Short Story and Other Writing Competitions

The award is for short stories with an Australian country theme, with a maximum of 4,000 words. Multiple entries are permitted, with a separate entry form for each.

All entrants must be permanent residents of Australia

The entry fee is $20.00 per entry

Prize: $1000

The Writers’ Studio are a creative writing studio in Sydney providing Online and Live-in-Studio writing courses. For over 30 years, they have worked with everyone from award-winning professionals to complete beginners helping them realise their creative dreams.

The Writers’ Studio Short Story Competition is a celebration of writers and is open to anyone aged 18 and over. Submissions must not exceed a maximum of 2500 words. The top three prize winning entries will be published on the Writers’ Studio website with the first-place prize being $1200. 

The final round for 2026 of this quarterly flash fiction competition. To compete, you will choose between two sets of prompts and write and submit a 500-word story based on your chosen set of prompts within a 60-hour time limit. Each set of prompts corresponds to a different team, which you will nominate in your submission. The round opens midday Friday, 23 October AEDT, and closes 11:59 PM Sunday, 25 October AEDT.

Entry is $28 until the 31st of August, and $35 from September onwards

There is also a coaching package available, which includes a 30-minute online chat with one of the competition judges after the winner announcement.

The Anthology Nature Writing Competition is open to original and previously unpublished works in the English language by writers of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. Essays entered must not exceed a maximum of 1,500 words. Writers can submit as many entries as they wish. Each submission will require a separate entry form and is subject to a separate entry fee.

Word Limit: Maximum of 1,500 words.

Entry Fee: €15. Writers can submit as many entries as they wish. Each submission will require a separate entry form and is subject to a separate entry fee.

Prizes: The winner will receive €300 and the chance to see their work published in a future issue of Anthology.

As Australia’s only braille writing competition, it provides a unique opportunity for people with low or no vision to tell their stories and share their talents with others. Participants in categories 1-5 must be Australian residents who are either legally blind or have low or no vision, while category 6 is open to all Australian residents.

Categories include:

1. Adult Short Story
2. Adult Poem or Song Lyrics or Limerick
3. Adult Article or Opinion Piece e.g. self-reflection, blog
4. Senior Student Creative Writing e.g. story, poem, song lyrics, limerick, blog
5. Junior Student Creative Writing e.g. story, poem, song lyrics, limerick, blog
6. People’s Choice Creative Writing eg. story, poem, song lyrics, limerick, blog (all entries will be published online for the public to vote)

Entry is $10 per category, with a $350 first prize and a $150 second prize in each.

Australia’s premier short story awards for crime fiction written by Australian women with a range of prizes.

Swinburne University Award: 1st Prize: $2000
Simon & Schuster Award: 2nd Prize: $1000
Sun Bookshop & Fremantle Press Award: 3rd Prize: $800
Carmel Shute Award for Best Young Writer (under 19): $1000
Melbourne Athenaeum Library ‘Body in the Library’ Award: $1250 ($750 runner-up)
HQ Books Award for Best Thriller: $1200
Kerry Greenwood Award for Best Malice Domestic Story: $1000
Every Cloud Phryne Award for Best Mystery with History Story: $1000
Bolton Clarke Art and Crime Award: $500
Clan Destine Press Award for Best Cross-genre Story: $1000
Cate Kennedy Award for Best Story Inspired by a Forensic Clue: $500
ScriptWorks Award for a Great Film Idea: $500
Writers Victoria Award for the Story with the Most Satisfying Retribution: Choice of online course and membership.
Lesley Gillis and Fran Gillis Award for Best Cosy Cat Capers: $1000

The annual OutStanding Short Story competition provides a safe and supportive environment for both emerging and established writers to share their stories.

Other than a set length of 750 words and a different theme each year, there are no restrictions; entries might express the triumph and joy of alternate sexuality, or the pain and difficulty. First prize is $1000 and winning stories will be published on their Facebook page and website.

Queensland Writers Centre’s Pitchable program is all about great ideas – and what to do with them.

To enter, all you need is an idea or concept… and a short synopsis, elevator pitch or overview. Pitches for any kind of story, and in any genre or style, are welcomed — whether it be for a novel, non-fiction book, video game, film, TV series, stageplay.

Entries are open to all Australian writers, unpublished and emerging through to published and established. You don’t need a manuscript or full-length work, but if you have one it needs to be original, uncontracted, unpublished and unproduced.

UQP has long been supporting the writing of marginalised and under-represented authors. This new mentorship offers prospective authors from under-represented communities the space, time, financial support and professional development that is needed to write.

Submissions should be the first 5,000 words of a new work of fiction, non-fiction, or children’s fiction. Two winners will receive $5000, a residency at UQP’s office at The University of Queensland including return flights and accommodation, mentorship, editing, a professional development session and consideration of the final manuscript by a UQP publisher.

Established to recognise and encourage creative writing and provide a platform for publication, the Anthology Short Story Competition is open to original and previously unpublished short stories in the English language by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world.

There is no restriction on theme or style. Stories submitted must not exceed the maximum of 1,500 words. Writers can submit as many entries as they wish. The winner will receive €1,000 and the winning story will be published in a future issue of Anthology.

The program elevates Australian stories that aren’t being told and nurtures a new wave of writers to tell them. The Next Chapter will select a group of ten writers and provide each of them with a stipend of $15,000, a handpicked mentor to work closely with them on bringing their writing to life and opportunities to connect with peers, agents, publishers and readers.

Entrants must permanently reside in Australia (does not have to be an Australian citizen) and be at least 18 years of age. Submissions can be any long form piece of writing including prose, graphic novels, poetry, and hybrid works.

Writing The Heroine publishes literary writing by women. The Heroines Anthology’s particular focus is on telling lost women’s history, untold stories, and myths, fairy tales, folklore or legends reimagined from the perspective of their women characters.

Submissions should be single poems of up to 3 pages or short fiction up to 2500 words. You may submit more than one poem or short fiction; however, each poem/short fiction piece must be attached as a separate document & a submission fee must be paid for each item submitted. First prize winner receives $500.

Not Quite Write podcast explores the intricacies of fiction writing, media and current events from a writer’s perspective. Four times a year, the Not Quite Write Prize for Flash Fiction challenges writers from around the world to break a specific “rule” of writing while still telling a great story.

Participants have 60 hours to submit a 500-word story for a chance to win a share of AU$4,000 in cash prizes. The competition is open to writers of all levels of experience worldwide.

The Whitsundays Writers Festival’s national celebration of Australian literary and artistic excellence. This suite of awards honours the craft and courage of storytelling in all its forms—from the raw power of an unpublished manuscript to the visual poetry of a book cover.

Submissions must be original short stories of creative fiction between 1000 and 3000 words. Open to Australian citizens and permanent residents aged 18 years or older. First Prize receives $1,000 and Runner-Up $500.

The E.M. Fletcher Writing Award is an annual short story writing competition on a family history/genealogy theme. The genre of writing is not limited, and the broad theme allows plenty of scope for creativity.

Entries for the best short story of 1500-2000 words will be in contention to win prizes of up to $1000.

The Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF) is one of Australia’s most established and well-respected literary festivals. They aim to develop, nurture and promote Australia’s new writing talent, creating platforms for connecting writing communities and their audiences.

The Prize will be judged on the first three chapters of the submitted work. Entries are open to unpublished writers of adult fiction and adult narrative non-fiction. Writers do not need to have a full manuscript at the time of submission, though they must intend to complete one. The winner will receive $10,000 in prize money, to be donated by Hachette Australia, and a year’s mentoring with one of Hachette Australia’s publishers.

Newcastle Short Story Award celebrates the art of the short story, showcasing outstanding short fiction from both emerging and established Australian writers.

Submissions must be original, unpublished short fiction of up to 2000 words. Open to Australian citizens and permanent residents aged 18 years or older. First prize will receive $3000.

Rockingham Writers Centre is an initiative providing literary programs and services in the Rockingham region since 2015.

The prize is open to all writers in Australia aged over 18. Entries must be the author’s original short fiction of no more than 2000 words with ‘A Twist in the Tale’.

Write Around the Murray (WAM) is a five day writers’ festival in Albury. They present high quality, affordable literary programs to audiences on the border of regional NSW and Victoria.

Stories should not exceed 3000 words with a maximum of two entries per person. First prize will receive $1,000. Winning entries will also be published on the Write Around the Murray (WAM) website.

Fiction Factory is UK based and built up of a small but passionate group of writers, mentors and editors, hoping to encourage and develop emerging writers through their writing competitions.

The Short Story Competition is open to a broad range of stories (excluding Children’s and Young Adult Fiction). Entries should not exceed 3000 words. First prize will receive £500, be published on the Fiction Factory website and, at a later date, in a planned anthology.