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| Welcome to the first opportunity roundup of 2026! Hopefully there’s something listed below to pique your interest. But first, a question: How’s your pitching? Many of the opportunities included in these emails require you to have a short, compelling book summary ready to go.
Your pitch is the gateway an editor walks through to enter the world of your book. In short – it’s important to get it right.
And we can help you perfect it! The doors of our Salon are opening on Monday, ahead of our Indie Extravaganza in February, for members to post their pitches for the chance to get feedback from Debbie Taylor and Kris Johnson.
Polishing and posting in the Salon is a great incentive to hone your pitch this weekend. It also means other writers can cast their eyes over your pitch to offer encouragement or advice – and you can check out their pitches to see the kind of work editors and agents receive daily.
You then have a month to polish and refine ahead of editors from twelve indie presses reading your finalised pitch at our Indie Extravaganza.
So what are you waiting for? If you become a member of the Salon today, you’ll gain access to the pitch surgery taking place on Monday and the Extravaganza in Feb. |
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| | | BRICK LANE BOOKSHOP
This prize is a celebration of the short story form and the resilience of independent booksellers. This gorgeous bookshop is looking for original short fiction, between 1,000-3,500 words, from writers that have not been previously published. First Prize is £1,000, 2nd Prize is £500, and 3rd Prize is £250. The twelve shortlisted stories will feature in the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize 2026 anthology.
Deadline: 2 Mar Entry fee: £10
Enter here |
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RAGE
RAGE is a global multidisciplinary feminist zine and platform in both print and digital for expressing feminist rage as a force for creative change and collective action. They publish a range of forms and mediums, including but not limited to articles, poems, photography, painting, comics, collage, film stills and digital art.
Deadline: 1 Feb
Submission fee: Free
Info here |
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BBC SHORT STORY AWARDS
If you already have a history of publication, (including if you’ve been published in Mslexia!) this is an essential award to enter a new short story into! There’s £15,000 for the winner and £600 for four further shortlisted unpublished stories of up to 8,000 words. The five stories shortlisted will be broadcast on Radio 4 and appear in an anthology. So major bragging rights to be won!
Deadline: 16 Mar Entry fee: Free
Enter here |
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FROM THE CAULDRON
This competition invites women writers to share the stories – fiction or memoir – that make us who we are. This is a call for bold, authentic narratives that explore how women rise, resist, and reclaim their space in the world. Twenty writers will have their work professionally edited and published in an anthology. All entrants will be offered the opportunity to attend a free two-hour developmental group workshop via Zoom, to build the skills and confidence to develop and idea into a full-length piece of work. Email your entries with a completed entry form to pento...@lbbd.gov.uk with the subject line ‘From The Cauldron Competition’.
Deadline: 30 Jan
Entry fee: Free
Entry form here
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CENTAUR
Centaur is an online journal publishing hybrid stories. That means experimental writing that pushes beyond genre definitions. With four seasonal issues a year, and up to eight pieces in each, there’s only room for your best 400 words or fewer. Published items receive $20, publication, publicity, and support. Send your words and a short bio in the body of an email to centaurl...@gmail.com. Include the word ‘Submission,’ your piece’s title, and your full name in the email subject line.
Submission fee: Free
Info here
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VAST CHASM
This quarterly online magazine publishes bold work from diverse voices, including flash and short fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and other nonconforming work. They read year-round, on a rolling basis, for their quarterly online issues, with details of word counts found via the link below. Make sure to include a 3rd-person bio of no more than 100 words to be in line for $50 per published piece.
Submission fee: Free
Submit here |
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THE LEMONWOOD QUARTERLY
If your writing features female protagonists who are well into adulthood, you need to check these guys out. This online literary magazine exclusively publishes short stories and plays, so they are looking for superbly written work between 2,000 and 10,000 words. And they pay! $200 for every story or play published – well worth a try.
Submission fee: $4
Submit here |
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GUTSY GREAT
The Gutsy Great Novelist Chapter One Prize is open internationally to writers over 18 who are working on an as-yet-unpublished fiction novel. The prize has been established to support and celebrate novelists and aims to find the best opening chapter of a novel-in-progress written in the English language. First prize is a lovely $1,000!
Deadline: 3 Feb - 3 Mar
Entry fee: $20
Info here |
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MOTHERSHIP
Articles at Mothership start at a baseline pay rate of $250 per story! So if your work exists at the intersection of games and identity, then you should look into this community. To be featured within this digital space, email your idea to te...@mothership.blog and keep your pitch concise, under 300 words. Tell them your estimated word count, but know that if you’re proposing to publish 2,000 words or more, they expect the topic to be utterly fascinating.
Submission fee: Free
Info here
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