PRIZE: £2,000
WORDS: 8,000 max (no minimum)
CLOSING DATE: 23:59 (UK time) 16th Dec, 2024
WINNER ANNOUNCED: 10th Feb, 2025
EARLY ENTRY FEE: £8 one story, £12 two stories, £15 three stories
(If you’d like to submit more than three stories, please let us know, and we’ll provide you with a discount code to buy additional entries at £4 per story)
GENERAL ENTRY FEE: £16 one story, £24 two stories, £30 three stories
(If you’d like to submit more than three stories, please let us know, and we’ll provide you with a discount code to buy additional entries at £8 per story)
HOW TO ENTER:
Please read the competition rules very carefully.
Next, buy your ticket or tickets. You can submit any number of stories, but each one requires its own ticket.
Entries are to be sent by email before the deadline of the competition. Full submission instructions will be sent by email as soon as you purchase your ticket.
Please see this formatting guide. While submissions are not directly scored on their presentation, we recommend formatting your entry according to industry standard, as this can influence the overall impression it makes on the judges.
THE COMPETITION:
Our 2024 Open Short Story Competition is a fantastic opportunity for writers of all genres and styles to showcase their best work. Whether you write literary fiction, sci-fi, historical, horror, or anything else, we want to read your story!
The competition is open to stories of any length, up to 8,000 words. While we’ve set the maximum limit high to accommodate longer stories that might not fit other contests with stricter word limits, there’s no minimum word count. So don’t feel pressured to come close to the limit. All stories will be judged on their own merits, and if a 1,000-word story is successful as a 1,000-word story, it won’t be at a disadvantage in this contest. That being said, we probably wouldn’t recommend submitting anything shorter than 500 to 1,000 words in length, unless you’re very confident in the story—for example, if it has already been shortlisted in another competition.
THE FEEDBACK EXCHANGES:
To make this competition even more rewarding, we’re offering participants the chance to receive peer feedback on their stories before submitting. We’ll be hosting two feedback exchanges in our Facebook group, where you can share your story privately with other participants to give and receive helpful critiques before the deadline, affording you the chance to make your story the best it can be. Here are the dates of the feedback exchanges:
First Feedback Exchange: November 1st
Second Feedback Exchange: December 6th
The feedback exchanges are completely optional, but we strongly recommend participating. Engaging with other writers is a great way to see your story through fresh eyes, refine your narrative, and get tips to make your submission even stronger. Plus, it’s a wonderful chance to connect with a community of fellow storytellers.
We know that not everyone uses Facebook, but don’t worry—you can set up a simple dummy account just for this purpose, which is quick and easy to do.
Whether you’re entering for the £2,000 prize or looking to improve your craft, this competition is a fantastic chance to grow as a writer, get feedback, and share your unique voice with the world.
We can't wait to read your story!
Please note: you can enter a story you’ve previously submitted to one of our contests unless you received feedback on that story from someone on the Globe Soup team.