The Bournemouth Writing Prize is an annual international short story and poetry competition. Winners of this writing contest receive personal feedback from industry professionals and there is a cash prize for each category.
Your work will be judged by industry professionals from the publishing world.
Run by the staff and students of the MA in Creative Writing and Publishing at Bournemouth University the competition is entering its tenth year. To help the prize continue to grow and reach new audiences, we are proud to partner with The Bournemouth Writing Festival.
This year’s entrants will also be considered for inclusion in the Bournemouth Journal.
Categories
Short Story
Word count: Maximum 3000 words (excluding title).
What we are looking for: You can choose whatever style and topic you want! We want passionate storytellers who create great compelling characters and tell fascinating stories. Surprise us!
Poetry
Up to three poems. Line count: Maximum 30 per poem (excluding title and line spaces).
What we are looking for: You can choose whatever form and theme works best for you! We’re looking for fresh and unexpected poems – be that about recent world events, stories of hope, or based on personal experience. You may send up to three poems per entry. All poems need to be submitted at the same time in the same document.
The Prizes
Short Story
£1000 cash prize for first place, plus an hour-long consultation with our short story judge, Greene and Heaton agent, Laura Williams.
£300 cash prize for second place.
£200 cash prize for third place.
Poetry
£1000 cash prize, plus an hour-long consultation and feedback session with our poetry judges, TBD
£300 cash prize for second place.
£200 cash prize for third place.
For both categories:
The winners will each have 2 free tickets and an Open Mic slot of up to 10 minutes at the Bourn Jammy event on Saturday 26th April at the Pavilion Dance, where the band will improvise music to their winning entry. The Short Story winner will need to truncate their entry to fit into the timeframe. Winners must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements, and meet any associated costs.
Each of the overall winners will receive 2 free tickets to any talk or workshop taking place at the Pavilion Dance over the course of the three-day festival.
Each winner selected for the anthology will receive a free, printed copy of the resulting anthology.
Prizes are non-transferable and no alternative (cash or otherwise) will be given.
This annual event inspires writers to write with free and ticketed practical and hands-on events, workshops, talks, walks and networking opportunities. A carefully curated selection of self-published, published and writing professionals impart their knowledge and advice to writers of all ages, backgrounds, abilities and genres, regardless of where they are on their writing journey, in multiple venues across Bournemouth Town Centre.
The 2025 festival takes place on 25th, 26th and 27th April and will have Writing on the Beach, a Poetry Hub, children’s workshops and a live music improvisation performance, alongside a programme of over 50 talks and workshops led by writers.
Title, whether it’s compelling enough to draw the reader in.
Compliance with rules.
Please consider these guidelines when sending in your work. And yet…! And yet… a winning piece doesn’t come from simply following a checklist. There’s always that almost intangible ‘je ne sais quoi’ at play…
We can’t tell you what it is, but we both know it when we see it. Good luck!
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