Writing contests are ten a penny – but often come with huge entry fees for low prizes, and that’s if you win. However, there are also plenty of free writing contests that you could enter to win cash, publication, or other prizes, if you know where to look.
And you’ve found the right place! Here we’ve got loads of free writing contests for you to enter this year, including some for young writers and also a couple for playwrights. We have specifically chosen UK-based contests with either a cash prize or significant other prize (like a writing retreat) rather than just publication, so that you can focus your time writing stories for contests that have a great reward if you win.
Writing Contest Quick Tips
While it can be easy to think that writing contests offer quick and easy money, think again! The free contests will put you against a big talent pool, so you need to be able to hone your story into something that’s gripping and publishable. Here are some quick tips:
- Don’t rush: take note of the deadlines and leave yourself plenty of time to write and rewrite your story
- Have other people read and give you feedback
- When you think it’s ready, put it away for a few weeks before you edit: the space will give you fresh eyes to hone your story
- Look at free online courses like the Open University offer to learn the basics and building blocks of great short story writing.
And finally – this is a big one – read the rules!! Every contest has different rules of eligibility, so it’s important to make sure your entry won’t be rejected straight away. This might include things like formatting rules (if in doubt, double line spacing with 12 point Times New Roman works well), age or location rules, or whether you’ve published before.
Some contests allow you to enter the same story into other ones, while some insist you can only enter that story to them. The ones which allow simultaneous submission (entering the same story into more than one contest) might say you have to pull your entry out of the running if you win another one with that same story. Read the small print before you enter.
Check out our article on writing short stories for more tips and ideas.
Short Story Contests
From flash fiction to novellas, short stories are the most popular type of writing contest. It’s a skill to tell a tight story in just a few thousand words, so if you want to challenge yourself and be in with a chance of winning cash prizes, take a look at these free UK writing contests!
Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook Short Story Competition
The leading anthology non fiction book, an essential for any budding writer, is the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. Their short story contest is highly regarded, for stories up to 2,000 words on the theme of ‘wonder’. The prize is a free course with Arvon Foundation, a writing retreat course that helps aspiring writers take a break from busy life to focus on writing.
Writing Magazine New Year, New You
Writing Magazine is the UK’s leading magazine for writers of all kinds, and they often run free contests for their subscribers as well as some for everyone. The first free for everyone contest of 2025 is ‘New Year, New You’ themed, with publication and a first prize of £150 and second prize of £50,
BBC National Short Story Award
This one is a massive award, with a top prize of £15,000, and £600 for four shortlisted stories. It’s a huge accolade to win – and anybody can enter. They’re looking for short stories up to 8,000 words on any subject.
Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award
This is one of the best type of contest: it’s for the recognition of talent for work in progress of prose writing. Now, technically, this is not a short story award because they want a chunk of a longer piece like a novel. However, because you are submitting a work in progress, your full novel doesn’t need to be finished to enter – they want 15,000-20,000 words. The first prize is £10,000 and two runners up receive £1000 to support them to continue writing their work.
The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize
Another one with a big cash prize for the winner, this is a themed writing contest. For 2025 the theme is ‘Fear’. The first prize is £3,000 while two runners up receive £1000 each. The maximum word count is 1250 words, so it’s a tight challenge – but these words can be in any form (short story, non fiction, poetry etc).
The Oxford University/42MP New Writing Prize
A brand new prize for 2025, this one has created a lot of buzz. Oxford University is teaming up with leading agency and production company, 42MP, to find new writing they love. 42Mp is a talent agency with massive A-list talent from actors to novelists to screenwriters, and they want to find fresh new voices. This is not strictly a short story contest prize, but instead they want a short section. This could be a synopsis and 10,000-15,000 words of a novel OR 30-90 pages of a stage or screenplay. The prize is £1500 and possible representation by 42MP.
Creative Future Writers’ Award
A highly respected annual contest for underrepresented writers in the UK, the Creative Futures award also has categories for non-fiction and poetry, with prizes of £75, £50, and £25 for first, second and third place in each category. But what makes this award stand out is the extra stuff with the prize: a whole host of mentoring, meetings with agents, courses from established places like Jericho Writers and Curtis Brown Creative, and work with a writing coach – as well as publication in the anthology. There is no minimum length but you can’t go over 2000 words.
Laurie Lee Writing Prize
Another contest with both poetry and prose prizes, this one is for 1500 words on the theme of ‘Journeys’ this year. This is a region-specific prize, so you’re only eligible if you live or work in Gloucestershire or South Gloucestershire (or were born there). The top prize is £1000 and you can submit non-fiction, poetry, or a short story.
Val Wood Prize
An annual contest with a £100 top prize and a signed copy of a Val Wood book. The theme is released when the contest opens, so keep an eye on the page (theme not revealed at time of writing this!).
Writers’ and Artists’ Working Class Writer’s Prize
The second W&A contest on this list, this one is for writers who identify as working class. Once again, this one doesn’t need to be a complete short story – in fact, they want 2,000 of a work-in-progress. That could be a longer short story, a novella, or novel and that can be either fiction or non-fiction. The prize is £200. Full details for the 2025 contest are yet to be released so keep an eye on the page.
Awa Moniack Mhor Emerging Writer Award
Open to unpublished writers of fiction, this one isn’t a cash prize – it’s a writing retreat package worth £2,000 at the highly regarded Moniack Mhor creative writing centre in Scotland. Your entry needs to be a work in progress – but unlike similar contests which require it to be a novel, Moniack Mhor accepts collections of short stories as the work in progress, too. Entries open 1st November 2025.
53-Word Short Story Contest
This is an ongoing short fiction contest that runs every month – perfect for testing your creative writing skills and practicing writing to a deadline AND word count! There is a very strict eligibility: your story must be 53 words long. The prize isn’t cash, but it is glory in the form of publication and a free book, and we loved the idea of it so much we snuck it onto this list!
Young People Contests
The definition of ‘young’ varies wildly when it comes to the literary world. Some of these contests are for school children, some for students at university, and even those under the age of 30. Make sure you read the rules of eligibility to see if you can enter!
Young Northern Writers’ Awards
New Writing North is the established writing centre in the North East (they have just won £5m funding to expand their efforts into a new centre for writing and already run loads of fantastic free contests!). Young writers aged 11-18 can enter this particular award, in any format – fiction, non fiction, poetry, even scriptwriting – for a prize of £150.
Hive Young Writers’ Competition 2025
Hive is a creative writing hub for young writers in the North and Midlands, catering to people aged 14-30.There are three age categories (14-16, 17-19, 20-30) and they accept short fiction, flash fiction, and poetry. Prizes include a Kindle Fire, professional feedback, vouchers and publication,
The Orwell Youth Prize
There’s no cash prize for this one, but we’ve included it because it’s an established award with a prize of mentoring and publication. This year, entries should be on the theme of “Freedom is…” and it’s open to anyone who is a student at secondary school or college.
Playwriting Prizes
If you love live theatre and think you could write a play that’s worthy of the stage, there are a few free playwriting contests that offer huge opportunities.
The Women’s Prize for Playwriting
To redress the balance of women playwrights (in 2018 only 26% of new main-stage plays were by women), Ellie Keel and Paines Plough created the Women’s Prize for Playwriting. The winner receives £20,000, their play is produced with Sheffield Theatre, and the play is published. The prize opened for entries on 13th January 2025 but it can take a long time to hear – longlisted plays are announced in October.
Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting
This is a MASSIVE prize and prestigious contest – but it’s free to enter so you might as well take your shot. The first prize is £16,000, with a judge’s award of £10,000 to another entry. At the moment (Feb 2025) the website is still focused on the 2024/5 prize which is now closed – but that means you’ve got a long time to work on your play to polish it before entries open again! Entries are usually open around September and close in January.
PapaTango Writing Prize
Papatango is an Olivier-award-winning theatre company and this is an established award for new playwright. Like the Bruntwood, at time of writing the 2025 contest has just closed, which means you have a year to polish your script before it reopens. And the £6,000 prize with performance is worth the wait if you win!
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