The Short-Fiction.co.uk Writing Competition Page

Short story writing competitions to win cash prizes?

I ran a short story competition many years ago, when this website first opened. It has been a long time since then, with thousands of new stories added, and thousands of new writers! So I was wondering if there is an appetite for our community to run our own writing competition - with a real cash prize?

As I run this site as a hobby, unfortunately I do not have the funds to sponsor the prize (although the good news is that the google adds that people are clicking on are doing fairly well, and may well help me break even on the hosting costs). SO I either need a friendly company to step up and sponsor the competition(s), OR we do this ourselves, by having a small entry fee, and then I divide all entry fees into a prize pot, and hand out something like 90% in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes? The difference can go into my hosting saving fund?

UPDATE: Based on some feedback, I thought I better add that the comps will be structured - such as min/max word limits, specific genre, maybe a given title or line which must be used. As for judging - we could either go with me/my team judgeting, or probably more open, a public voting system, or maybe better than that an author/registered members only voting system - so stories judged by their peers? One vote per author per competition?

How you can help - you thoughts!

I need to know if you think this is a good idea, and something you think would work on this site. We do have over 2,000 writers who have contributed, so we could hopefully get anywhere from 20-300 entries - so a £5 entry fee could add up to a LARGE prize depending on the levels of subscription. If it does work, we could look at running them every month or two - maybe some with larger entry fees for bigger prizes, and some with smaller entry fees to help draw in more entries? I would use a PayPal system to take the entry fee - which will show you the fee in your native currency.

Please use the form below to help me collect some info, as YOU are the community of this site, and your views do count. Cheers, Kristian.

Do you think a writing competition is a good idea? YES NO Unsure

Would you consider enter a writing competition? YES NO Unsure

Do you think it sould be one single big prize, or 1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes? No Prize - just pride A larger single prize Spread the joy and the prizes Unsure

What sort of entry fee would you expect to pay to enter a standard comp? Or free to enter with no prize unless sponsored)
Free £2.50 £5 £10 £20+

Have you already submitted stories here? YES NO

Any additional thoughts or suggestions?

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