Competition

Thanet Writers Short Story Competition 2020

The Thanet Writers Short Story Competition 2020 is open for entries from writers with a link to Thanet. Short stories of between 500 and 5,000 words in length will be in consideration for a grand prize of £1,000 in cash!

All short stories must be set somewhere in Thanet and be weird, strange, or unusual in some way.

The closing date for entries is Sunday 31st May 2020.

Judges

The judging panel will comprise of the Thanet Writers Editorial Team and a Guest Judge.

Fiction Editor: Alice Olivia Scarlett

Poetry Editor: Kirsty Louise Farley

Reviews Editor: Nic James

Features Editor: Zoe Davies

Managing Editor: Melissa Todd

Guest Judge: Catherine Law

Entries will be longlisted by the Fiction Editor in the first instance. Longlisted entrants will be eligible to receive a payment of £10 for print rights and will be published online by Thanet Writers. The longlist will be announced on Saturday 18th July 2020.

The longlist will be reviewed by the Section Editors, specifically the Fiction Editor, Poetry Editor, Essays Editor, Reviews Editor, and Features Editor, with each longlisted entry requiring approval by three Editors to be shortlisted. The shortlist will be published in a print anthology as well as online by Thanet Writers. The shortlist will be announced on Saturday 19th September 2020.

The shortlist will be reviewed by the Fiction Editor, the Managing Editor, the Editor-in-Chief, and the Guest Judge to determine a winner. The winner will be announced at the Thanet Writers Conference 2020 on Saturday 7th November 2020 and will receive a grand prize of £1,000 in cash along with being published in a print anthology as well as online by Thanet Writers.

Summary of Rules

  • The winner will receive a grand prize of £1,000 in cash.
  • Entries must be short stories of between 500 and 5,000 words.
  • Entries must be set in Thanet and be weird, strange, or unusual in some way.
  • Entries must be previously unpublished.
  • Longlisted entries will be eligible to receive a payment of £10.
  • Shortlisted entries will be published in a print anthology.
  • The winner will be announced at the Thanet Writers Conference 2020.
  • Writers must have some form of connection to Thanet to submit.
  • Entry is free.
  • Only one entry per writer.
  • The judges’ decisions are final.

Thanet Writers only accepts entries from writers with a legitimate link to Thanet. All entries are subject to the approval of the Editorial Team and adherence to the Thanet Writers Editorial Policy. To access the Entry Form at the bottom of this page you must be logged in and be Verified. A guide to using thanetwriters.com is available here.

Upon entry, the Entry Form will redirect to a Thank You page and an email confirmation will be sent to the email address associated with the submitting account. If the page does not redirect then there is an issue with the content in the Entry Form, or the Entry Form has been open too long and the scripts have been disabled by the browser. To address this, check the form, and then reload the page before entering again.

Once you have entered you will not be able to enter the competition again, and will see a notice informing you of this. If you believe you are seeing this notice in error, please get in touch using the Technical Help option on the Contact page.

An email to all entrants stating whether entries have been accepted onto the longlist will be sent after the longlist has been announced at 08:00 on Saturday 18th July 2020 to the email address associated with the entering account. An email to all longlisted entrants stating whether entries have been accepted onto the shortlist will be sent after the shortlist has been announced at 08:00 on Saturday 19th September 2020 to the email address associated with the entering account. The winner will be announced at the Thanet Writers Conference 2020, held at a venue to be confirmed in Thanet on Saturday 7th November 2020, an email invitation to which will be sent to all shortlisted entrants, after tickets to the Thanet Writers Conference 2020 go on sale, to the email address associated with the entering account. If the winner is unable to attend the Thanet Writers Conference 2020 then they will be informed of their win on that day and they will receive their prize at a later date. Please do not query entries until the longlist has been announced.

If your entry is not successful at any stage you will receive an email notifying you of this. If this is the case, please do not be disheartened, but continue to submit your work elsewhere. Due to the anticipated volume of entries, reasons will not be provided by an Editor and further correspondence will not be entered into.

Please take a moment to read the Terms and Conditions for Entry to ensure your entry meets the specified criteria.

Terms and Conditions for Entry

For the benefit of these Terms, “writer” hereby refers to the individual who submits content claiming it to be their own.

Entries must be received before 23:59 on Sunday 31st May 2020. Any entries received after this date will not be considered.

Entries will only be considered through the Entry Form, with all required fields completed correctly.

Only one entry will be considered per writer, with the first entry being the only considered.

Previously published content is not accepted in the Thanet Writers Short Story Competition 2020. Previously published includes social media, blogs, websites, in print, and anywhere where content can be publicly accessed either for free or behind a paywall or similar publicly-accessible restriction.

Entries must be complete self-contained short stories and not extracts of larger works.

All content remains the copyright of the writer or current copyright holder, which must be specified upon entry. If it is found by Thanet Writers that a copyright notice is incorrect or wrongly attributed, responsibility for the reproduction of said content will be entirely with the writer, with Thanet Writers CIC not being held liable. Failure to include a year in a copyright notice may result in that entry being unsuccessful.

Simultaneous submissions are not accepted in the Thanet Writers Short Story Competition 2020.

Requests for withdrawal of consideration can be made up until the announcement of the longlist. From the date of the longlist announcement, withdrawal will no longer be considered.

Entries must be set within Thanet and adhere to the theme: be weird, strange, or unusual in some way.

The winning entry will be eligible for a £1,000 prize to be awarded in cash or cheque at the competition winner announcement at the Thanet Writers Conference 2020 on Saturday 7th November 2020 or at a date mutually agreed by both parties thereafter and within a period of six (6) months from the date of the announcement of the winner of the Thanet Writers Short Story Competition 2020. The method of payment is at the discretion of Thanet Writers CIC. Thanet Writers CIC is not liable for transport or accommodation costs or any other costs or expenditure in relation to any competition events or meetings.

There is no age limit for writers, however all entries will be judged without age consideration and entirely on the merit of the content entered.

If the writer has accessibility requirements they can get in touch for supported entry using the Accessibility option on the Contact page, whereby their request will be assessed and reasonable adjustments can be made.

Directors of Thanet Writers CIC and members of Thanet Writers Staff with a contract which is in effect at any point during the entry period are prohibited from entering, as are members of their households. The Guest Judge is prohibited from entering, as are members of their household. Non-contracted individuals who work alongside or partner with Thanet Writers or have any other association but have not entered into a contractual agreement with Thanet Writers CIC are permitted to enter without restriction.

By entering the writer agrees, should said content be longlisted, to allow Thanet Writers CIC an exclusive licence up to Saturday 7th November 2020 and for a period of six (6) months from the date of the announcement of the winner of the Thanet Writers Short Story Competition 2020, then a non-exclusive licence thereafter, to publish said content digitally online, which will be freely accessible worldwide, for a minimum of twelve (12) months, until such a time after that the writer requests the withdrawal of publication or the legal term of copyright expires within the United Kingdom.

By entering the writer agrees, should said content be longlisted, to allow Thanet Writers CIC an exclusive licence up to Friday 7th May 2021 (equating to a period of six (6) months from the date of the announcement of the winner of the Thanet Writers Short Story Competition 2020), then a non-exclusive licence thereafter, to publish said content in print in the United Kingdom for the legal term of copyright as part of an anthology in volume form that will be on sale to the general public in exchange for a one-off payment of £10.62 from which £0.62 is allocated to cover any administrative costs that PayPal may charge for providing a safe and secure transfer. This payment will be made by Thanet Writers to the writer via PayPal within no more than thirty (30) days after Saturday 18th July 2020 (the longlist announcement) unless the PayPal address field is left blank, in which case the fee will be returned to Thanet Writers CIC as a donation.

Acceptance for print publication and payment thereof does not guarantee longlisted entries will be included in print publication, and notification of digital and print publication will be provided separately to the writer via email. Shortlisted entries will be published in an anthology. If content is included in a print anthology then a print or ebook copy of said anthology will be provided without cost to the writer by Thanet Writers on or after Saturday 7th November 2020.

Being longlisted or shortlisted by Thanet Writers does not affect the right of the writer to publish said content elsewhere, either digitally or in print, after the exclusive period up to Friday 7th May 2021.

All dates specified are subject to change at the discretion of Thanet Writers CIC.

By entering the writer declares there is no agreement, embargo, or other such limitations currently imposed upon said content from a current or previous publisher, or any other company or organisation. If it is found by Thanet Writers that content has been published in breach of an existing agreement, responsibility for the reproduction of said content will be entirely with the writer, with Thanet Writers CIC not being held liable.

By submitting content the writer declares that said content is entirely his/her/their own work and is not plagiarised or copied from another writer’s content. If it is found by Thanet Writers that content has been plagiarised or copied, responsibility for the reproduction of said content will be entirely with the writer, with Thanet Writers CIC not being held liable. Inclusion of quotes or extracts of work currently in copyright under UK law will result in said quotes or extracts being removed or that entry being rejected.

By submitting content the writer agrees to Thanet Writers CIC holding their name, pseudonym (if applicable), email address, biography, website and any social media links, for the duration of the entry process and, if said content is longlisted, for the duration of publication of said content, and consent to receiving updates regarding their submission status including confirmation of receipt, acceptance or non-acceptance of online publication, longlisting (if applicable), shortlisting (if applicable), invitation to the Thanet Writers Conference 2020 (if applicable), acceptance of print publication (if applicable), updates and notifications regarding print publication (if applicable), editorial adjustments or discussion, updates to writer profiles, changes to these terms, and any other contact deemed reasonably necessary in relation to the publication of said content. These details will not be shared with third parties and contact will only be regarding submitted content or the public profile held on thanetwriters.com or in print.

Entries will be eligible for consideration based upon meeting the following criteria:

  1. The writer has a suitable connection to Thanet, at the discretion of the Editorial Team;
  2. The content is between 500 and 5,000 words;
  3. The content is previously unpublished;
  4. There are no grammar or spelling mistakes in the Entry Form;
  5. The content has artistic merit and is written to a good standard, at the discretion of the Editorial Team;
  6. The writer agrees to the Terms and Conditions for Entry, as laid out on this page.

Closed

The Thanet Writers Short Story Competition is closed for entries. We would still really like to read what you have written, so please click here to submit your short story in the usual process, outside of the competition.

Submit