The competitions are an integral part of the Wells Festival of Literature. Open to everyone.

Open Poetry Competition
Poems may be on any subject.
Poems must not exceed 35 lines of text in length.

Short Story Competition
Stories may be on any subject.
Stories should be between 1,000 and 2,000 words in length.

Book for Children Competition
The competition will judge writing for children, age 7 and up.  This includes writing for young adults.
You may submit either the first two chapters or first twenty pages, whichever is the shortest, together with the synopsis of up to two pages.

Young Poets Competition
Entrants to the Young Poets Competition must be aged 16 to 22 inclusive.
Poems may be on any subject.
Poems must not exceed 35 lines of text in length.

All entries must be in English.

At the time of entry, the work submitted must not have been entered into any other competition and must not have been published in any format or location.

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.