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Competition Deadline: Aurora Prize for Writing 2025
August 6
From the competition’s website:
Since 2016, Aurora has provided a platform for writers, offering a prize that is truly national (and international) with its heart in the East Midlands.
Our judges have included some of the region’s leading literary lights, with names such as Joanna Cannon, Casey Bailey, Mahsuda Snaith, Alison Moore, Jon McGregor, Malika Booker, Helen Mort, Debris Stevenson, Shreya Sen-Handley and Georgina Wilding.
We are thrilled to announce that this year’s judges include T.S. Eliot Prize winner Joelle Taylor, reading poetry, and multi-award-winning author Irenosen Okojie, judging prose.
As well as receiving a cash prize, winners receive feedback on a piece of work of their choice from a matched literary agent or editor.
We receive hundreds of entries each year, with the best 25 in each category making it to a published longlist and the best 10 in each category on published shortlists.
The writing competition also offers prizes for second and third places in each category, plus prizes for the best work from the East Midlands region
The winners of the writing competition, in each category, will receive a cash prize of £500, feedback on a piece of work of their choice from a leading literary agent (or Editor as appropriate) and a years free membership to the Society of Authors, which includes access to advice and resources on all aspects of the business of writing.
Winners will also receive a session with Society of Authors staff, including an introduction to how the Society can support them in their careers as professional authors and covering essential advice on copyright, payment terms and contracts.
Second Prize £150 cash.
Third Prize A ticket to the 2027 Writers’ Conference, hosted by Writing East Midlands.
As a champion of writers from the East Midlands, we will also offer a regional prize of £100 to the best work in each category from the region.
In the weeks leading up to the Aurora Prize Awards Ceremony (details TBC) we will also be publishing a longlist of 25 in each category and a shortlist of 10 in each category on our website. The shortlist of 10 will also receive a 20% discount code for one year’s membership with the Society of Authors.
The submission fee is £9 for a first entry and £7 for each additional entry.
This is a national writing competition open to everyone. International entries are also welcome.
To enter:
https://writingeastmidlands.co.uk/for-writers/aurora-prize-for-writing/