Our purpose is to discover, publish and promote talented new writers
The Plaza Prizes is the international literary competition to enter. We run the most contests with the most diverse forms on offer anywhere. We have the finest judges in the English-speaking world: Anthony Joseph, Pascale Petit, Toby Litt, Sam Blake, Annie DeWitt, Roland Watson-Grant, Tara Laskowski, Richard Skinner, Maya C. Popa, Carrie Etter, Meg Pokrass, Simon Trewin, Ben Clark, Angela Readman, Remy Ngamije, David Mark, Nicole Treska, Moniza Alvi, Paul Farley, Jason Mott. We award over £20,000 (US$30,000) in prizes to our winners, and publish those we shortlist. We will be holding our second awards ceremony to launch The Plaza Prizes Anthology 2 on Wednesday 16th October 2024, at a venue soon to be released. Last year it was Valletta, Malta, this year it will be…
The Plaza Prizes Anthology 1 is an exciting showcase of contemporary world literature in English. It’s chock-full of 20 short stories, 20 poems, 10 prose poems, 30 flash fictions, and 3 winning novel extracts. The Trade Paperback and ebook versions are available for purchase on Shopify. Please click this link:
The Plaza Prizes approved 100 FREE bursaries in 2022-23. We encourage writers who might not be earning much right now or writers from different communities to showcase their work. One entry per year in any literary contest for FREE. So, if you’re from an under-represented group, or not exactly Blackrocking it (as if), please do apply to enter for FREE.
The Competitions
The Plaza Literary: First Chapters Prize
Judged by Jason Mott
1st prize: £1500 ($1750). 2nd prize: £300 ($375). 3rd prize: £100 ($125)
The Plaza Audio Story Prize
Judged by Junot Diaz
1st prize: £1000 / $1200. 2nd prize: £300 / $360. 3rd prize: £100 / $120
The Plaza Short Story Prize (5000 words)
Judged by Damon Galgut
1st prize: £4000 / $5000. 2nd prize: £300 / $360. 3rd prize: £100 / $120
The Plaza Poetry Prize (60 lines)
Judged by Natalie Diaz
1st prize: £4000 / $5000. 2nd prize: £300 / $360. 3rd prize: £100 / $120
The Plaza Short Story Prize (2500 words)
Judged by Jamie Quatro
1st prize: £1000 / $1250. 2nd prize: £300 / $360. 3rd prize: £100 / $120
The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize
Judged by Nin Andrews
1st prize: £750 / $900. 2nd prize: £300 / $360. 3rd prize: £100 / $120
The Plaza Poetry Prize (40 lines)
Judged by Georges Szirtes
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
The Plaza Flash Fiction Prize
Judged by Barbara Black
1st prize: £1000 / $1250. 2nd prize: £300 / $360. 3rd prize: £100 / $120
The Plaza Audio Poetry Prize
Judged by Anthony Joseph
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
The Plaza Poetry Prize (20 lines max)
Judged by Lachlan McKinnon
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
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'Every new writer needs encouragement to take that brave first step to put pen to paper - The Plaza Prizes is a brilliant, timely initiative that will help bring to the surface some great new voices. Be brave, pick up your pens and write on!'