National opportunities


BBC Short Story Award launches
The fantastic BBC Short Story Award has launched, with £15,000 for the winning story, £3,000 for the runner-up and £500 for the three other shortlisted stories and a judging panel that includes broadcaster and journalist Tom Sutcliffe and authors Dame Margaret Drabble and Helen Dunmore. The shortlist will be announced on Friday 27 November with the five stories broadcast on BBC Radio 4 each weekday before the winner is announced. The five stories will also be published in a special collection. For more information, see www.theshortstory.org.uk/nssp/2009.php4. Deadline for entries: 5pm on 15 June 2009.

The Bridport Prize 2009 for poetry and short stories
Open writing competition with £5,000 first prize for a short story (of up to 5,000 words) and £5,000 first prize for a poem (of up to 42 lines). Anyone can enter so long as the work is previously unpublished. It costs £7 per story or £6 per poem and the closing date is 30 June 2009. Entries can be made by post or online at www.bridportprize.org.uk. Postal entry forms are available online or by sending an SAE to: The Bridport Prize, PO Box 6910, Dorset, DT6 9BQ. For more information, contact Frances Everitt on 01308 428333 or frances@bridportprize.org.uk.

Submissions now accepted for Tony Lothian Biographers’ Club Prize
The £2,000 Tony Lothian Biographers’ Club Prize supports uncommissioned first-time writers working on a biography. Applicants should submit a proposal of no more than 20 pages, including a synopsis and 10-page sample chapter (double-spaced, numbered pages), CV and a note on the market for the book and competing literature, to prize administrator Anna Swan at anna@annaswan.co.uk or by post to 119A Fordwych Road, London, NW2 3NJ. Entry fee: £10 (cheques payable to The Biographers’ Club). For further details and application form, see www.biographersclub.co.uk. Deadline for entries: 1 August 2009.

Short or full-length: Kali wants your scripts
Are you an Asian woman with something to say? Then Kali wants to hear from you. The organisation encourages, develops and presents high quality new theatre writing by Asian women and is looking for original and inspiring new theatre scripts. Selected writers will receive dramaturgical support to develop their script for the next Kali festival in 2010. Further details from www.kalitheatre.co.uk. Deadline for submitting scripts: 31 August 2009.

Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award
Entry forms for the 2010 Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award are now available from diversevoices@sevenstories.org.uk or from Helena McConnell at Seven Stories on 0845 271 0777. Created in memory of Frances Lincoln, the prize of £1,500 plus the option for Janetta Otter-Barry at Frances Lincoln Children’s Books to publish the novel, is awarded to the best manuscript for 8-to-12-year-olds that celebrates diversity in the widest possible sense. Closing date: 26 February 2010.

Free Arvon courses for writers
The Arvon Foundation has been running week-long residential writing courses in beautiful historic houses for 41 years. Led by published, professional writers, their courses are for every kind of writer. Whether you’re starting out or more experienced, there’s something for you. To celebrate 41 years of doing what they do best, Arvon has joined up with Arts Council England to provide 41 fully-funded places (worth £575 each) to people who haven’t been on an Arvon course before and who are on low or no income. Find out more about Arvon at www.arvonfoundation.org or call them on 020 7931 7611 for more information. Grants will be awarded to applicants that meet the criteria on a first-come first-served basis, so apply early. (Many courses are already full. FP.)

VS Pritchett Memorial Prize
This is a prize of £1,000 for an unpublished short story. It is being re-launched this year in collaboration with Prospect magazine, which will be publishing the winning entry. In addition, the winner will have the opportunity to appear at a Royal Society of Literature event, along with two other well-established short story writers in January 2010. The closing date for entries is 31 May 2009. The winner will be announced at Small Wonder: the short story Festival, at Charleston, in September. For information on how to apply, see www.rslit.org/index.php?n=Awards.Pritchett.

National Poetry Competition 2009
The Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition 2009 is now open for entries. This is your chance to win £5,000, add your name to a prestigious list of past winners (including new Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who won in 1983), have your work published in leading poetry magazine Poetry Review and read at the Ledbury Poetry Festival. Judges are Daljit Nagra, new professor of poetry at Oxford University Ruth Padel and Neil Rollinson. Deadline is 31 October 2009. You can enter online or download an entry form at www.poetrysociety.org.uk.