Mslexia Women's Short Story Competition

The Mslexia Women's Short Story Competition is open to women of any nationality from any country. Unpublished short story entries in English are welcomed for the international competition, with cash and publication prizes to be awarded.

Who may enter
The competition is open to women of any nationality from any country.
The Novel Award is for unpublished novelists only. Self-published manuscripts are eligible, but women who have had a novel published commercially, for any age group, in any country, are not eligible.

Description
The competition is organised by Mslexia, the magazine for women who write.

Our Women’s Short Story Competition is back for its tenth year, now as part of our fabulous Women’s Fiction Awards. Not only will the winning writer get £5,000, they will also have the prestige of being published in Mslexia, a credit shared with writers like Costa winner Angela Readman and novelist Peggy Riley. In addition, there is the opportunity to spend a week in glorious isolation working on their writing at the stunning Gladstone’s Library, and a day with an editor at Virago – an experience that money can’t buy and one that could really help you take your writing to the next level.

Stories can be between 300 and 3,000 words in length and can be on any subject.

Entries should be in English (or English dialect) and should not have been published or accepted for publication elsewhere.

Entry fee: £10 per story

Prizes
1st prize: £5,000 plus two optional extras: a week’s writing retreat at Gladstone Library, and a day with an editor at Virago Press.

Three other finalists will each receive £100.

All four winning stories will be published in the March 2019 issue of Mslexia.

Deadline: 1st October 2018

Mslexia magazine is published quarterly in the UK.