Our Winter Short Story Competition is now closed. Please check back regularly for updates. The results of the 20/21 competition can be found here.
Prizes: Yes, we give prizes! £100 for 1st, £25 to each of two runners up. Winners must have a PayPal account to receive any prize.
Story length: between 1500 and 5000 words. We’re not super strict on a few words either way, but please try to stay within these limits.
Format etc: doc, docx or odt, 12-point Times New Roman or similar, A4 or Letter size, 1.5 or double spaced.
Entry fee: £6 We make no profit from these entry fees, but they do help keep Askance afloat.
Submission: via email attachment.
Language: English, whatever English you write. We don’t like pornography, racism, sexism and a whole load of other prejudices but we do understand that sometimes a character may express unwelcome points of view.
Theme: To be decided.
Simultaneous submissions: yes, but let us know if your story is accepted elsewhere. Sorry, no refunds for withdrawals.
Previously published: no, not even on your own website, but something you’ve just shared with friends and family is fine.
What rights are you giving away? The authors retain all rights to their stories. By entering the competition authors grant a licence to Askance to publish their stories online and/or in print and to use all or part of a story to promote Askance.
Dates: The competition opens on October 1st 2021 and closes for entries on January 31st 2022. Winners will be notified by 15th March 2022.
What do we like?: Take a look at some previous stories we’ve enjoyed, especially the last few prizewinners, The Magic Of Thrift Store Shopping With Ma, Talia, Saltwater and Paper Leaves
Note: We’ve never done so yet, but we always reserve the right to withhold all or part of the prizes if in the judge’s opinion no story received justifies making the award.
Ready to enter? Follow these simple rules.
1. Prepare your document containing only your story – no personal identifying information within the document, the contest is judged blind.
2. Pay the entry fee of £6 (about $US7.80) via Paypal by clicking here OR order one of our books.
3. Email askance.publishing@gmail.com with the subject of your email as “Winter Short Story Comp 2020 -” followed by the title of your story and your Paypal payment ref (or the title of the book you ordered). In the body of your email include your full name and address and attach your story document to the email (not in the body of the email please). Please give your document the same name as the title of your story – it makes life a lot simpler!
4. If you haven’t heard back from us in 48 hours, contact us again to check your story has arrived with us.
Any questions? Contact us.
ASKANCE PUBLISHING 