Hope and Unity
Hysteria 8 opens on 1st April 2021
The theme for this year’s competition is Hope and Unity. All entries must reflect this theme to be considered.
The purpose of the competition is to showcase entries that appeal to all my visitors; I accept entries in any genre except erotica or horror.
There is no charge to enter this competition and and entries can be uploaded in .doc, .docx, rtf or txt format. No other file formats will be accepted and entries made using them will be disqualified.
Please make sure you read the guidelines and the rules before submitting your entry.
Thanks to a generous anonymous donation the winners of each category will now get £50 each.. Nine additional entries will be included in the Hysteria 8 anthology to be published in November 2021.
Categories are:
- Short story – maximum 600 words
- Flash fiction – maximum 100 words
- Poetry – maximum 12 lines
Additional important information
You can find the details of the rules and guidelines for the competition here: hysteria-competition-guidelines/
Please read the competition rules before submitting your entry. You can find the rules here: hysteria-competition-rules/
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Check out previous anthologies!
Read the latest competition updates!
In conversation with Gillian Scholey and Michelle Christophorou
Michelle and Gillian are two of the reader team for this year’s Hysteria Writing Competition. In this episode we discuss the finer merits of entering writing competitions, what they are looking for and their own work as award winning writers themselves.
The Poets Meeting by AM Cash Hysteria poetry category winner 2020
Encircled, engrossed, of human mixology Debated, a lifetime of stripped back sociology Crossways to pathways, in beating humour Sadness outpoured, sketches of other lives
The Flower Box by Jane O’Connor, short story category winner 2020
Kay sat on the step of her pottery studio cradling a cup of tea when she felt a nudge on her arm as Pansy, her Nan’s Yorkshire Terrier, rushed past her and began doing joyful circuits of the lawn. Kay had been apprehensive about taking Pansy in, but things had happened so quickly after Nan’s … Read more
Anonymous donor doubles Hysteria Writing Competition prize pot
Thanks to a kind donation from a benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous, the prize funds for each category winner have been doubled to £50 each.
Hysteria 7 book cover competition
It’s taken a few months to get to this point, but finally Hysteria 7 has been published and is ready to be unleashed on the world. As is usual at this point in the competition I’m releasing the book cover a couple of days early and inviting you to guess which of our finalists entries … Read more
Hysteria 2020 finalists
It’s taken 6 months, many hours on the part of lots of people including all the wonderful entrants, and finally I’m at the stage where I can announce the finalists in the Hysteria 2020 Writing Competition. The under 16’s category hasn’t been finalised yet, so I will update this post later this week when I … Read more
Turning to poetry – Hysteria writing prompts for August
I hope, like me, you’ve been finding it easy to write this summer. It’s lovely to have those bright mornings (best writing time for me) and long evenings that just seem to slip away when we’re busy. I know so many people have been turning to poetry to help set down their thoughts about the … Read more
On writing prompts – Hysteria writing prompts for July
Don’t forget the 2020 competition… the deadline is approaching. If you haven’t already written something to submit, there is still time to do so. For my inspiration this month I’m going to share some ways of playing with words to create writing prompts that make some poetry, stories or just get you started on writing … Read more
Meet Becky Danks, hysteria writing competition judge
Becky Danks is a creative writer and book reviewer based in London. She has previously organised a UK and Ireland-wide charity writing competition and loves to discover exciting new voices.