Donna Collins' Blog

K. Margaret Grossman Fiction Awards
Category:   Fiction
Closes:   15th January 2011
Fees:   $10 for one entry. $15 for two.
Prizes:   $1,000 for first place. $300; $200.
Details:   For unpublished stories up to 8,000 words. Any subjects and styles.
Contact:  Literal Latté Awards, 200 East 10th Street, Suite 240, New York, NY 10003
Country:  United States
Website:   http://www.literal-latte.com/contests/#fiction_awards

CNW Something a little different
Category:   Fiction
Closes:   15th December 2011
Fees:   £4 for one entry. Entry and critique £9.
Prizes:   £0 for first place. Estimate £20 plus for first place.
Details:   All entries must be between 1000 and 3000 words and based on the theme either directly or indirectly moving home.
Contact:   CNWriters c/o 6 Fox Close, Chipping Norton, Oxon, OX7 5BY
Country:   United Kingdom
Email:   cnwriters@btinternet.com
Website:   http://cnwriters.webs.com/currentcompetitions.htm

Children’s Chapter Book Competition
Category:   Fiction
Closes:   30th November 2011
Fees:   £20 for one entry.
Prizes:   £500 for first place. Full manuscript reviewed by agent.
Details:   Fresh, original and unpublished stories are sought for competition. Entry requirements: First three chapters or prologue and first two chapters; one page synopsis; chapter titles; author biography; contact details on separate sheet. Word count: 5000 words. Judged by talent scout for children’s publishers. Postal and online submissions accepted.
Contact:   Canterbury Court, 1 – 3 Brixton Road, London SW9 6DE
Country:   United Kingdom
Email:   info@chapteronepromotions.com
Website:   http://www.chapteronepromotions.com

Carpe Articulum Novella Contest
Category:   Fiction
Closes:   7th January 2012
Fees:   $25 for one entry. $10 each additional entry. 5 entries maximum.
Prizes:   $1,000 for first place. $300; $200.
Details:   For stand-alone fiction up to 150 double-spaced pages.
Country:   United States
Website:   http://www.carpearticulum.com/submissions

Writer’s Toolkit Flash Fiction Comp
Category:   Fiction
Closes:   30th November 2011
Fees:   £3 for one entry. £5 for two.
Prizes:   £50 for first place. £25; £15.
Details:   For flash fiction up to 150 words (not including the title).
Contact:   10 Woodward Close, Pershore, Worcs WR10 1LP
Country:   United Kingdom
Website:   http://www.writers-toolkit.co.uk/blog/?p=259

NaNoWriMo First Line Contest
Category:   Fiction
Closes:   4th December 2011
Fees:   $0 for one entry.
Prizes:   $100 for first place. $50 second, $25 third, 7 honorable mentions win copy of Your Writing Coach book.
Details:   Whether or not finish your National Novel Writing Month entry, if you get as far as the first line you can win a cash prize or free book! Prizes will be awarded for the best first sentence of a novel being written for this year’s NaNoWriMo. It can be funny, dramatic, scary or otherwise outstanding.
Contact:   85 Ridgmount Gardens, London WC1E 7AY – but submit via email to link below.
Country:   United Kingdom
Email:   jurgenwolff@gmail.com
Website:   http://www.NaNoWriMoContest.com

Multi-Story Flash Fiction
Category:   Fiction
Closes:   29th February 2012
Fees:   £5 for one entry. £8 for two entries.
Prizes:   £300 for first place. 2nd place £100. 3rd place £50.
Details:   Open themed Flash Fiction competition. Word limit 600. The judge had eleven novels published before turning to writing screenplays for film and TV and remains a regular contributor of short stories and serials in magazines around the world. Her work has been translated into thirteen languages. Entries to be submitted on-line.
Country:   United Kingdom
Website:   http://www.multi-story.co.uk

ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA:

2012 Cleveland Rocks Romance Contest
Sponsor: The North Eastern Ohio RWA
Fee: $15–25.00
Deadline: February 14, 2012
Eligibility: Entrants must be unpublished in book-length fiction (minimum 40,000 words) in the last five years.
Entry: The first chapter, maximum of 7000 words. A one-page synopsis is optional and will not be counted as part of the entry. The synopsis is not judged.
Categories: Contemporary Series Romance, Single Title Contemporary, Historical Romance, Mainstream with Strong Romantic Elements, Paranormal Romance, Romantic Suspense, Young Adult.
Judges: Experienced, published/unpublished. The top three finalists in each category will have their entry judged by an editor/agent final judge.
Top Prize: Winners of each category will receive a refund of their entry fee, a winner’s certificate and a contest winner logo graphic.
FMI, visit www.neorwa.com or email NEOContest2012@gmail.com.

SCRIPTS:

International Student Playscript Comp
Category:   Scripts
Closes:   30th December 2011
Fees:   £0 for one entry. £5 to enter by email.
Prizes:   £1,000 for first place.
Details:   For plays in English by students of any age, studying anywhere in the world.
Contact:   The International Student Playscript Competition, c/o The World Student Drama Trust, 9 McIntyre Court, Studley Road, London SW4 6RX
Country:   United Kingdom
Email:   phil@isplayscript.org
Website:   http://www.isplayscript.org

BBC WRITING OPPORTUNITIES:

BBC Radio 4: Opening Lines

The BBC Radio Drama Readings Unit welcomes unsolicited submissions from writers new to radio for their annual series, Opening Lines which is broadcast on BBC Radio 4.  

As well as broadcasting the three strongest stories in the summer of 2012 they will be publishing transcripts of the shortlisted stories on a new Opening Lines webpage.

The next window for sending in material is October 17th – December 2nd, 2011.  Stories submitted outside this time-frame will be returned unread.  Your story will be read and responded to within three months of the submission deadline.

Content and format:

They are looking for original short stories which work being read out loud i.e. with a strong emphasis on narrative and avoiding too much dialogue, character description and digression.  Pay particular attention to how the story opens and closes.  They’ll be looking to see whether the beginning of a story successfully links to how it ends.

The Readings Unit are interested in seeing stories which cover a broad range of subject-matter but material which explores particularly dark, harrowing themes is not best suited to Opening Lines.

The BBC has a rigorous taste and decency policy and cannot accept stories of a sexist or racist nature, or those which use the stronger swear words. The time allotted for each story is around 14 minutes, which means stories must be between 1,900 and 2,000 words in length.

Submissions must be typed and double-spaced on A4 paper and it is important to put your name and address on the script itself.  Please do not send a recording of the text.

Submission details:

When submitting your work, please include a SAE and a brief covering letter giving your name, e-mail address (if applicable), the story’s title, word count and details of writing track record. We regret that we can only accept one submission per writer and if we intend to broadcast your story we shall contact you.

Stories that fall outside these guidelines will be returned unread.
 
Please send us a copy of your story, not your original work.

If you would like to submit work to the London office please send it to:

BBC Radio Drama Readings Unit
Room 807, South East Wing
Bush House
Aldwych
London
WC2B 4PH

Deadline: December 2nd 2011

SCRIPT WRITING OPPORTUNITIES Via ISA:

Screenwriter with interest in ghosts wanted
Director/dp, planning to produce a short or micro-budget feature film within the next two months. Specific interest for this project is the phenomenon/shared experience most commonly referred to as “ghosts.” Would like to set the story in the slums of Brooklyn. Not interested in shooting a “found-footage” movie. Thinking more along the lines of Hitchcock or Japanese horror/thriller. See work samples at http://www.waltersdp.com/. Contact via email at christopherwalters@mac.com. Minimal pay. Thank you.

Short film script wanted
We are looking for a short film script (5 to 20 pages) to bring to life under director Michael Ferns. We prefer drama, but will consider sharp comedy. No horror or thriller. Commissioning for this script begins now and ends on Nov. 30th. We will film the script by year’s end. Email all scripts, premises, questions to Murray Alford at Scripts4.Upon.A.Wheel@gmail.com. Thank you.

Arabic scriptwriters needed
We are a fast growing media company specialized in content creation, content production and media management with offices in Beirut, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and most recently in Abu Dhabi. We are recruiting Arabic scriptwriters who have studied in the US. Based in Abu Dhabi. Good package offered including monthly salary. For questions and further information please contact Rita Hachem at ritahachem@hotmail.com. Thank you.

Producer/Director looking for short film script for production
Established director/producer is looking for writer with a short film to be produced next year and submitted to a workshop for production. Short would also be submitted to film festivals. A small flat fee would be given to writer for rights to produce the project and would be filmed in 2012 with funding production company. Looking for projects that could be done with moderate budget but nothing that requires over $20,000 to produce. Scripts must be no more then 15 pages or have the ablity to be shorten in that page range.
All genres accepted but priority for:
Fantasy
Romantic Comedies
Drama
Action Adventure
Please submit script for consideration with log-line to info@jninemedia.com. Writers with top scripts will be contacted for further discussion.

Action script, hockey – Flow Pictures
We are looking for a low budget COMMERCIAL Feature Action film script with a HOCKEY theme to produce. The selected script will be marketed to investors during the American Film Market in Nov 2011 and Cannes Film Market in May 2012. If you believe you have a strong script please send us your pitch at filmscripts@flowpictures.com, attention Gilbert Khoury. If yours is selected an agreement will be put in place and you will be paid a fair price for your script.

Screenwriter – Love and Crossbones Productions
We are looking for a screenwritier that is in tune with pop culture from the past few decades. More details will be given about the film when chosen. This is a paid job. All interested in this position please submit samples of your writing (or further questions) to us at shawnlcp@gmail.com. Thank you.

Screenwriters and scripts – NRI TV Film Club
Screen writers wanted to develop scripts. We are a production company looking to make films in India for Indian audiences in Indian languages. Please submit resume and a two sample complete scenes. Apply to Tirlok Malik at info@nritvfilmclub.com.

Please remember to check out legitimacy of all contests before you enter and to copyright all work.

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

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