The competition is founded by the world-renowned BBC Aeronautics Correspondent Reg Turnill and his wife, Margaret, to celebrate the life and works of HG Wells and encourage creative writing, especially among the young. The competition is open to anyone.

This year’s theme is “The Fool”.

Your story can be set anywhere, feature any characters, and be written in any style. The length is 1,500 to 5,000 words.

Entries must be in English. All submissions must be previously unpublished.

There are no entry fees for those aged 21 years and under.

Over 21s must pay an entry fee of £10 or £5 for those with student id.

The competition for those 21 and under has a prize of £1,000 for the winning entry. The competition for the over 21s has a prize of £500.

All shortlisted entries will also be published in a quality, professionally published paperback anthology.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.