Short Story Competition

NOW OPEN!

Our latest short story competition is open right now. This one, we know you’ll LOVE…

DEADLINE EXTENDED!

13th December 23:59 GMT

We're back with our FOURTH ROUND of the Ironclad Short Story Competition ready for our next anthology due to be published on Valentine’s Day 2025.

The Ironclad Creative Short Story Competition is for both published and unpublished writers. We’re looking for original writing in English and you can be from anywhere in the world.

We are looking for short stories that respond in any way to the PROMPT:

The 14th Day

We accept any length of story up to 6k words.

We’re looking for writers who have exciting voices and can move us - that can happen in any genre of prose.

Look, we want to publish this on 14th February and, yes, we might expect some of the stories to have a romantic edge - but, you don’t have to go that way. Fancy writing a horror, thriller, or comedy? Go for it! All genres that respond in SOME WAY to the prompt are welcome and you don’t need to use the words in the piece or the title.

NOTE: if you do want to write romance, please make it ‘closed door’ (not explicit erotica).

Sadly, we’re not accepting screenplays, plays or poetry for this competition.

DEADLINE:

23:59(GMT) - 13th December 2024

ENTRY:

£8.99 per story

PRIZES:

The First Prize winning writer will be offered a prize of £100 and publication in the anthology.

The Second Prize winning writer will be offered a prize of £50 and publication in the anthology.

The Third and Fourth winning will be offered prizes of £25 each, and publication in the anthology.

Up to 10 other shortlisted writers will be offered publication in the anthology (depending on the length of the winning, second place and shortlisted stories)

Please read the terms and conditions before you enter.

HOW TO ENTER

When you’re ready to submit your short story, make sure you remove your name from the Word or PDF, so that we can judge it anonymously.

Pay for your entry - Make sure your email matches the email you will submit your work from.
After you’ve paid, submit your story - We are using a Google Form to collect submissions. You’ll be asked to submit a link to your work. We suggest using Google Drive or Dropbox. Make sure your work is SHAREABLE and DOWNLOADABLE and does not EXPIRE. (we do not suggest using WeTransfer as the link expires too quickly).

GOOD LUCK!

HAPPY WRITING!

P.S.: Each competition we offer a limited number of FREE places to low income writers. These are first come, first served, so request yours early. We don’t ask for proof of circumstance but ask you apply if the cost of submitting your work is prohibitive for you.