SHAN 2024 short story competition
"If you go down to the woods today..."
South Hams Literary Festival is running another short story competition for the summer of 2024. The theme this year will be Longtimber Woods, Ivybridge.
“Longtimber Woods and the adjoining Pithill Woods lie in the Erme Valley to the north of Ivybridge. It is a working woodland, nature reserve and recreational area of 53 acres (21.7 hectares) consisting mainly of broadleaf trees and a variety of shrubs and other moorland plants.”
It has a varied and interesting history.
Lots more information on the history of the woods can be found here.
We are looking for short stories on ANY aspect of this theme, with a word count of between 1000 to 2000 words, to be submitted by 9pm on Friday 30th August 2024. The competition opens on Monday 1st July. We welcome entries from any geographical area.
CATEGORIES:
In order to encourage young writers as well, we are having an extra category this year:
young adult 16 – 18 years old (free to enter)
Plus we still have our main category of:
adult 18 years and over
ENTRY FEE:
A payment of a minimum of £4 must be made for the ‘adult’ category to our GoFundMe page at the time of submission. Link: https://gofund.me/3d9c12bd
You may enter more than once; however, a separate entry fee must be paid for each submission.
The ‘young adult’ category is free to enter.
YOUR JUDGE
We're excited to announce that all the stories will be judged by the wonderful Fee Mak from BBC 1Xtra Breakfast show, who's also an avid reader and shares her honest opinions about the books she's read via her Instagram High Shelf Esteem account.
HOW TO ENTER:
Please email your story to southhamsauthors@gmail.com with the words ‘short story comp’ in the subject line. Attach your story as a word document and put your name and contact details in the body of the email. Please state the category you are entering ie ‘adult’ or ‘young adult’. If entering the ‘young adult’ category, you must have the permission of a parent/guardian, and also state your age. All entries will be acknowledged.
PRIZES:
There will be a cash prize of £100 for the winning adult story, plus two runners up prizes, and one prize of a £25 book token (sponsored by SW Law) for the winning ‘young adult’ story.
Prizes jointly sponsored by Christophers of Ivybridge and SW Law
