2025 Short Story Competition

Do you love to tell a good story? Are you imaginative? Do you have the urge to put pen to paper?

If so, write a short story of up to 1,000 words on a theme of ‘Coming of Age!’ to celebrate the Festival’s 21st anniversary. We are thinking about a 21st celebration, but let your imagination run wild and take the
title to wherever you’d like! The word cloud below is also full of ideas to inspire you.

Entry to the 2025 Prescot Festival Short Story Competition is FREE and open to non-professional writers of ALL AGES living in Merseyside and Halton. The deadline is 31st May 2025, and there’s a £100 prize for the winner, so start writing!

2025 Prescot Festival Short Story Competition Full Rules

1. To enter, you must live in one of the following six boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Halton, Wirral or Liverpool. You must not have had a piece of fictional writing professionally published, ie, in return for payment. There are no age restrictions. Only one entry per person is allowed.
2. The story you submit must be inspired in some way by the theme. It is your choice how to interpret the theme. The story must be your own original work of fiction (no biography, poetry or nonfiction), unpublished, in English, and with no more than 1,000 words. There is no minimum word count.
3. Type your story in size 12 font. You may include page numbers and the title of the story in the headers and/or footers of each page, but you must NOT include your name or any identifying details, such as an address or email address, in the document itself as it will be judged anonymously.
4. Submit it via email to prescotfestivalstory@outlook.com. Include your name and contact details in the body of the message and the short story as an attachment in Word (.doc/.docx), ODT, RFT or PDF format only.
5. The closing date for the competition is Friday 31 May 2025. All entries must be received by then.
6. A panel of judges will read the stories, whose writers remain anonymous, and decide a winner. The judges’ decision is final.
7. The winner will receive a prize of £100, and their name will be announced at the Prescot Festival Finale on Sunday 29 June.
8. You retain full copyright of your story, but by submitting it, you give the Prescot Festival permission to republish it online and/or in print, naming you as author.