2018 Thresholds International Short Fiction Feature Writing Competition

('Colours'© Mathias Appel, 2013)

THRESHOLDS INTERNATIONAL SHORT FICTION
FEATURE WRITING COMPETITION

**The 2018 Competition is now CLOSED**

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1^st Prize of £500

2 x Runner-up Prize of £100

PLUS, a selection of short story titles for the shortlist

DEADLINE: 18th March 2018, 11:59 pm (GMT)

FREE TO ENTER

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ENTRY CATEGORIES:

THRESHOLDS is the only online forum dedicated to the reading, writing and study of the short story form. We are inviting submissions in either of the following feature categories:

Author Profile: exploring the life, writings and influence of a single short story writer.

We Recommend: personal recommendations of a collection, an anthology, a group of short stories or a single short story.**

FULL COMPETITION RULES CAN BE FOUND HERE. Entries should be emailed to: thresholds@chi.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Feature Competition’.

The winning and runner-up feature essays and shortlist will be published on the THRESHOLDS Forum during 2018.

PRIZES:

The competition winner will receive a prize of £500. Two runners-up will receive £100 each. Three shortlisted entries will receive a selection of fantastic short story titles generously provided by our friends at the Comma Press, Bristol Short Story Prize, Writing Maps and September Publishing.

Comma Press is a not-for-profit publishing initiative dedicated to promoting new writing, with an emphasis on the short story.

Writing Maps create illustrated maps for writers. Each one contains at least 12 extended and thought-provoking writing prompts that will help you explore places, people, characters in fiction, the writing process, and life in general.

The Bristol Short Story Award was founded in 2007 by the editors of the quarterly cultural magazine Bristol Review of Books. It aims to publish great short stories and promote the stories and writers and pursue a commitment to celebrate the short story genre, making it accessible and available to as wide an audience as possible.

September Publishing was founded in 2013. In an era of content availability, overwhelming choice and diminishing variety they believe publishers have a responsibility – to be curators, collaborators and long-term champions.

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We are often asked what constitutes a ‘feature essay’:

The answer is a non-fiction essay that has an engaging style. Something that makes us want to stop what we’re doing and pick up the story being recommended, or find a collection by the author being profiled. The judges hope to see a range of styles and approaches in the feature essays, and interesting or experimental angles are certainly welcome. We look, above all, at the quality of prose, the insights offered, and your ability to really hook your readers. The focus must be on the short story form.

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* PLEASE READ THE COMPETITION RULES HERE AND THE GENERAL THRESHOLDS Submission Guidelines CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMITTING *

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Previous winning essays:

2017 winner: ‘Did Borges Write the Masterpiece of the 21st Century?’ by Tyler Miller

2016 winner: ‘The Iron Which Pierces the Heart’ by Alex Coulton

2015 winner: The Laureate of the Veld by Richard Newton

2014 winner: Wolves at the Hearthside by Sharon Telfer

2013 winner: A Trio of Irish Short Stories by Nuala Ní Chonchúir

2012 winner: H.P. Lovecraft by Geoff Holder

The runners-up can be found here.

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To note:

• The Competition is open for non-fiction entries only. Short story submissions will NOT be accepted.

• Entries will be judged anonymously. Your name, address, or email address should NOT appear on the manuscript.

• The entrant warrants to THRESHOLDS’ editors that the essay is original to him/her, that he/she has the full power to agree to the Competition rules of entry, and that he/she is the sole author of the feature essay.

• The entrant warrants to THRESHOLDS’ editors that his/her essay is in no way whatsoever a violation of any existing copyright and that it contains nothing libellous.

• The judges’ decisions are final and no discussion will be entered into once work has been submitted. The judges reserve the right not to make the award if the quality of entries does not merit it.