Short fiction, big names and even bigger prizes: the closing date for the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition 2014 is now only a few weeks away The closing date is Friday 16 May 2014.
This well-established competition has been revamped for 2014 with the inclusion of a brand new Under 21 Prize, and an increased total prize fund of £5,000 now on offer. The mammoth task of judging the 2014 competition will fall to Cynan Jones and Deborah Kay Davies, with Gee Williams acting as Filter Judge.
Short fiction by Cynan Jones has appeared in anthologies and magazines including Granta and New Welsh Review, and his short story, The Dig, was shortlisted for the 2013 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. Deborah Kay Davies has taught Creative Writing at Cardiff University and the University of Glamorgan and her first collection of stories, Grace, Tamar and Laszlo the Beautiful (Parthian, 2008) won the 2009 Wales Book of the Year Award. Gee Williams is a Flintshire-born poet, dramatist, broadcaster and fictioneer.
The winner of the first prize will receive an impressive £2,000. The second prize-winner will receive £800, the third prize is £400 and six runners-up will receive £100 each.
New for 2014, children and young people can enter the Under 21 Prize for the chance to win a first prize of £1,000 – one of the largest awards for a youth competition of its kind. One runner-up will also receive a prize of £200. This competition will be judged independently by Rachel Trezise. Rachel Trezise’s short fiction collection, Fresh Apples (Parthian, 2006), won the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2006 and her first play, Tonypandemonium, was staged by National Theatre Wales in October 2013.
Both Competitions are open to all writers born in or currently living in Wales. Under 21 Prize entrants must be aged 21 years or younger at the closing date. Stories can be in any style and on any subject but must be no more than 2,500 words in length. Entries must be previously unpublished, in English and must not be a translation of another author’s work.
There is still time to make your mark on the Welsh literary scene: send in your entries by Friday 16 May 2014. The entry fee is £7.00, or £4.00 for the Under 21 Prize.
You can enter by post or online via: www.rhysdaviestrust.org
For further information and to receive a hard copy of the entry form through the post, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to: Literature Wales, Rhys Davies 2014 Entry Form, Cambrian Buildings, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, CF10 5FL. Or contact Literature Wales on: 029 2047 2266 / [email protected]
The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition is administered by Literature Wales and sponsored by The Rhys Davies Trust, a body which has as its aim the fostering of Welsh writing in English.
