Here’s a list of live writing opportunities. Please note, the information below may change so do check the details on individual websites. This is not an exhaustive list. Do check your regional literature development agency for further opportunities available to you.
Your regional literature development agency is responsible for supporting, promoting, and championing writing where you live. These are: Writing East Midlands, Writing West Midlands, Spread the Word (London) New Writing North, New Writing South (South East), Literature Works (South West).
JANUARY 2024
The Exeter Novel Prize accept the first ten thousand words including synopsis of a novel that has not been accepted for publication by a traditional publishing house.
Deadline: 1 January
Bradford Literature Festival are looking for an outgoing, enthusiastic and creative person to join the festival team as a Creative Producer. Full time, office based, £30-34k.
Deadline: 8 January
A Writing Chance are looking for 16 new fiction and non-fiction writers and journalists to be part of a year-long programme which runs April 2024-March 2025 and is open to writers from working-class and lower-income backgrounds, aged over 18 and based in the UK.
Deadline: 8 January
The Women’s Prize and Curtis Brown are inviting entries to Discoveries, a pioneering programme seeking the most talented and original new female writing voices in the UK and Ireland. The prize will accept novels in any genre of adult fiction and entrants will be required to submit only the first 10,000 words of their novel with a synopsis.
Deadline: 8 January
The 2024 Future Worlds Prize is now open for entries! We’re looking for great works of science fiction and fantasy by new writers and we’re open to everything from space operas and dystopias to books set in magical worlds and more.
Deadline: 29 January
Room 204 is Writing West Midlands’ writer development programme for emerging writers in the region. The programme includes mentoring and career development.
Deadline: 29 January
Spread the Word Full Manuscript Read for London writers who are un-agented and unpublished, and from a background/s underrepresented in publishing.
Deadline: 29 January
City Lit’s Malorie Blackman Scholarships for Unheard Voices provide three annual awards worth up to £1000 each, to fund one year’s study within the Creative Writing department at City Lit.
Deadline: 31 January
Write Beyond Borders invites writers of South Asian heritage from anywhere in the world to submit your best writing for a new anthology of short stories on the theme of ‘bridges not borders’.
Deadline: 31 January
The Royal Society for Asian Affairs Travel Awards support practical projects and research that have the potential to contribute to advances in scholarly or other public knowledge including, but not limited to, post-graduate degrees, journalism and travel writing.
Deadline: 31 January
FEBRUARY
The Prototype Prize is a new, biennial prize for published or unpublished writers and artists working at the intersections of different literary and artistic forms.
Deadline: 1 February
Spotlight First Novel Award is our way of celebrating and encouraging new writers. It offers the opportunity to win intensive professional input at a key stage and is designed to boost confidence.
Deadline: 14 February
Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize is for a novel by a woman over the age of 21 that marries literary merit with unputdownability. For unpublished writers only.
Deadline: 7-9 February (see website)
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook Short Story Competition is for short stories of no more than 2,000 words. 2023 theme: risk
Deadline: 12 February
Spotlight First Novel Award is your chance to hone your manuscript under the guidance of a professional novelist working in the same genre. The preparation of a public profile provides a crash course in image, pitch and presentation.
Deadline: 14 February
Northern Writers’ Awards invite writers from across the North of England to send in their unpublished work-in-progress for the chance to win cash awards and professional development.
Deadline: 22 February
MARCH
Alpine Fellowship is awarded for the best piece of writing on the theme of ‘Language’. All genres of writing are permitted, including fiction, non-fiction and non-academic essays.
Deadline: 1 March
Write Across Birmingham and the Black Country is an eight-week development programme specifically designed to support emerging writers and creatives at the early stages of their writing careers.
Deadline: 5 March
Aziz Foundation Scholarship Programme offers 100% tuition fee Masters scholarships to support British Muslims to study at UK universities. The scholarships are aimed at those who wish to advance in their careers and bring positive change to their communities and beyond.
Deadline: tbc
Royal Literary Fund Fellowships offer professional writers the opportunity to work in a university for two days a week helping students develop their writing. You should be a writer with at least two (sole-authored) books published, or mainstream theatre works performed, or radio/TV scripts broadcast, prior to application.
Deadline: check website for more
Fish Poetry Prize is for poems with a limit of 60 lines.
Deadline: 31st March
APRIL
The Bath Short Story Award is for short stories of up to 2,200 words. 2024 Judge: Sophie Haydock
Deadline: 15 April
The Women’s Playwriting Prize is for original scripts that last more than an hour.
Deadline: 17 April
Working Class Nature Writing Prize is for unpublished, unrepresented writers who self-identify as working class.
Deadline: 19 April
The Guardian Foundation is offering a number of bursaries for a postgraduate qualification in journalism.
Deadline: tba
Guardian and 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize is for short stories up to 6,000 words. Open to black, Asian, minority ethnic writers living in the UK or Ireland.
Deadline: tba
MAY
Cheshire Novel Prize is open to unagented authors over the age of 18.
Deadline: 1 May
SI Leeds Literary Prize is open for unpublished fiction by UK Black and Asian women.
Deadline: 13 May
Creative Futures Writers’ Award is for under-represented writers. The prize welcomes fiction and poetry on a set theme annually. 2024: reveal
Deadline: 19 May
Bridport Prize The Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award is for unpublished novels. Submit 5-8,000 words plus a 300-word synopsis in the first instance. The prize also has categories for short story, poetry, and flash fiction. See the website for bursaries for underrepresented writers.
Deadline: 31 May
The Bath Novel Award is for unpublished novels. Submit 5,000 words plus a one-page synopsis.
Deadline: 31 May
JUNE
The Times/Chicken House Books Children’s Fiction Comp is looking for completed full-length children’s/YA novels. Prize: £10k advance and representation.
Deadline: 1 June
Mslexia is inviting short stories no longer than 2,200 words and poems up to 40 lines on a set theme for their Showcase section.
Deadline: check the website for theme
Zeenat Haroon Rashid Writing Prize for Women, open to Pakistani women over the age of 18, is looking for short stories of up to 3,000 words.
Deadline: tba
Faber’s FAB prize is for BAME new writers and illustrators.
Deadline: tba
JULY
Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize is for fiction, poetry and life writing up to 3,000 words open to writers who have not yet published a book-length work, with no limits on age, gender, nationality, or background.
Deadline: July 1
Leicester Writes Short Story Prize is for short stories of up to 3,500 words, on any theme or subject.
Deadline: July 15
The Salam Award for Imaginative Fiction is for short stories of up to 10,000 words.
Deadline: July 31
AUGUST
Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is open for entries in two categories: short fiction and poetry
Deadline: 31 August
The Women Poets Prize is for emerging and established poets. Three winners will receive £1000 bursary and mentoring.
Deadline: tba
SEPTEMBER
Manchester Writing Prizes is for fiction of up to 2500 words and poetry of between 3 – 5 poems, with a max. combined length of 120 lines.
Deadline: tba
The Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize is for both published and unpublished writers, writing original fiction in English, and from anywhere in the world. Short stories of up to 6000 words
Deadline: tba
OCTOBER
Working-Class Writers’ Prize returns for its fifth year. Entrants should submit the beginning of an unpublished work-in-progress, of no more than 2,000 words in length.
Deadline: tbc
London Short Story Prize is open to London-based writers, for short stories of up to 5000 words. 50 free entries to low-income writers.
Deadline: tba
The Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction is for short stories of between 2000 and 6000 words.
Deadline: tba
NOVEMBER
New Media Writing Prize showcases exciting and inventive stories and poetry that integrate a variety of digital formats, platforms, and media.
Deadline: tba
DECEMBER
Royal Society of Literature is inviting proposals for their Literature Matters Award. For writing, literary events or projects which either help connect with audiences or topics outside the usual reach of literature, and/or will help generate public discussion about why literature matters.
Deadline: tba
ROLLING
Arts Council Developing your Creative Practice is a fund of between £2000 and £10000 for individual artists and/or creative practitioners.
Deadline: Rolling – Check with ACE
TLC Free Reads Scheme is a manuscript reading scheme for writers on a low income.
Deadline: Rolling – Check with your regional writing partner