Disclaimer: Sally Quilford accepts no liability for the content of these listings, nor for the quality, safety, or legality of competitions and events advertised on these pages. Website users trade directly with the literary bodies listed entirely at their own risk and Sally Quilford accepts no responsibility for loss or damage as a result of contacting promoters through using this service. Sally Quilford is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Please note that this site is owned and run by me, Sally Quilford, and therefore none of the views expressed therein should be taken to be those of Writers Forum magazine, for whom I write a monthly column.

1) I am not personally involved with any of the competitions or events listed. If you require more information about them, or have an issue with the way a competition or event is run, please contact the relevant organisers. That doesn't mean I'm not willing to listen if people have problems with comps, as long as they realise I'm not personally responsible for whatever happens and probably can't change anything.

This is very important: DO NOT send any competition entries to me, whether they're for the comps listed on these pages (including the Heaven Can Wait comp which I'm judging - entries for that comp must be sent via the address given on the website), or for Writers Forum writing comps. I am not responsible for receiving or passing on these entries. If you are entering the Writers Forum comp, which I neither administer or judge, or have any questions regarding that comp do so via the website here.

2) Whilst every effort is made to ensure information on this site is accurate, details are subject to change, and even with the best will in the world, I sometimes make typos. It is your responsibility to follow through any links, or contact organisers and check on the most recent information for any competition or event.

3) I can only list competitions in my Writers Forum article if I have plenty of notice (we work three months in advance). I can list comps or events on this site right up until the last minute, though I'd advise organisers to let me know as soon as possible to give it plenty of time for people to notice your event. I am not responsible for letting Writers Forum know about events and festivals. If you are running a festival or workshop, and you wish Writers Forum to know, then you need to contact the magazine directly, via their website, to find out how you may do this.

4) I like to give writing competitions as much publicity as possible, and I don't charge for this. Therefore I reserve to right to refuse to list, or remove, any competitions that I feel are not playing fair with writers. Reasons a competition might not be listed, include (but are not limited to):

a) a comp or event run by an obvious vanity publisher who charges entrants for expensive anthologies or tries to force entrants to spend money on other goods and services.

b) the 'winners' have to spend money in order to claim their prize (e.g. if the prize is a percentage off a writers holiday, or any other writers' service, I don't consider it a prize at all, so won't list the comps),

c) I may refuse to list a comp if I feel that the organiser is only doing it to sell books. For example, I've had self-published writers contact me about their comps, which stipulates that entrants must buy their book in order to enter, either because there's some codeword or because the story must be based on something in the book. I may do it for a bigger publisher, because they generally offer much better prizes.

d) If there is no real prize to speak of, and the prize only involves being published on a website, or publication in a book which the 'winners' have to buy.

e) if I find out that a competition has taken money from entrants but not paid out prizes, or has not played fair with its entrants in other ways.

f) The details have been submitted too late to take into account postal times etc.

g) If I feel the entry fees charged are disproportionate to the prizes on offer. An example is a comp that charges £20 per entry, yet offers prizes totalling less than £100.

5) I reserve the right to list comps and events in the formats I have chosen, and will not give special precedence to any particular competition or list it in any way that might promote it above others.

6) When you contact me with your competitions and events, please ensure you give me as much information about your competition or event as possible, using the form provided. Due to problems with spam and viruses, I don't just follow links sent in an email.

7) And finally. I only list comps and events related to writing, which includes memoirs, prose, fiction, poetry, etc. Whilst some comp organisers may also have additional comps for illustrators, that is not the focus of this site, sorry.