Ambit Summer Writing Competition. Poetry & Short Fiction. Deadline: July 15.

Ambit Summer Writing Competition 2015 – Ambit magazine

Ambit Summer Writing Competition 2015

Ambit Magazine announces the launch of its 2015 Poetry and Fiction Competition. There’s no theme this year – just send us your best work on any subject, in any style. The poetry competition will be judged by Dan O’Brien, and the fiction competition judged by Alison Moore.

Download the leaflet for Ambit’s Summer Competition 2015

How to enter

Submissions can be made by our Submittable portal – visit the portal

For poetry each submission costs £5. With 6 UK or 8 overseas submissions, you’ll receive a free year’s subscription to Ambit Magazine

For short fiction each submission costs £7. With 4 UK or 6 overseas submissions you’ll receive a free year’s subscription to Ambit Magazine

Prizes

The first place prize in each category will be £500, second place £250 and £100 for third.

The competition opens May 1st and closes July 15th. Winners will be announced on September 1st on the Ambit website.

The three winning poems and three winning stories will all be published in Issue 222 of Ambit, and the poets and writers will be invited to read with judges Dan O’Brien and Alison Moore at the launch on October 22nd 2015 in London.

Judges

Alison Moore was born in Manchester in 1971. Her short fiction has been included in Best British Short Stories and Best British Horror Anthologies and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra. The title story of her debut collection The Pre-War House and Other Stories won a New Writer novella prize. Her first novel, The Lighthouse, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012 and the National Book Awards 2012 (New Writer of the Year), winning the McKitterick Prize 2013. Her second novel, He Wants, was published in 2014. http://www.alison-moore.com

Dan O’Brien is a poet and playwright. His War Reporter (CB Editions, London; Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn) received the 2013 Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A new collection entitled Scarsdale was published in 2014 by CB Editions, and in 2015 by Measure Press in the US. O’Brien’s play The Body of an American received the inaugural Edward M. Kennedy Prize, the Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play, the PEN Center USA Award for Drama, and was shortlisted for an Evening Standard Drama Award. The Body of an American received its European premiere in an extended run at the Gate Theatre in London and Royal & Derngate in Northampton. A new production will open off-Broadway at Primary Stages in New York City in early 2016. Originally from New York, O’Brien lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. http://www.danobrien.org

Rules and regulations

1. The entries must be the original work of the author. The competition is open to anyone, of any age of any nationality, aged 16 or over.
2. Work must not have been previously published, either in print or online – this includes self-publishing and blogs.
3. There is no minimum line requirement, but poems must not exceed 42 lines and short fiction must be under 1000 words.
4. Please do not put your name, address, email or any identifying marks on the word document in which you enclose your work. These details must be in your cover letter only.
5. All entries must be written in English. Translations into English are accepted and encouraged, but the work must be marked as ‘Translation’.
6. No simultaneous submissions – any poems or fiction that become published after submitting to the competition will be disqualified.
7. The winning entries will be announced online on September 1st 2015.
8. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Guide to Postal Submissions

1. Postal submissions must include a cheque made out to Ambit. If submitting from overseas please provide Visa or Mastercard details including expiry date and security code or pay via Paypal using contact@ambitmagazine.co.uk. We do not accept non- sterling cheques
2. Work must come with a cover sheet, which will contain your name, postal address, telephone number and email address. If you do not have an email address, please include an SAE with UK stamps. As the judging will be done anonymously, absolutely no names or addresses should appear on the individual work
3. The competition deadline is July 15th. Only submissions postmarked on or before that date will be accepted
4. Send your postal submissions to: Ambit Competition, Staithe House, Main Road, Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk, PE31 8BP, UK