EVESHAM FESTIVAL OF WORDS SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2021 – (Adults and Juniors)

Evesham Festival of Words Short Story Competition - an annual writing competition open to all published and unpublished, UK and non-UK based writers.



Two categories:
 Adult (must be over 16 years of age at the closing date)
 Junior (under 16 years of age at the closing date). (In the Junior category, entries from those aged 8-11 at the closing date will be judged separately from those aged over 12.)

Word count: a maximum of 2,500 words (adults) and a maximum of 500 words (juniors aged 8-11) and 1,000 words (juniors aged 12-15), excluding the title.

Entry fee: £5 (adults) and free for juniors. The work submitted must not have been previously published. There is no particular theme, and entries may be any genre or subject.


Closing date for submission is midnight on Friday 20th March 2021. 
Entries received after the closing date will not be considered. Early entries much appreciated! Online entries only will be accepted. Bulk submissions may be made from schools.

Judges: Chris Hill (adult category), Ann Evans (juniors 12-15), Elizabeth Spencer (juniors, 8-11). (For more information about judges, see page 5).

Results: Shortlisted entrants will be notified by Friday 17th April at the latest. The winner, 2nd and 3rd in each age category will be announced at the Festival Weekend opening night, on the evening of Friday 26 th June, 7pm, Northwick Hotel, Evesham. All shortlisted entrants will be invited to the event.

Prizes: cash prizes of £150, £50 and £30 (1 st , 2 nd, 3rd , adults), and book tokens for £30, £20 and £10 (1 st, 2nd, 3rd , both junior age groups), as well as an engraved trophy for each winner. Shortlisted juniors will all receive a certificate. Titles of shortlisted entries (up to 10 per age category), will be posted on the Festival website once all entrants have been notified. Names of the winners will be posted on the Festival website after the prize-giving ceremony on 26th June. The winning short stories will, with the author’s permission, also be added to the website.

Entries:
The Short Story Competition is open to all published and unpublished writers, whether they are based in the UK or outside the UK. All entries should be in English.
There is no specific theme for the 2020 Competition and entries may be any genre or subject.
Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been previously published, in print or online (including self-published, magazines, journals, websites, blogs, social network sites), or broadcast or won a prize in another writing competition. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if a story is to be published elsewhere or wins a prize in another writing competition.
Authors may enter as many stories as they like. For adults there will be a fee per entry.
Members of the Festival Steering Group, Competition Judges, and Readers, will not be eligible to enter the Competition.
Entries must be received by the closing date of midnight on Friday 20th March 2020. Entries received after this date/time will not be considered. Early entries much appreciated!
Entries will be judged anonymously so please follow the more detailed instructions below in order to keep your personal details separate from your story during judging.
Stories should be free of spelling and grammatical errors.
Entry to the Competition implies an acceptance of the Evesham Festival of Words
Short Story Competition Rules. Entries that fail to comply with the Rules may be disqualified.

How to submit your entry:
All entries must be submitted electronically. Paper entries will not be accepted. Note that entries that do not comply with the Rules may be disqualified.
Stories should be typed in either Times New Roman or Arial 12pt, with double line spacing.
Include the title of your story as a header on each page submitted.
Include the word count at the end of your story.
Entries should be submitted as doc, doc.x, rtf or pdf format by email to:
info@eveshamfestivalofwords.org. Please include in the email your name, address and contact telephone number. Junior entrants should include date of birth and name
of school). (Any problems with Festival email, please resend to:sueablett1@btinternet.com).