The First Annual Birds Short Story Competition – Birds on the Blog
  • You are here:
  • Home »
  • The First Annual Birds Short Story Competition

The First Annual Birds Short Story Competition

Woman writing courtesy of Shutterstock

Woman writing courtesy of Shutterstock

Welcome to the First Annual Birds Short Story Competition.

Lindy is one smart cookie. As we were brainstorming ways of promoting women and helping the girls in Africa at the same time, she came up with the idea of a poetry competition.

We threw that idea out of the window faster than Ann could say Vogon Poetry. But like all good ideas, something persisted with it. Over a few days and much more brainstorming this is what came about

  • There are many women writers
  • There are not many opportunities for unpublished female writers
  • We have a platform and an audience
  • We can help showcase aspiring female authors

We thrashed out a few more details like:

  • It’s going to cost your $5 to enter your short story
  • Your story has to be yours, and you have to be female
  • The story has to have a female main character
  • It has to be less than 1500 words
  • All entries will be published on this site and the judges will choose 10 stories for the shortlist
  • The readers also get to choose, and the most shared entry will also win a special prize
  • You must be over 18 to enter, there’s no upper limit
  • You can be previously published, you can be Tabitha King. This competition is open to all female writers of all abilities and of all nationalities
  • Entries must be in English

The prizes…

Well we want the entry fee to support the girls in Uganda. Ida can do a lot with $5, and a lot of entries will make a significant difference.

So I’ve asked various business communities to donate prizes and they have

  • Shelley Fishel has donated online Microsft Office training (handy for formatting your words)
  • Suzanne Dibble has donated a membership to her Small Business Legal Academy
  • Phillip Dews offered a custom WordPress theme (and if you have one already then he’ll help you refresh your existing theme)
  • Mark Chapman offered 2 months of a Soapstone account

And I’ll round up some more prizes for you. I’ll set up a prize fund page and update it frequently.

The 11 stories will be published in the form of a Kindle book, and the money raised from the sales will go to the girls in Africa.

You will still own your story, but give us the right to publish it on Kindle.

Writing image courtesy of Shutterstock

Writing image courtesy of Shutterstock

What can you write about?

Any genre is welcome. If you’ve thought about writing romance then go for it. If you think that you’d be cracking at horror then write it. There are no limits to the amount of entries once person can submit, but each one will cost $5. And every entry will be published on this site.

If you want to dabble in writing erotica, that’s great and if you want to share a true story, then go for it. The only limit is your imagination.

Exclusions – only the judges and their immediate family are excluded from the competition.

Judges:

  •  Lindy obviously, if she has these ideas then she has to be one of the judges.
  • Ann Godridge (our own resident writer)
  • Ava Manello, successful author and publisher
  • Yolanda Facio, writer
  • Venita D Anthoni, founder Real Women in Business

The competition opens 24th of September 2014. That’s when we start publishing your entries. It closes the 31st October 2014.

And the shortlist will be announced on the 1st of December. The winners announced on the 14th of December and the Kindle book of short stories will be published the same day, just in time for Christmas.

How to enter:

Make a donation of $5 here.

You can donate more if you want to, the girls won’t mind.

  • Keep your Paypal receipt.
  • Forward your PayPal receipt to sarah@saraharrow.co.uk with your short story in a Word Document.

You need to add your name and address to the document and state that you are indeed female, over the age of 18 and you understand if you are shortlisted or win, the story will be published by us in the form of a Kindle book with all profits going to the girls in Africa.

What happens if a man enters? The girls in Africa are $5 better off, and we won’t publish the short story. Sorry. We may run a competition in the future that men are welcome to enter, just not this one. If for some reason one slips past us, then they’ll be disqualified.

Reader’s Choice Award

The short story with the most social shares will also win a prize and a place in the final, and the published Kindle book.

Start sharpening your quills and share this with all the smart women you know