Writing Spirit 1st round deadline this Sunday!

The contest is open to all nationalities and all genres. The prize-winning stories, along with merited stories will be published in an anthology at the end of the competition.

What's the prize?

First Prize: €1000, Second Prize: €200, Third Prize: €100

When's the deadline?

The contest opens 1st March 2011, and runs for four rounds throughout the year. The submission deadlines for competition are as follows:

First round: 30^th April

Second round: 30th June

Third round: 30th September

Fourth round: 30th November

Each new round begins immediately after the end of the previous round (i.e. you may enter at any time from 1st March to 30th Nov).

At the end of each round, the best stories, as chosen by a panel of judges will be shortlisted for the award. Each round's shortlist will be announced on the Writing4all website (www.writing4all.ie)

At the end of the competition, the judges will choose the six highest-ranking stories from the shortlists. The top three winning stories will be chosen from these six stories by the Grand Judge, novelist and short-story writer, Christine Dwyer-Hickey.

How long/short can my story be?

Stories should be no more than 4,000 words max - but there is no minimum word count,  and flash fiction is welcome. Stories should be typed, double spaced on one side of A4 (or equivalent) paper.

The judge

Christine Dwyer Hickey is an award winning novelist and short-story writer. She is the author of The Dublin Trilogy: The Dancer, The Gambler and The Gatemaker which span the story of a Dublin family from 1913 to 1956. Her novel Tatty was short-listed for Irish Book of the Year in 2005 and was also long-listed for The Orange Prize. Her latest novel, Last Train From Liguria, is set in 1930s Fascist Italy and Dublin in the 1990s and was published in June 2009 by Atlantic Books (UK). The paperback edition of Last Train From Liguria was issued in 2010. Tatty was been nominated for The Irish Book of the Decade competition. She is a member of Aosdana.

What's the entrance fee?

€7 per story

By cheque/postal order

For entries from within the Republic of Ireland, the €7 entry fee may be paid by cheque or postal orders. These should be made payable to Writing4all Ltd, and sent to the postage address above.

By PayPal

Payment may also be made securely and easily via the PayPal button below this section. Note, you do NOT need a PayPal account to use this option. PayPal accepts payment from all major credit and debit cards and is internationally recognised as a fast, easy and secure way to make online payments (see www.paypal.com).

You may use PayPal to pay for entries submitted by post or email. For entries paid by PayPal, please include your unique Transaction ID code (which will look something like 98B96318D4186023G) in your cover letter (for both postal or email entries). This code is provided to you by PayPal as you complete the payment process and allows us to validate your payment.

Thank you for your interest in the competition and the very best of luck!

Click the button below to submit the competition fee via Paypal