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And the WINNERS of our competitions are…..

Flash Fiction:

1st Prize: Jennifer McMahon

2nd: June Sullivan

3rd : Barbara Byar

Poetry:

1st Prize: Catherine Gander

2nd: Monica de Bhailis

3rd: Siobhan Flynn

Announcing our 2022 Competition Shortlists in no particular order!

The three winners in each category will be announced at our event in Bray Library on Culture Night (Friday 23rd Sept) and asked to read their stories and poems. Each of the prize-winners will also receive a festival pass!

Flash Fiction

My Therapist Says
The Yellow Coat
The Marram Cormorant
Above and Below
Possessive Apostrophe
Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere on the Last Car of the Last Train to LA, I Fell in Love

Poetry

Cu
Willow Pattern Plate
Eavesdropping
Unsuccessful dates #1
Losing a Tail
A Pilgrim’s Progress

Announcing our 2022 Competition Longlists!

Flash Fiction

  1. Above and Below
  2. Armageddon in an Envelope
  3. A Simple Question
  4. Know Thyself
  5. My Therapist Says
  6. People Seen at a Funeral Home
  7. Possessive Apostrophe
  8. Pure Carat
  9. Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere on the Last Car of the Last Train to LA, I Fell in Love
  10. The Kalevala in a Bedsit on the North Circular Road
  11. The Marram Cormorant
  12. The Yellow Coat

Poetry

  1. Unsuccessful dates #1
  2. Cú
  3. My Cousin’s Funeral as Two Scenes from a Ken Loach Film
  4. A Pilgrim’s Progress
  5. Tenant
  6. Willow Pattern Plate 
  7. Guillon’s Dragon
  8. On the Day I Hear You’d Died
  9. Losing a Tail
  10. Fontanelle
  11. Eavesdropping
  12. Fae Sooth

Congratulations to all of the longlisted writers. We will announce the shortlisted stories on Friday 16th! Shortlisted writers will be invited to attend our Culture Night event in Bray library where the winners will be announced. Three prize-winners in each category will be invited to read their entries.

Our 2022 competitions will be open for submissions between June 15th – August 15th. Please find submission guidelines below. For queries, email: blfcompetitions@gmail.com

€700 in PRIZES
Prizes in each category:
Winner €300
Runner-up €50
Third Prize: €25

We are delighted to announce that this year’s judges are:

Poetry: Anne Tannam, whose most recent poetry collection is:
26 Letters of the Alphabet (Salmon, 2021)
Flash Fiction: David Butler, whose most recent short-story collection is:
Fugitive (Arlen House, 2021)

TERMS & CONDITIONS
1. The competition is open to authors of any nationality writing in English.
2. The word limit is 500 for flash fiction, 40 lines for poems.
3. Work submitted should not have been previously published nor have won a prize in another competition.
4. Entries must be typed, on A4 paper, single sided only. Please email entries to: blfcompetitions@gmail.com
5. There is no entry form. Please complete a separate cover sheet including all your contact details, titles of entries and your PayPal receipt number. Do not write your name or provide any other form of identification on the entries.
6. Please do not enter more than one poem or flash fiction on a single page.
7. Entry fees are €5 for a single entry, €10 for three entries. These may be to either category, ie, categories can be mixed. Please pay via our PayPal link at the top of this page.
8. Work will only be accepted if accompanied by a cover sheet and proof of payment.
9. Entries must be received no later than midnight on August 15th 2022. We regret that we cannot accept entries received after this date.
10. Manuscripts cannot be altered after submission.
11. The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence or discussion concerning the judges’ decision will be entered into.
12. The copyright will remain with the winning authors.
13. Winners will be announced and invited to read at the prize-giving event on Culture Night, Friday Sept 23rd in Bray Library.
14. All shortlisted authors will be notified by email and will be invited to the prize-giving event.
15. A shortlist will be published on the Bray Literary Festival website in mid-September 2022.
16. Manuscripts will not be returned.
17. The entry fee is non-refundable.

18. The competition will only go ahead where prize-money is met by entry fees.

Twitter: @braylitfest
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/braylitfest/

Best of luck – we look forward to reading your entries!