Writing Contest: Margery Allingham Short Story Competition

Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope you’re having a good weekend so far. I wanted to drop by and let you know about a writing contest with an approaching deadline: The CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you might remember this contest title from last April when I announced that my short story “Postmortem” had been longlisted for the competition.

Well, the contest is annual and so the deadline for the Margery Allingham Short Story Competition is on us once again, this time at midnight on February 28th. (Given that the CWA is based in the United Kingdom, I would assume that they mean midnight in the UK.)

Here are the rules:

1. This contest is for unpublished short stories, up to 3500 words, written in English by writers 18 years old or older from anywhere in the world.
2. The short story may be on any theme but must fit Margery Allingham’s definition of what makes a great story: “The Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it.”
3. You may be a published or unpublished writer; all that matters is that the short story itself has not been published.
4. You must enter through the form provided on the website.
5. There is a £12 entry fee (US readers: please not that is in pounds, not US dollars), and the fee is paid through PayPal during submission.
6. The grand prize is £500 and two passes to Crimefest 2019.

You can find more information on the Margery Allingham Short Story Competition and read last year’s winner on The CWA website.

Even if you aren’t a mystery writer, I highly recommend giving this contest a try. I had never written a story like this before last year’s entry, and yet I was longlisted for my first try. Plus, it’s a fun challenge to try and write short story based on Allingham’s definition. Past winners have certainly gotten creative with the concept.

I’m not sure right now if I’m going to enter this year. I have a story which could be entered, but it needs a lot of editing first. We’ll see what happens!

Good luck to everyone who decides to enter!

Do you know of any contests with upcoming deadlines? Calls for submissions? Drop a line in the comments below or e-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com with the details and I’ll feature the contest/call for submissions in a future post.