Competition

PWG 2010 SHORT STORY COMPETITION - THIS IS NOW CLOSED. WATCH THIS PAGE FOR THE WINNING ENTRIES.

The Pentlands Writers Group (PWG) short story competition celebrates our tenth year and is open to all writers. The stories should be inspired by the word 'ten', and should not exceed 1,500 words in length, or 750 words for young writers' entries, and there is no minimum length. The deadline is 28 February 2010.

PWG is delighted to have on board three judges, Sean Black, Carl MacDougall and Tom Murray, who have generously agreed to lend their time and wisdom to select the prize-winning entries in the following categories:

· Adult entries to be judged by novelist and TV scriptwriter Sean Black, whose acclaimed debut novel, 'Lockdown', was recently selected as one of the Daily Telegraph's thrillers of the year. (www.seanblackbooks.com)

· Local entries (Pentlands-based writers from Penicuik to Biggar) to be judged by TV presenter and prize-winning novelist Carl MacDougall, currently Writer-in-Residence at Brownsbank (home of Hugh MacDiarmid). (www.carlmacdougall.co.uk)

· Young writers' entries (under 16 at final submission date) to be judged by Tom Murray, co-Editor of The Eildon Tree and currently Writer in Residence to Clackmannanshire, and previously Writer in Residence to Peebles High School and Galashiels Academy (www.tommurray.org)

Prizes
The winners will receive £50.00 (Adult), £25.00 (Local) and £25.00 (Young Writers), which may be in the form of book tokens or a cheque (tokens only for Young Writers). The winning stories will be published in the 2010 Pentlands Writers Group Anthology and online for one year at www.west-linton.org.uk/content/pentlands-writers-group.

We actively encourage submissions from unpublished and young writers in particular. Submissions should not have been previously published in any format.

How to enter
Please send your submission by email to pwgcompetition@west-linton.org.uk , with 'PWG – Ten' as the subject heading, plus (A), (L) or (Y) to show which category you are entering. Your story should be attached as a .doc, .docx or .rtf file. No other formats will be considered. Please ensure that the following items are included in your submission on a separate page (only the title should appear in the body of your submission):

· name
· address
· date of birth (young writers only)
· email
· story title
· word count
· short biography (optional)

Entry fee is £4.00 or £10.00 for three entries, payable via PayPal. Young writers' entries are free.

We look forward to reading your stories – happy writing!

RULES OF ENTRY 

Stories will not be considered if they have been previously published either online or in print, or if they exceed 1500 words (or 750 for young writers). There is no lower limit.

There is no limit on the number of entries any one person may enter but no author may win more than one category. Multiple entries may be made in one file with all story titles listed on the front page.

The Judges wish to make an unbiased decision on all entries, so please ensure that only the story title is printed on the story itself.

The winners will be announced by the end of March 2010, with the winning stories being published on the Pentlands Writers website, and in a proposed anthology. Your story should be clearly typed or printed in English, and double spaced. Include a 'front page' which contains your name, address, DOB if under 16, email address, story title and word count. Online entries will be accepted as an attachment saved as a .doc, .docx or .rtf file and mailed to our email entry address.

Please note your PayPal reference ID within your email. If someone else is paying for you via PayPal, please enter a note to this effect to avoid any confusion.

No stories will be returned, so make sure you keep a copy of your story.

The Judges' decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

Winning authors will be required to supply a short (50 - 100 word) biography which will be published alongside their stories.

Copyright remains with the author, but Pentlands Writers Group has the unrestricted right to publish winning stories online and once in any proposed anthology. Additional publishing of any stories will be made with the consultation and agreement of the author.

Stories may not be changed once they have been submitted.

Members and relations of members of PWG may not submit entries.

Entry is taken to be acceptance of these rules.