Our purpose is to discover, publish and promote talented new writers
The Irish/British author, Simon Kerr, directs The Plaza Prizes. All of our 20 literary competitions are open internationally. We award cash prizes to our winners, and publish those we shortlist. We will be staging our inaugural awards ceremony in Valletta, and launching our annual anthology at the Malta Book Festival, on Wednesday 18th October, 2023.
The Plaza Prizes Anthology 1 is an exciting showcase of contemporary world literature in English. It’s chocked 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 to enter for FREE. We also want writers from different communities to showcase their work, so if you’re from an under-presented group, please do apply to enter for FREE.
The Competitions
The Plaza Sudden Fiction Prize
Judged by Angela Readman
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
The Plaza Poetry Prize (20 lines max)
Judged by Rory Waterman
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
The Plaza Short Story Prize (8000 words max)
Judged by Remy Ngambije
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
Continue reading “The Plaza Short Story Prize (8000 words max)”
The Plaza Crime: First Chapters Prize
Judged by David Mark
1st prize: £1500. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
The Plaza Memoir: First Chapters Prize
Judged by Nicole Treska
1st prize: £1500. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
The Plaza Poetry Prize (60 lines)
Judged by Tim Liardet
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
Science Fiction / Fantasy: First Chapters
Judged by Ben Clark
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
Continue reading “Science Fiction / Fantasy: First Chapters”
The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize
Judged by Carrie Etter
1st prize: £500. 2nd prize: £200. 3rd prize: £50
The Plaza Flash Fiction Prize (1000 words)
Judged by David Gaffney
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
Continue reading “The Plaza Flash Fiction Prize (1000 words)”
The Plaza Microfiction Prize (300 words)
Judged by Meg Pokrass
1st prize: £500. 2nd prize: £150. 3rd prize: £50
The Plaza Short Story Prize (5000 words)
Judged by Vanessa Onwuemezi
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
The Plaza Poetry Prize (40 lines)
Judged by Moniza Alvi
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
Audio Poetry
Judged by Anthony Joseph
1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
Memoir: First Chapters
Judged by Toby Litt
1st prize: £1500. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100
Literary: First Chapters
Judged by Simon Trewin
1st prize: £1500. 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!'