Exeter Writers Short Story Competition 2016

The 2016 Exeter Writers competition is open for entries.


It has actually been open for a while, but we’ve had lots of news for the blog lately and are a bit late in announcing it here. But there’s still plenty of time to enter as the closing date isn’t until 28th February 2016.

Before you fire off your entries, we recommend that you take a look at the previous winners here.

Have you double checked the rules? Something as simple as exceeding the word count or leaving your name on the story can mean disqualification and it would be a shame to waste your entrance fee over such a simple error.

Wait! Don’t click send or seal the envelope yet! Does your story have a beginning, a middle and an end? Have you checked your spelling? Has somebody else checked your spelling?

And what about that story? Does it have a saggy middle? How many flowery adverbs do you really need? Have you buried someone in the back garden? We get entries from all over the world and although I can’t vouch for everywhere, I can testify that an English garden is tough enough when scraping a hole to plant a shrub, yet is no trouble at all when interring a fictional spouse.

Alright then. Now you’ve saved yourself from the standard pitfalls and you’ve upped your game. It could be you! We’re looking forward to reading your stories. It’s time to hit ‘Send’.