaders and Followers. We want pieces sparked by the idea of leaders, followers and/or the dynamic between the two. Use the theme as a catalyst for some creative ideas.

Think about blind loyalty and betrayal. Explore the complex emotions and interactions: obedience, humility, charisma, authority, cruelty. Or be inspired by the natural world: ducklings following their mother, bees attending their queen, herds of animals or flocks of birds following their dominant leader. Write about the point when a new leader usurps the old one. Or think about work environments, sports teams, religion, the battlefield, cults or clans.

Write about fictional situations or your own experiences of any of the above.

Start with “She was the leader of…” or “We had no choice but to follow him…” or “I finally became the leader when…” Write about a follower who wants to be a leader by making a list of all the things they’d do to get what they want? Write about the burden of leadership, a tired dictator, a cult leader who’s lost their faith, or that person who’ll go to any length to get more Twitter followers!

Deadline is 28 January. For more details visit our Submittable page.

Each month we choose two winning pieces for publication (The A3 Review is published twice a year, and the next issue comes out in April 2017). All winning entries receive Writing Maps and contributor copies, while three overall winners for each issue receive cash prizes.

Good luck and keep writing!

The A3 Review: Issue 5 Is Here!

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issue-5It’s a busy time at the The A3 Review. Issue #5 has officially launched! Short fiction and poetry from the UK, North America and Ireland. There’s also a guest piece from leading US flash fiction writer Meg Pokrass. You can order a copy via this link.

Meanwhile, our monthly contests to find contributors for Issue #6 are underway. The theme for October is Uniforms. Soldiers, nurses, prisoners, cops, sailors, fighter pilots, guerilla fighters, firefighters, goths, priests, chefs, hipsters and school children… the list of uniforms people wear is long and varied.

We’re looking for stories about how characters change when they put on a uniform, how people perceive those in uniform, how much of a disguise a uniform can be. You could write about a couple – one who loves their uniform, the other hates it. Or someone who doesn’t need to wear a uniform, but does anyway. Use the idea of rank and status to kickstart your creativity. Write about uniforms you’ve worn, or about those that excite or scare you. Secret uniforms and uniforms that elicit shame or pride.

Visit our Submittable page for more inspiration. The deadline is 22 October 2016.

Each month we choose two winning pieces for publication (The A3 Review is published twice a year). All winning entries receive Writing Maps and contributor copies, while three overall winners for each issue receive cash prizes totaling £275. You can get more inspiration by following The A3 Review on Twitter @TheA3Review and sign up for our newsletter here.

If you’re looking for detailed, knowledgeable and forward-looking feedback on your short fiction, editors KM Elkes and Shaun Levin are offering a critique service for writers. To find out more click here.

Happy writing and reading.

Writing Maps Launches New Map and October Contest

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Writing the Family AlbumThis month’s Writing Maps Writing Contest coincides with the official launch of the new Writing Map, Writing the Family Album, inspired by Sergei Dovlatov’s book Ours.

The prompt for October’s Writing Contest is: Write about a cousin, then and now. In no more than 150 words tell the story of a cousin, yours or a fictional character’s, as they were then and as they are now. As always, you can write this as a short story, a graphic story, a snippet of memoir, a poem, or a prose poem. Fiction or autobiography, SF or mis mem, erotic or academic. In 150 words.

The contest prompt coincides with the launch of our latest Writing Map, Writing the Family Album, in which you’ll be inspired to turn the family album – your own, or the characters you create – into a rich collection of stories.

Please make sure to view our full guidelines here or on the Writing Maps website by clicking here. In brief, the main rules are:

Entry is free. One entry per person. All genres welcome. All writers welcome. 150 words max.

Deadline is 25 October 2014.
The two winning entries will be published in The A3 Review, Issue #2. Winners will also receive two copies of the Writing Map, Writing the Family Album.
Good luck and good writing!

Writing Maps’ August Writing Contest & The How to Write a Story Map

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How to Write a Story: Writing MapThis month’s Writing Maps Writing Contest coincides with the official launch of How to Write a Story: A Writing Map to Help You Hunt for and Create Stories.

The prompt for August’s Writing Contest is: Make a creative list of red things. Write this list as a list poem, or in the form of a short story, a graphic story or a snippet of memoir. Fiction or autobiography, SF or mis mem, erotic or academic. In 150 words.

For inspiration, you can check out Joe Brainard‘s I Remember or Sei Shonagon’s The Pillow Book, as well as many of Cole Porter’s lyrics. This is cheating! And this is a simple definition of a list poem.

Please make sure to view our full guidelines here or on the Writing Maps website by clicking here. In brief, the main rules are:

Entry is free. One entry per person. All genres welcome. All writers welcome. 150 words max.

Deadline is 23 August 2014.
The two winning entries will be published in The A3 Review, the Writing Maps Journal. This is the last month to qualify for the journal’s inaugural issue. Winners will also receive 2 copies of the new Writing Map.
Good luck and good writing!