Five Free to Enter Writing Competitions - short story and feature writing

Often writing competitions can be expensive to enter, or the combined entry fees start to add up to a lot of money. Here are five current competitions that are free to enter. I've ordered them by deadline date as some are closing very soon.

Cork County Library and Arts Service Short Story Competition 2014: Cork County Library are running their annual short story competition with the deadline 14th February 2014 and maximum word count of 2,000. Entrants need to be a public library member.

The judges panel for the 20 shortlisted entries are Dave Lordan, Vincent McDonnell and Billy O'Callaghan. Entry is free and first prize is attendance and accommodation on a week long writing workshop at the West Cork Literary Festival 2014 in Bantry. Entries can be posted, handed into Cork County libraries, or emailed. For entry form and more details see Cork County Council website here


Opening Lines - BBC Radio 4 Showcase for Short Stories: maybe not strictly a competition, but the three chosen stories are broadcast on Radio 4 which is pretty cool. Also, the transcripts of all the best stories will be published on the programme website. The deadline for submissions is 14th February 2014, and maximum word count is 1,900-2,000. To enter you must not have had a short story broadcast on radio before. For further details and some advice on the type of story sought see here

Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2014 Short Story Competition: deadline 15th February 2014 for further details see here Stories must be 2,000 words or less and on the theme of 'the visit'. Prizes are £500, an Arvon residential writing course, and publication on the related website.

17th Molly Keane Creative Writing Award 2014: this is run by Waterford County Council Arts Office. It is open now with a deadline of 14th March 2014. The competition is for submissions of short stories of 2,000 words and under. There is a first prize of €500 and no entry fee. More details and the entry form are available here

Thresholds Feature Writing Competition 2014: run by the short story forum Thresholds. There are two categories of entry sought both requiring 1,500 words or less - Author Profile see examples here and We Recommend see here First prize is £500, and the two runners up £100. The winning and shortlisted entires will be published on the Thresholds website. Deadline 02nd April 2014. For more details see  here

So, get writing!