Enter the 2024 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize
The 2024 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize, the fifteenth edition of the prestigious prize, is open from 1 February to 5pm BST on 1 July 2024. Follow us on social media or sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear about the shortlist and winners later in the year.
Terms and Conditions
Eligibility
1: The competition is open to anyone who has not published or signed a contract to publish a book-length work of fiction, life writing, or poetry, except for self-published works or poetry chapbooks.
2: Entries must be in English and must not have been previously published in any form (excluding live performances or shares on personal blogs or social media channels).
3: If entries are published, or accepted for publication, elsewhere between submission and shortlisting, they will no longer be eligible. You must inform us immediately if work submitted to the prize is then accepted for publication elsewhere by emailing: wasafirinewwritingprize@qmul.ac.uk.
4: The competition is not open to members of the Wasafiri Board or Wasafiri staff, or any individual involved in the administration of the prize, or their families.
5: Entries must be completed through the submissions form no later than 5pm BST on 1 July 2024.
6: Failure to meet the conditions of entry will mean that a submission is automatically disqualified from the competition. Entry fee will not be refunded.
Format of entries
7: No entry may exceed 3,000 words.
8: All prizes are for short works, not for novel/memoir extracts. While extracts from longer works are eligible, they must stand alone as complete works in their own right.
9: A single poetry entry can include up to three poems, which together total no more than 3,000 words. Each poem must each be submitted as a separate document.
10: Do not write your name or provide any other form of identification on your manuscript or in the document title. All submissions will be considered anonymously.
11: Work must be typed, in a legible font, font size 12, double-spaced, A4, and submitted as a .doc file or similar.
12: Manuscripts cannot be altered after submission.
Fees
13: Entries are considered accepted through our website once the fee is paid. All successful submissions will receive an acknowledgement. If you do not receive an acknowledgement, there may have been a problem with your entry; in this case, check your email spam folder, and then contact wasafirinewwritingprize@qmul.ac.uk to confirm successful receipt.
14: We offer subsidised entries for those who would not otherwise be able to enter the prize.
15: Fee is per entry: £12 for a single entry, £16 for a double entry, and £6 for a single subsidised entry. You may make multiple entries if you would like to do so by completing the entry form multiple times.
Prize giving and publication
16: No more than one piece by any writer will be shortlisted for the prize in a single category in a single year, and no person may win in more than one category in a single year.
17: Shortlisted entrants will be notified by email in September 2024 and must confirm eligibility of their work before the shortlist is confirmed.
18: Acceptance of a place on the shortlist will indicate the author’s agreement to their work being published in Wasafiri in print or online, and included in a possible anthology.
19: The judges’ decision is final. No discussion concerning the judges’ decision will be entered into.
20: The entry fee is non-refundable.
Please direct any queries that are not answered by these terms and conditions to wasafirinewwritingprize@qmul.ac.uk.
Enter the 2024 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize
Prize application link