Competitions and Submissions

Deadline: Wed 8 Apr 2026
Location: International

The Brotherton Poetry Prize 2026 celebrates and promotes poetry and supports new poets. The Prize is open to anyone in the world over the age of 18 who hasn't yet published a full collection of poems. Read more...

Deadline: Wed 8 Apr 2026
Location: UK

London Writers Centre and Wellcome Collection have announced the return of the Wellcome Collection Non-Fiction Awards which aim to find and support writers from underrepresented groups who have a big idea for a non-fiction book for general readers that engages with the themes of health and being human. Read more...

Deadline: Mon 13 Apr 2026
Location: London

Launched in 1981, the Verity Bargate Award is Soho Theatre’s flagship playwrighting competition, sponsored by Character 7. It is one of the longest-established playwrighting awards in the UK and the only award to guarantee the winning play a fully staged production in one of Soho Theatre’s stages in their central London venue.  Read more...

Deadline: Tue 14 Apr 2026
Location: UK

Headline and Curtis Brown Creative have teamed up to launch Modern Stories: It Must Be Love, a new romance novel-writing competition to find exciting new voices in romantic fiction from writers from Black, Asian, mixed heritage and/or multiple ethnic backgrounds. In association with Hachette UK’s The Future Bookshelf. Read more...

Deadline: Wed 15 Apr 2026
Location: London

The London Arts-Based Research Centre has announced that applications are now open for the 2026 LABRC Summer School in Arts-Based Research: Knowing through Image, Language, and Psyche. Read more...

Deadline: Thu 16 Apr 2026
Location: UK, Channel Islands

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, St Magnus International Festival are holding a poetry competition to celebrate the Festival’s rich literary heritage, inspired by one of its founders, George Mackay Brown. Read more...

Deadline: Fri 17 Apr 2026
Location: International

The Programme offers 15 writers two years of sustained engagement and the opportunity to work towards completion of a project, whether in poetry, non-fiction or fiction. Read more...

Deadline: Fri 17 Apr 2026
Location: Falmouth, Cornwall

The Inaugural International Women’s Writing Association Conference takes place at Falmouth University from Wednesday 17th to Friday 19th June 2026.The call for papers is open until 17th April 2026. Read more...

Deadline: Fri 17 Apr 2026
Location: UK

A golden opportunity for young writers! We are asking 7-11-year-olds to write a story about Gold using no more than 500-words. Free to enter. Read more...

Deadline: Sun 19 Apr 2026
Location: International

The aim of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize is both to celebrate the best of new short fiction under 2000 words and to give winners the most visibility possible for their writing.  Read more...