SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2011

JANE AUSTEN SHORT STORY AWARD

The competition that celebrates the life and work of Jane Austen by inspiring and encouraging new writers.

Our intention is to publish the very best short fiction. The Chair of judges is Michèle Roberts, award-winning author and Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

We are looking for short stories of 2,000-2,500 words in length. This year the theme is ‘the heroes and villains in Jane Austen’s novels’. You can draw inspiration from any character or characters, male or female, whom you perceive to be heroic or villainous. Stories can have a historical or a contemporary setting – anything goes as long as it is well written and you state on the entry form how your idea originated.

First prize: £1,000. Two runners up: £200 each. All three finalists will also win a week’s writers’ retreat at Chawton House. Seventeen other shortlisted authors will receive £40 plus publication in the winners’ anthology (the collection of last year’s winners, Dancing with Mr Darcy, has been sold in bookshops across the UK and has recently been published in the USA by Harper Collins).
Entrants can be based anywhere in the world- stories must be submitted in English.

The closing date is the 31st March 2011.