SOUTH ISLAND WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION NATIONAL COMPETITION 2018

Call for Entries!

The South Island Writers’ Association announces the opening of their National Competition on 1 December 2018.

Here is an opportunity to polish up those short stories and flashes sitting in the bottom drawer, or astound us with something fresh, bold and original!

The prizes

• The winner and runner-up of the Short Story will receive a $250 and $100 prize, respectively
• The winner and runner-up of the Flash Fiction will receive a $150 and $75 prize, respectively

A short list will be published on the SIWA website prior to the announcement of the winners on 15 May 2018.

The judges

We are thrilled to have New Zealand author Nod Ghosh judging the short story and Michelle Elvy judging the flash fiction.

Nod Ghosh, short story judge

Nod graduated from the Hagley Writers’ Institute in Christchurch in 2014. Her work can be found in Landfall, JAAM, Takah? and various international sites and anthologies. Nod placed second in the New Zealand 2016 National Flash Fiction Day competition. Other awards include placing in the North & South short story competition 2016, the Alternative Bindings/ Wallace Arts Trust short story competition 2016 and the June 2017 Bath Flash Fiction Award. Nod has completed a novel with support from the New Zealand Society of Authors mentorship scheme and regularly provides critique for other writers. www.nodghosh.com

I’m looking for stories that pick me up by the scruff of the neck, shake me, and stay with me long after I’ve read them. Use beautiful language. Consider the rhythm and pace of your work. Make me like your characters even if I only like how awful they are.

Michelle Elvy, Flash Fiction Judge
Michelle is a writer, editor and manuscript assessor. Founder of National Flash Fiction Day, she edits at Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction and Blue Five Notebook and is Assistant Editor, International, for the Best Small Fictions series. She is currently editing, with Frankie McMillan and James Norcliffe, Bonsai: The Big Book of Small Stories, an anthology of New Zealand flash fiction, prose poetry and experimental writing (Canterbury University Press, 2018). Michelle’s fiction, travel writing, creative nonfiction, poetry and reviews have been published in numerous print and online journals and anthologies. https://michelleelvy.com

Stories that stick are the ones that manage to create a lasting mood or impression, even after the reader has left the page. In flash, you have room to move and experiment, even with the most common of stories. Deal-breakers in flash fiction include an ‘aha’ ending and the trite and clichéd ‘gotcha’ moment.

How to enter?

• Send us your best, unpublished short stories (no longer than 3000 words) and flash fictions (no longer than 300 words).
• There is a small entry fee of $10 per short story and $5 per flash fiction.
• Full competition guidelines and further information can be found on the SIWA website: southislandwriters.co.nz/competition.
• Deadline for entries is 1 Feb 2018.

Who is SIWA?

Founded in 1963 with Dame Ngaio Marsh as our original patron, SIWA is a Christchurch-based writing group. They meet once a month to hone their writing and discuss issues related to writing and publishing. Prospective new members are always welcome. Please visit southislandwriters.co.nz for more information.

For further information email:

Celine Gibson

SIWA President

03-341 7335

celine.sara.nz@gmail.com