November 2009
Short story: Last train
Your main character in this competition has a problem ­ he or she misses the last train home. Your story will reveal how this difficult situation is resolved.
Poetry: Ghost poem
We will be looking for some spooky entries in this competition. You can choose what your ghost gets up to and where and even how it manifests itself.

December 2009
Short story: Shyness
Your character is a naturally shy person. Whether this shyness becomes a major problem, or what your character does to conquer it, are amongst the questions you may want to consider.

January 2010
Short Story: Junk Mail
We all get it: all those unsolicited letters and leaflets trying to sell us something we don’t want. We call it junk mail, and it provides the theme for the first competition of 2010.
Poetry: Life Experience
We have all learned lessons from our experience of life, and that usually means that we have advice that we feel we could pass on to others. And January’s poetry competition is your chance to do exactly that.

February 2010
Short Story: Ghost Story
Our ever-popular annual ghost story competition has stirred some unusual spirits in the past – everything from a haunted chess set to ghosts haunting an African refugee camp – but how your ghost manifests itself this time is entirely up to you.

March 2010
Short Story: Writing for Children
Your brief for this year’s Writing for Children competition is to write a story featuring seven-year-old Louise, who is afraid of the dark. Ideally, your story should provide reassurance and even inspiration for other children who might also be experiencing a fear of the dark.
Poetry: Love
Love is an emotion that has inspired poets for hundreds of years, and should provide a straightforward theme for this month’s poetry competition, whatever form it takes.

April 2010
Short Story: Short Short Story
The April competition has no set theme, but a tighter than usual word count: just 750 words.

May 2010
Short Story: Adult Fairy Story
Another popular annual comp, the Adult Fairy Story asks for fairy stories with enough bite to appeal to adult audiences.
Poetry: Florence Nightingale
Marking the centenary of the famous Lady with the Lamp, this competition asks for poetry inspired by Florence Nightingale, whether about nursing or caring for the sick, or just being dedicated to others.

June 2010
Short Story: Molly
The fictional heroine in the June short story competition is fourteen-year-old Molly, but what she gets up to is entirely up to you.
Poetry Mini-Competition: Place Names
The first mini poetry competition of the year asks for a poem in just eight lines, but with the restriction that you must feature a place name in each one.

July 2010
Short Story: Crime Story
Crime really can pay if you win this annual competition, but the seriousness of the crime, and what becomes of the culprit, is up to you.
Poetry: Sea Poem
A perennial theme, the sea offers oceans of opportunity for poets, from raging tempests to gentle waves lapping at your holiday feet, but your challenge will be to find a distinctive approach of your own.

August 2010
Short Story: Love Story
Who falls in love with whom is up to you, and it doesn’t matter whether they are eight or eighty, in our annual Love Story competition.

September 2010
Short Story: Opening Line
Your challenge in September is to develop an interesting short story which begins with the line: ‘We’ve been here before,’ said a voice Mary was sure she recognised.
Poetry: Tanka
Short but demanding to write, the tanka requires just five lines and 31 syllables, in the form 5-7-5-7-7, but at least you have an open brief to play with.

October 2010
Short Story: Jealousy
Your story might be about a jealous love rival or envy of somebody else’s lifestyle, success, or new shoes, but jealousy must be the central theme of your short story this month.
Poetry Mini-Competition: Long Words
Another word challenge faces you for the October mini-competition, which only requires eight lines of verse, but you are restricted to only words of two syllables or more.

November 2010
Short story: Chance Meeting
Kevin and Vanessa meet by chance as they leave their trolleys in the PriceSave supermarket car park. Could this meeting lead to a torrid love affair, or just to a polite exchange of greetings before they go their respective ways? You tell us.
Poetry: Christmas Poem
As Christmas draws nearer, what better theme for our poetry competition than Christmas? Your poem could be a celebration of Christmas and all it means or might comment on its over-commercialisation, but however you choose to handle the theme is up to you.

December 2010
Short Story: Mid-story sentence
For the final short story competition of the year, we give you a sentence that must appear somewhere in the middle of your story, and be integral to its events. This time, the sentence is, Here we go again, she thought.

For full details (including opening and closing dates) and entry forms, see the appropriate issue of Writing Magazine. Competition details are correct at the time of this posting but may be subject to last-minute changes. Notices of any changes will be given in Writing Magazine.

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