Minds Shine Bright

A literary storm is brewing

The Minds Shine Bright writing competition Storm is open for entries. 

Whether it’s fast and furious, loud and bright, something that’s brewing or a spirit summoned tempest, bring us your best writing to warm our hearts through this cold Melbourne winter.

What is Minds Shine Bright?

Minds Shine Bright is an arts business that supports writers. We currently run two fiction writing competitions per year. Minds Shine Bright Confidence, a longitudinal look at confidence in fiction and our current competition with a changing theme – storm.

Behind the scenes we are working on the Minds Shine Bright anthology Confidence featuring writers from our first competition. We will be announcing the winners at a celebratory event in August and launching Confidence.

Winning and commended entries receive cash prizes and are published. Additionally, certificates and gifts of recognition are awarded to a small number of talented writers.

Storm

Photograph by Lily Mulholland

Our new competition theme is Storm. The closing date is 30 September 2022

Storm has the following features:

  1. We accept short stories, poems, short scripts and flash fiction 
  2. We seek short, succinct fiction. The word limit is 2500 words across all categories except flash fiction where the limit is 1000 words
  3. There are no category specific prizes. 
  4. There is a focus on a smaller set of writers
  5. The prize structure follows a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 format:
    • The winner receives $500
    • Second place – $400
    • Third place – $300
    • Fourth place – $200
    • Five commended entries receive $100 each.
  6. Winners and commended entries will be published by Minds Shine Bright in an e-book.
  7. A further 10 writers be awarded certificates and gifts of recognition.
  8. Winners are selected based on literary merit.
  9. The entry fee is $5 per entry
  10. Each entry submitted must be the original, unpublished work of the submitting writer.
  11. The judge of Storm is Amanda Scotney, founder of Minds Shine Bright and all entries are judged blind.
  12. Writers must include the theme of storm in some way in each entry.

Please read the full list of terms and conditions here.

Enter here

Each submission must be original, unpublished fiction written by the submitting author.
Each submission must be written in English.
Each submission should include the theme of storm in some way.
There should be no brand reference, no references to celebrities and no references to living people that are or could be considered to be defamatory. There should be no material submitted that is offensive or objectionable.
Each submission must be entered into one of four categories including: poetry, flash fiction, short stories or script writing.
The closing date is Friday 30 September 2022.
All prizes are awarded on literary merit and there will be no category specific prizes for Minds Shine Bright Mini Competitions. Cash prizes will be paid in Australian dollars. A first prize of $500 will be awarded to the most outstanding piece of fiction overall. Second prize will receive $400, third prize will receive $300, fourth prize will receive $200. Five commended entries will be awarded $100 each. Winning and commended entries will be published together in 'Storm', the first Minds Shine Bright book for our mini competition themes. Ten unpublished entries will receive gifts of recognition including a certificate of recognition.

Word Limits
2500 for every category except for flash fiction which is 1000 words.

Entries that do not meet word limits will be ineligible for prizes or publication.
There is no limit to the number of submissions entered but each submission costs AU$5 and each new submission must be entered on a separate entry form.
All cash prizes will be paid in Australian dollars.
There is no age limit however if you are under 18 years of age parental consent is required.
Copyright remains with the author and the author grants permission for their work to be published in the Minds Shine Bright publication 'Storm', on the MindsShineBright.com website and on social media and in other media and communications for future promotions of the competition. Australian Copyright Law applies.
Any entries which are deemed to be offensive, discriminatory, too graphic or do not meet community standards will be ineligible for prizes or publication.
The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Minds Shine Bright is not liable for late, lost, incomplete, invalid, incorrectly submitted entries, or illegible, corrupted or misdirected entries.
Privacy. The personal information requested in the entry form is required primarily so that Minds Shine Bright can provide you with any prizes, invite you to awards and/or other online events related to this competition.
By entering the competition, entrants and or their parents/ legal guardians accept these terms and conditions of entry.
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Price: $ 5.00
Providing your age is optional.
Provide a 1-4 sentence bio about yourself and your writing

I

 Confidence

Minds Shine Bright Confidence writing competition runs from October to February each year. Its aim is captures and share how fiction writers explore the theme of confidence over time. Four categories including short stories, poetry, flash fiction and scripts are included.

The tumultuous events of 2020 and 2021 inspired the first Minds Shine Bright writing competition. As circumstances change and as writers explore different elements of confidence we look forward to seeing how this creative collection evolves over time.

A moment of reflection

Visit our blog for writing posts and competition updates

View Blog

Minds Shine Bright Confidence Anthology

The Minds Shine Bright Confidence Anthology will feature the winners and commended writers of the first Minds Shine Bright Creative Writing Competition.

It will be launched in August 2022.

Coming in 2022

Poetry

Short and longer poems

up to 2500 words

Read More

Fiction

Flash fiction – up to 1000 words

Short stories – 1001 to 2500 words

Read More

Script Writing

Short scripts

up to 2500 words

Read More

Minds Shine Bright

Founded in 2021 by Amanda Scotney, Minds Shine Bright, is a creative arts business based in Melbourne, Australia

Do you have questions about our writing competitions or the Minds Shine Bright anthologies?

Contact Us

  • Awards Event and Confidence Anthology Launch – August 2022
  • Storm writing competition closes – 30 September 2022
  • Storm Judging – October to December 2022
  • Confidence writing competition opens October 2022 and closes February 2023
  • Storm Anthology Launch – early 2023

13 thoughts on “Minds Shine Bright”

  2. I’d love to enter this competition. I live in the UK, so how much does the entry fee translate to in sterling please? Thanks! Dorinda

    Reply

      1. Thanks Amanda, I have submitted my entry but haven’t received any indication that it or the competition fee was received. Do you not send out confirmation emails when you receive a submission?

  4. Hi Amanda,
    This is the first writing competition I have entered in a long time… I included my name at the bottom of my submission but have since realised that might render it void? Do I need to re-submit?

    Reply

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