Rules
- OPEN NOW. Deadline: 30th April 2025
- Writers can enter any number of times. (Full entry fee: £15.00 / $18.00. Single Additional Discount entry: £12.00 / $14.40. 3 ENTRY DISCOUNT BUNDLE: £22.50 / *28.50)
- Short stories can be in any style or form or genre, but must be in English, and written for adults.
- Entries must be submitted online. No email submissions. In exceptional circumstances, postal entry may be accepted, as long as a cheque made out for the correct entry fee is sent to The Plaza Prizes Ltd. (Postal address is on Contact Form.)
- Enter the correct version of your work. If you make a mistake, entry fees will not be refunded. (You will have to enter again.)
Eligibility
Read the rules carefully before entering the competition. Entry implies acceptance of all the rules and failure to comply will result in disqualification.
All entries are judged anonymously. Please do not include your name, address, phone number, email, website, twitter handle etc on the document or in the file name or it will be disqualified.
Entries will be disqualified if they are over the 5000 word limit, and there will be no refund.
Entries must be entirely your own work.
Entries must NOT have been published traditionally because we will publish the 10 shortlisted in our anthology. Self-published work or work published in online journals ARE eligible for entry.
Entries must NOT have won in any other competition. If your entry was long-listed or shortlisted in other competitions it IS eligible.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed but if an entry wins a prize elsewhere, is published or scheduled for future publication, prior to the date of prize giving, you must inform us to withdraw immediately. Entry fees will not be refunded.
Length
Maximum 5000 words.
Fees
FULL ENTRY FEE:£15.00 / *$18.00 per entry.
ADDITIONAL DISCOUNT ENTRY: £12.00 / *$14.40.
Entries must be submitted online via Jotform and paid via Paypal. No email submissions. Snail-mail strongly discouraged.
Format
- Entries must be typed, can be SINGLE- or DOUBLE-spaced, with the story title at the top of every page. (Any formatting issues will not lead to disqualification. Please just make sure your work is as easy to read as possible.)
- Save as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF file with the title as the file name. Do not include your name in the file name as this will lead to disqualification.
- Max 2MB file. Include the line count for the story, top right, first page.
- Do not add cover pages.
- No illustrated work.
Judging
The judges’ decision is final. No individual correspondence can be entered into. Judges are unable to comment on individual entries. The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to change the judge without notice.
The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to amend the rules where it deems necessary. Any changes to the rules will be posted on our website.
Copyright
Copyright remains with the author, but The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to publish poems in an anthology and use extracts from any of the 10 shortlisted entries for publicity purposes.
Results & Awards
The Plaza Short Story Prize winners will be announced on the website and social media in June 2025. The 10 short-listed entries will be published in The Plaza Prizes Anthology 3, which will be launched at our awards ceremony in October 2025.
Bursary Scheme
We have offered 250 bursaries in 2022-2024. We are offering 100 FREE ENTRY BURSARIES in 2025 across all our competitions to poets/writers on low incomes, and from underrepresented groups. You can apply for a bursary if low income, class, race, age, gender, sexuality, caring responsibilities, location, disability, or mental and physical health affects your writing. We want to encourage equality to discover quality new writing from diverse voices.
