BBC National Short Story Award

[julesjones]

And now for some more cheerful news -- I have not read the terms and conditions, so caveat writer on this, but a friend has pointed out that the BBC National Short Story Award is now open for the 2011 competition. The closing date for entries is Thursday 5 May 2011 at 5pm. More details here:

http://www.theshortstory.org.uk/prizes/index.php4?prizeid=84

Comments

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... judging panel chaired by Sue McGregor - wasn't she the one who completely blocked out SF and Fantasy in the list of genre books in the BBC's 'what we read' programme and confessed she'd rather curl up with Dostoevsky. In other words they're looking for something 'literary'.

Though in previous years they've had less obviously biased judges. Penelope Lively for one.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Yes, McGregor put me right off.

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

Lol, on the web-site McGregor claims she got hooked on shorts by reading Poe, in which case, maybe she needs someone to discuss the definition of 'fantasy' with her. Or maybe she's just got a dark horror thing going.

And of course the previous publication requirements are a bit more UK-stringent than Milford. Pity, a shot at £15k is not to be sneezed at, and even £500 is enough to accept its being permanently on-line. :(

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

I plan to be undeterred by the literary aspirations of the judges, and see if I can expand Version 1 of my genderqueer theatre story (the one that didn't want to be constrained by flashfic boundaries) to something between 5 and 8 thousand words. Who knows...

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Just spotted it's authors with credits from UK publishers only. That rules me out as well.

Ah well, I've now found a much better home for my story anyway and I'm sure the publisher will be happier not having to share it.