Craft Chat New Writers Comp, 2 new ones

[Pamela Jo]

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Our latest writing competition has a prize pot of £1,000 up for grabs, plus an additional prize for any story or poem set in a Historic Houses property. Here are the details:

• Deadline: 23:59 (UK time) on Wednesday 5th November 2025
• Entry Fee: £8 per entry (£15 for two entries or £21 for three entries, when submitted together)
• Main Prizes: 1st: £500; 2nd: £300; 3rd: £200
• Additional Prize: The best story set in one of these historic properties will win a year’s Historic Houses membership for one or two adults (living at the same address)
• Publication: The three winning entries will be published on the NewWriters.org.ukwebsite and in the next New Writers Anthology; the winning Historic Houses entry will be published in the Historic Houses Magazine
• Theme: Entries must be set before 1960 (Historic Houses setting optional)
• Judges: New Writers Editorial Team
• Word Limit: 300 words (excluding title)
• Charity: 10% of all proceeds will be donated to charity (split between First Story & the Funzi & Bodo Trust)
• Please read the full Historical Flash Fiction Competition Terms & Conditions before entering.
• Winners and those who have made the shortlist will be notified by email no later than Wednesday 17th December 2025. The announcement of winners and shortlisted entries will also be made no later than this date.
• Low-income entries available, see website for details.

Note that you you can get £5 off new Historic Houses memberships with our special offer code TREX05 (which also helps to support the NewWriters.org.uk site).

​ [td] ​ [td] New Writers Sense of Place Competition 2025​ ​ ​

• Deadline: 23.59 (UK time) on Tuesday 30th September 2025
• Entry Fee: FREE (one per person)
• Prize: 1st Place: £50 (plus one free entry to the New Writers Historical Flash Fiction Competition 2025, and publication on the NewWriters.org.uk website and in the next New Writers Anthology)
• Word Limit: 100 words (not including title)
• Theme: Sense of place
• Category: Microfiction/Poetry Competitions
• How to Enter: Complete the form on the website

Other Upcoming Writing Competitions​

Here are some of the latest and greatest writing competitions with deadlines approaching.

Anthology Personal Memoir Competition 2025​

Deadline: Midnight (UK time) on 31 August 2025​

• Entry Fee: Early bird: €12 per article (until 28th February); Standard fee: €15 per article (1st March to 31st August 2025)
• Prizes: 1st Place: €500, plus publication in the Anthology magazine
• Word Limit: 1,500 words
• Category: Non-fiction Competitions

Aesthetica Creative Writing Award – Short Fiction​

Deadline: 31 August 2025​

• Entry Fee: £18
• Prizes: Winner: £2,500, publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual and an Arvon writing course
• Word Limit: 2,000 words
• Category: Short Story Competitions

SaveAs Writers’ International Writing Competition 2025 – Poetry​

Deadline: 31st August 2025​

• Name: The Canterbury Christ Church University Poetry Prize
• Theme Facing the Storm
• Entry Fee: £4 per poem, £10 for three
• Prizes: First: £200; Second: £100; Third: £50
• Word Limit: 60 lines
• Category: Poetry competition

New2theScene Summer Short Story Competition​

Deadline: 7th September 2025​

• Entry Fee: £5
• Prizes: Interview for the New2theScene podcast; £50 New2theScene vouchers; ‘Origins’ blog’; author bio and work featured on the New2theScene website; social media promotion; publication in an anthology; possible future projects not advertised on the site. Notable mentions: £15 New2theScene vouchers; possible publication in anthology
• Word Limit: 4,000 words
• Theme/Genre: Any - let your imagination free!
• Category: Short Story Competitions

Southam Book Festival Flash Fiction Competition 2025​

Deadline: 12.00 noon on 7th September 2025​

• Entry Fee: £3 per story, or up to five stories for £10
• Prizes: Winner - £60, Second - £30, Third - £20
• Word Limit: 100 words
• Category: Flash fiction competition

Anthology Flash Fiction Competition 2025​

Deadline: Midnight (UK time) on 30th September 2025​

• Entry Fee: Early Bird: €10 per entry (until 28th February 2025); Standard fee: €12 per entry (1st March to 30th September 2025)
• Prizes: 1st Place: €300, plus publication in the Anthology magazine
• Word Limit: 250 words
• Category: Flash Fiction Competitions

Creative Writing Ink Short Story Competition 2025​

Deadline: 4:00 pm on 30th September 2025​

• Entry Fee: £12
• Prizes: 1st Place: £1,000 plus online publication and an online creative writing course; two runners-up prizes of £200 each
• Word Limit: 3,000 words
• Final Judge: Tyler Paterson
• Category: Short Story Competitions

New Writers Sense of Place Competition 2025​

Deadline: 23.59 (UK time) on Tuesday 30th September 2025​

• Entry Fee: FREE (one per person)
• Prize: 1st Place: £50 (plus one free entry to the New Writers Historical Flash Fiction Competition 2025, and publication on the NewWriters.org.uk website and in the next New Writers Anthology)
• Word Limit: 100 words (not including title)
• Theme: Sense of place
• Category: Microfiction/Poetry Competitions

We wish you luck if you enter any of the above contests!​

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If you haven't seen it already, take a look at the New Writers Anthology - Issue 1. It features a selection of prize-winning and shortlisted stories from our paid-for and free-to-enter writing competitions that took place in 2022, 2023 and 2024. (Prize winners from the 2025 competitions will feature in Issue 2.)

With stories, poems and even book reviews, we love this showcase of the brilliant writers who have entered our competitions over the years. You can view the standard edition or the fancy flipbook edition. Please feel free to share the link to the Anthology on your socials. We hope you enjoy it.

We'll be releasing Issue 2 early in 2026, and it will feature prize-winning entries from all our 2025 competitions.

If you like what we do at NewWriters.org.uk, please consider donating at our Ko-fi.compage. We'll use any donations to offer more regular free competitions (with bigger prizes) and more free entries to our paid competition to those on low incomes.

Please consider entering our Historical Flash Fiction Competition (10% of the proceeds will be donated to charity). We'll be back in September with the results for the New Writers Poetry Competition plus plenty more.

Best wishes,
The NewWriters.org.uk Team

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