Minds Shine Bright run two competitions CONFIDENCE and SEASONS. The Seasons Writing Competition is currently open and calling for entries. The theme is Light and Shadow.
Competition Updates
Confidence 2023 is still being blind judged. We anticipate that we will be starting to make contact with writers in late September or early October. All writers will be advised whether they are successful or not in being selected for the Long List or the Short List. All short listed writers will be published and awarded prizes.
Confidence Writing Competition
Minds Shine Bright Confidence writing competition aims to captures and share how fiction writers explore the theme of confidence over time. Four categories including short stories, poetry, flash fiction and short scripts are included. The competition is blind judged, entries are assessed against ten criteria and there are many entries so the judging process takes several months.Once judging is complete there is an online Awards Night and once the anthology is curated, edited and designed and published there is a celebratory launch.
As writers discover and explore different elements and layers of the confidence theme we look forward to seeing how the series of Confidence anthologies evolves and what we can learn from it about our times, trends in contemporary writing and ourselves.
Confidence 2024/25 is planned to open in August 2024 and to close in March 2025.
Prizes
In 2023 we increased our prize pool for the Confidence Writing Competition to support our aim of paying writers fairly for their work. All prizes are shown in Australian dollars. International entries are welcomed.
$1600 – The overall winner, plus publication in Confidence Minds Shine Bright Anthology 2023
$800 – for each of the four category winners plus publication in Confidence Minds Shine Bright Anthology 2023 (The overall winner is excluded from all other prizes) Categories include short stories, short scripts, flash fiction and poetry)
$175 – for each commended entry plus publication in Confidence Minds Shine Bright Anthology 2023
15 certificates of recognition and gifts will be sent to writers whose creativity shone in some way.
Terms and Conditions
Each entry must be original, unpublished fiction or poetry written by the submitting author and included the theme of confidence in some way.Please read the full list of terms and conditions on the Terms and Conditions Page.
Seasons writing competition
The Seasons writing competition has themes that relate to the external world, and imagined worlds. This competition has smaller prizes, smaller word limits and focuses on a smaller set of writers.
The Seasons Writing Competition Light and Shadow is now open and calling for entries closes on 31 March 2024.
The Storm Anthology, featuring the winning and commended entries from the first Seasons writing competition is being launched across Australia and internationally. The theme for Seasons 2023/24 is light and shadow. You can enter on the Minds Shine Bright homepage.
Prizes
All prizes are awarded on literary merit. Cash prizes will be paid in Australian dollar value. A first prize of $500 will be awarded to the most outstanding piece of fiction or poetry overall. Second prize will receive $400, third prize will receive $300, fourth prize will receive $200. Commended entries will be awarded $100 each.
Winning and commended entries will form the competition Shortlist and shortlisted entries will be published in the second Minds Shine Bright Seasons series anthology Light and Shadow. Each winning and commended entry author will receive a print copy and e-book of the Light and Shadow anthology.
Longlisted entries will each receive Minds Shine Bright e-certificates of merit. Ten further entries will be awarded certificates of recognition and a small gift featuring the embroidered Minds Shine Bright logo.
Terms and Conditions
Each entry must be original, unpublished fiction or poetry written by the submitting author and included the theme of Light and Shadow in some way. No brand references are allowed. The word limit for each entry is 2500 words.
Please read the full list of terms and conditions on the Seasons Terms and Conditions page.