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Go shoppingThis competition has now closed and we are no longer accepting entries. Best of luck to all those who entered. We will announce the winner in September.
Words Take You Further
Litro Magazine, along with IGGY, has launched its first short story competition.
Inspiring, encouraging and acknowledging the creativity of young people is a common goal for Litro Magazine and the International Gateway for Gifted Youth (IGGY), so we have joined forces to create a major new international short story award for young people.
This award is open to young people from around the world aged 11-19. In addition to a cash prize of £2,500, the winner will be published in Litro Magazine and will see parts of their work displayed on a poster in a London Underground station. The winner and two runners-up will also have their story published on Litro Online and on IGGY’s website. An illustrious panel of judges has been assembled for the award, including novelist Sadie Jones, author of the international bestseller The Outcast; acclaimed historian and novelist Kate Williams; award-winning poet Laura Dockrill; and Peter Blegvad, creative writing lecturer at the University of Warwick.
Terms and conditions of entry:
1. Entrants can write in any genre.
2. The length of each story must not exceed 3000 words.
3. The winner of the Litro and IGGY International Short Story Competition will receive £2,500
4. The closing date for all entries is 5pm, 16 July.
5. There is no entry fee. However you can support us by subscribing to Litro Magazine and by doing so, support our efforts to continue to provide you with alternative new and exciting reading from established as well as up and coming writers.
6. Submissions should be emailed to competition@www.litromagazine.com
7. The copyright of any story submitted to this competition will remain with the magazine. You submit a story with the understanding thatLitro has the right to copy and distribute the story in print, online, and on other platforms.
8. Entrants must be aged between 11-19 on the date of entry.
9. Due to the expected volume of entries, Litro Magazine is unable to offer individual feedback to entrants. The decision of the judges is final.
We are pleased to have Kate Williams join the judging panel, taking the place of Ian Kelly, who withdrew prior to the start of the contest due to previously unforeseen commitments.
Click here to join the Litro & IGGY Short Story Award for Young Writers Facebook group.
is it possible to submit more than one?
Its one submission per entrant, I’m afraid.
(My apologies for the late reply – its been a busy time at Litro recently)
Is there a word limit?
Yes: stories shouldn’t exceed 3,000 words.
Is there a specific format for the entries? What information, besides the story, should we include when submitting?
A Word-processed story (I don’t think we’ll be too fussed about the precise layout, as long as its easy to read – so a ‘normal’ font, single-line spaced, etc should be fine) would be best. Include your name, address and email when emailing us and attach your story. Its probably best to sign off your entry with your name and email address, just in case. That’s it!
Earlier today, I entered two stories to this competition, but now I’ve seen that only one is allowed per entrant.
What should I do?
I’m afraid that I’m not really in contact with those who are dealing with the entries (completely different teams!) so I can’t give you a name. However, I would email the address to which you sent the stories, explaining the situation and attaching the story that you feel best represents your writing out of the two. Saying that you would like the previous email(s) and entries to be removed and for this to take its place should help as well.
If you explain it as such then I would imagine that this would be allowed. If you’re still worried about this after doing so, then just let us know (the contact details for staff members can be found here on the website).
what genre should our stories be based upon?
As far as I’m aware, there aren’t any restrictions. As a guide, Litro tends towards the literary – so not usually ‘genre’ works per se (although elements of genres such as fantasy, science fiction and romance have most definitely been featured within stories). You could take a look at our recent issue online or the archive to get an idea.
Is there a particular genre that you prefer to work in?
Hey, me again
It appears that I didn’t attach the story I was planning to withdraw to the original e-mail.
Should I go through with the whole ‘disregard my other entries’ e-mail or leave it how it is?
That certainly makes things simpler :) You may wish to send another email confirming the title of the story that you did attach and that its that one that you want to submit, if you originally mentioned the titles of both stories within the body of the email. If you didn’t and just sent it over with your name and contact details, then I would leave it as it is.
Good luck!
i submitted one, then read these comments and found out that you need to have your address and email in your submission. i didn’t include them. is that bad? I included my name and age though :
The important thing is your name and age. We can probably trace you through the email address that you used to send the email and I would think that is what they would try if you are selected :)
However, it’s fairly essential to have your official contact details laid out in your submission email and/or piece – that way people know for sure how to get in touch with you and it is much easier for them to so. Even if the contest/submission details don’t state so directly, I would give them a reminder of the email address that you prefer to be contacted at, just in case.
My daughter submitted a contest entry but never received any notification it was received. Should I worry about this or is this normal?
That’s fine. Due to the volume of entries we can’t acknowledge receipt of all entries, but unless the email has bounced I’m sure that it was received and has been entered into the contest.
Thanks. Do you know when a winner will be announced?
The original date was the 3rd September – this may be pushed back a little because we’ve extended the deadline, but I’d imagine that it will still be announced in September.
I was wondering when the results will be published?
I’ve added details, that you mentioned in answer to one of the comments, in my most recent mail after sending 2 mails.
I only want the latest mail to be entered to the contest since it carries all of my details
I’m afraid that I’m not in direct contact with the person accepting the entries, so I cannot get in touch with them personally. However, if you’re submitting the same story, only with added details, I can’t see how that would be breaking the rules per se. You might want to send an email – with nothing attached – saying which one your story is, that you have only entered one story and that the email carrying your details is the one that you would like to be accepted, having mentioned that you didn’t include all the relevant details the first time around and that the multiple emails were sent to change this – not to enter more than once.
I hope that helps.
according to the rules 5pm on the 16th of july is the deadline for sending a story….
5pm GMT?
Yes, 5pm GMT. We’re in the UK.
is apllying time over>
The deadline was yesterday at 5pm GMT, so yes – I’m afraid it has.
thankyou :D
i was asking because this page does not say anything like ‘entries are now closed.’
because was not aware of the EXACT time difference between my country and the Uk (some internet sited said 4 hours and the others said 5) i sent an uneditted version of my entry to competition@www.litromagazine.com , (i did not have time since i started writing my story very late) but i sent an editted version a few minutes after (hoping that the time difference was of five hours)I mentioned that i wanted that particular entry to be used in the competition and requested that they please send me an email to tell me if they had acknowledged my request but till NOW i have received no reply. is that something to worry about or is ‘not replying’ a thing that they do ?
please answer, i am a little paranoid because after the IGGY summer U
i do not want this to be another contest that does not receive my entry. (and i finished my entry on time for iggy but it was not sent by my countries warwick representative and it WAS a winner.) :(
With the amount of entries being received plus additional commitments, it has not been possible to individually respond to entrants, so that is why you haven’t been notified. Fingers crossed that it got through just in time and good luck!
IT DID AND THEY NOTIFIED ME JUST NOW!!!
THANKYOU for all the assistance :)
when will the shortlist be announced???
We’re actually moving ahead on schedule on this after some timing issues. The judges have the longlist that they have all chosen and we be announcing the overall winner in early September. So not that long now :)
does that mean we have to wait for the announcement of the final winner?
NO short list at all??
I’m afraid so, yes. It was a combination of timing issues and the shortlist having to be slightly extended (which is a good thing in some respects, because it is an indicator of the fantastic quality of the entries and the judges wishing to reflect that in their final selections). The announcement of the winner and runner ups has also been brought forward, so that the entrants will not have to wait quite so long.
If we feel that knowing that they have been shortlisted for the award is of considerable importance to the entrants, it may be possible to list the entries nominated for the shortlist as well. We will think on this.
please do that :)
I have discussed it with our Chief Editor today and we have decided to do so :)
yaaaaayy!! :D
im sorry if this seems impatient but when exactly will the shortlist be announced (now that its been decided) :)
The same day that we announce the winners, which will be in early September. The shortlisted writers will be listed and receive an honorable mention, in addition to the winners.
We’re currently looking at mid-September (as that’s closer to half-term for the younger entrants).
will runners up and the winner be notified in advance? or is the information made known to everyone simultaneously?
I sent in a story but I haven’t received any mails from Litro. Should I be worried?
That’s fine. Due to the high volume of entries received, we were unable to reply individually to all the entrants. I’m sure that it would have been received and sent to the judges.
when will the entries be open for next year’s competition?
This is the first year that Litro and IGGY have run this competition, so whether it will happen next year, and when it will if it does, has yet to be confirmed by us all. The response was great this year and that is a good sign, so I would keep an eye out on our website or on the IGGY in a few months time to see if there are any further developments. Fingers crossed!
wait can we still enter?
The deadline is in July, so yes you can. The exact date and other submission details are all above :)
Do we send the stories as an attatchment to the email or within the email? Thanks :)
Please send your story as an attachment. A Word doc or similar would be fine.
Is it any genre for this year ??????
There is no specific genre this year :)
Howcome it says “Please note: the competition has now closed and we are no longer accepting entries.” but the deadline is in july?
This post is about last year’s competition. For this year, visit https://www.litromagazine.com/index.php/2011/02/23/international-young-persons-short-story-award-returns/