Category: Short story competitions

2019 Grieve Writing Competition now open

In honour of Grieve Awareness Month in August, the Grieve Writing Competition is now open to all Australians. With over $7000 in prizes to be won and more than 100 works published in the Grieve anthology, this is a wonderful opportunity for writers 18 years and over. From the Hunter... read more

Furious Fiction February 2019 winner and shortlist

It was a bumper birthday bonanza this month – as a record number of more than 1100 writers submitted a story in Furious Fiction. Wow! Well done to all who entered. A reminder of the criteria that we asked for this month: Each story’s first sentence had to contain EXACTLY... read more

Furious Fiction January 2019 winner and shortlist

A new year and a NEW Furious Fiction challenge – with January seeing a record number of almost 1000 entrants (something about those New Year’s goals) battling it out for story supremacy. A reminder of the criteria that we asked for this month: Each story’s first word had to... read more

Short story competitions to enter in 2019

New year, new story! It’s time to dust off those short story ideas and enter some competitions in 2019. These opportunities are a great way to stretch your writing muscles and hone your craft. And who knows – you could win some cash for your words. If you’re looking... read more

The 2019 Woollahra Digital Literary Award is now open

Now in its third year, The Woollahra Digital Literary Award is a national literary award supporting innovation in Australian literature and publishing, encouraging writers producing work in a digital medium. From the Woollahra Municipal Council website: The award seeks submissions of a literary nature that are digitally born – published online... read more

2019 Newcastle Short Story Award now open

Entries for the 2019 Newcastle Short Story Award are now open! This award boasts over $6000 in prizes with the winner taking away a sweet $3000. So, what do you have to do? Well, the award is open to people 18 years and over and all you have to do... read more

Furious Fiction November 2018 winner and shortlist

Attention shoppers – it’s time to announce the winning story and shortlist for November’s Furious Fiction! This month’s criteria were: The story had to take place at a supermarket. The story's first sentence had to contain just two words. The story had to include something breaking. When... read more

Furious Fiction October 2018 winner and shortlist

Drum roll please...it’s time to announce the winning story and shortlist for October’s Furious Fiction! This month’s criteria were: The story’s title had to be “The Lost Hour”. The story had to include a sentence with three colours in it. The story had to include... read more

Our 30 favourite 30-word stories

Creative challenges are a great way to unblock your imagination and just switch gears to help focus on other tasks. So that’s why we recently decided to give you a simple enough one – to use the image above as your prompt to write a story containing no more than... read more

30-word story challenge

Completing regular creative challenges is a brilliant way to unblock your brain and get your imagination firing. In fact, it’s one of the reasons we started our Furious Fiction earlier this year. So today we thought we’d have some more fun. See that comic book image above? We... read more

Furious Fiction September 2018 winner and shortlist

It’s time to announce the winning story and shortlist for September’s Furious Fiction! Over 700 entries came in to land this month, each one needing to address the creative criteria: The entire story must take place in an airport. The story must include the word SPRING somewhere. (Plural... read more

Win $5000 in the 2018 ELLE magazine short story competition

The ELLE writing competition is back!   This is your chance to write a short story, get published AND win $5000. From the ELLE Website: “For this year's ELLE Writing Competition, in association with Hachette Australia, we're looking for modern, contemporary voices telling stories that are engaging and subversive... read more

Furious Fiction August 2018 winner and shortlist

It’s time to announce the winning story and shortlist for August’s Furious Fiction! We received a record number of entries this month, and each story simply had to include the following three sentences: The door was locked. She laughed. It felt familiar. A reminder that all stories are... read more

Furious Fiction July 2018 winner and shortlist

It’s time to announce the winning story and shortlist for July’s Furious Fiction! We received more than 700 entries, all working off the following criteria: The first sentence had to contain a question. Each story had to contain the words JAM, JACKPOT and JUNGLE (or an applicable "s... read more

The short long list of YOUR 21-word stories

To celebrate the recent Shortest Day of the Year (21 June 2018), we asked you to write us a story in 21 words or fewer. It simply had to contain the words “short” and “day” in it. On the day, we received nearly one thousand stories! What follows is a... read more

The Shortest Day Short Short Short Story Challenge

To celebrate the shortest day of the year today, 21 June, we’ve decided to celebrate short short short stories – and challenge you to write something short for us! Your story must be no more than 21 words long. Your story must include the words “short” and “day”. Your story... read more

Furious Fiction June 2018 winner

It’s time to announce the winning story and shortlist for June’s Furious Fiction! This month, we did something quite different from previous months. A picture prompt. (The image of the dinner table above.) There was just ONE criteria this month: Your story had to begin with the scene... read more

Furious Fiction May 2018 winner

This month, Furious Fiction (our monthly $500 short-short story competition) found itself launching on May the fourth. So, we threw in some Star Wars fun – being very clear that entrants did not have to write in the sci-fi genre. (Find out more about how our free monthly Furious... read more