competitions 2026

All entries to scpswcomps@gmail.com

Month	Format	Word limit	Theme
January	Short story	1000	Making a change
March	Herbert Spencer Poetry	Max 50 lines, 2 entries	Open theme
May	Lewis Wright short story	2000 words	Open theme
July	Flash fiction	Max 250 words	Open theme
September	Vee Bradley humorous poetry	Max 36 lines, two entries	Humour
November	Non-fiction piece	Max 1000 words	Open: e.g. nature, memoir, travel
December	No activity	N/A	N/A

Format
Please submit entries in Word or odt format, no pdfs. Text will be reproduced as sent, so ensure work is proofed before sending. If a specific formatting (for eg a poem) is desired, please explain this in your covering email, as formats do not always reproduce.

Adjudication
Award points as follows:

First (3), second (2), third (1).

Commendations will be welcomed.

Send entries to scpswcomps@gmail.com not later than the 15th of each month.

Ensure the title of the piece appears in the covering email but do not include the author’s name on the piece. This is to enable submissions to be sent-on without being opened.

Individuals are not allowed to grade their own submissions.

Prizes
For each competition there will be a £30 prize for the winner and £20 for the runner up.
 

Feedback
To support the participants, members are strongly encouraged to send a short critique for each work, based on what works well and what could be improved.

This feedback should be constructive and objective – always consider what opinions you would find it helpful to receive.