Competitions

  • Turning readers into writers…

    Organising a successful Festival of Literature involves more than solely celebrating an impressive string of established writers and their work; it also means planning for the future. And that includes studying a bumper haul of superb competition entrants, choosing the winners and awarding the generous cash prizes. And who knows? It might even involve discovering…

  • Time to enjoy the shortlists

    Our shortlisting panels have had a very busy – but satisfying – few weeks. The final decision now goes to the judges in all four categories. We do know that the standard of writing yet again this year has been consistently high. Our entrants don’t believe in making life easy for the judges! Of course…

  • The judges are ready for our 2024 Competitions. Are you?

    2023 saw another fiercely contested, but hugely popular, quartet of competitions! The standard in all four categories was high and our winners walked away from the Prize Giving with almost £5000 between them. Our generous prizes are well deserved and much appreciated but the real attraction of the Wells Festival of Literature International Competitions is…

  • 2024 Young Poets Competition

    Our Young Poets Competition is offering bigger cash prizes this year than ever before: First Prize will be £200, Second Prize will go up to £150 and the Third Prize will be £100. Our competitions are now closed. Clare Shaw has four poetry collections with Bloodaxe. The latest collection – Towards a General Theory of…

  • 2024 Open Poetry Competition

    Enter our 2024 Open Poetry Competition to make sure you are in with a chance of winning one of our generous cash prizes. First Prize is a whopping £1000, followed by £500 for second prize and £250 for third prize. There’s even £100 for the best local poet! Our competitions are now closed. To be…

  • 2024 Book for Children

    The winner of our 2024 Book for Children Competition will receive £750. £300 is second prize with £200 being offered as third prize. There is even a prize for the best local writer. Our competitions are now closed. Alex Campbell currently writes middle-grade novels under the name Alex Cotter. Her recent novel, The House on the…

  • 2024 Short Story Competition

    Enter our Short Story Competition and be in the running for winning one of our prizes to celebrate your success. First Prize is £750. Second and third prizes £300 and £200. Plus £100 for a local author. Our competitions are now closed. Susmita Bhattacharya’s debut novel The Normal State of Mind was long-listed at the…

  • 2023 Open Poetry Competition

    First Prize £1000! Second and third prizes – £500 and £250 respectively. Plus £100 for a local poet. To be judged by William Sieghart, founder of the Forward Prizes, the UK’s biggest poetry prizes. William also instigated National Poetry Day which is now celebrated in the UK every October. Last year William joined our anniversary…

  • 2023 Young Poets Competition

    First Prize £150. Second and third prizes £75 and £50. Plus a year’s subscription to the Poetry Society. Deanna Rodger won the UK Poetry Slam when she was 18 and since then has pushed down closed doors and held them open for others, curating spoken word events, facilitating workshops, writing commissions, and mentoring. Most recently,…

  • 2023 Book for Children Competition

    First Prize £750. Second and third prizes £300 and £200. Plus £100 for a local author. Rachel Hamilton is a part-time literary agent, a lecturer in Creative Writing and the author of six books. Rachel’s experience includes editing and mentoring and, as a literary consultant, she loves helping authors refine their manuscripts and find their…