Mslexia competitions: Children's/YA novel, Short Story and Flash Fiction deadline 21 September

 The deadline for the Children's/YA competition has been extended to 21 September:

Did you spot our deadline shift? Because of yesterday's bank holiday, we've kicked the 2022 Mslexia Fiction Competition closing date back until tomorrow – giving you an extra day to apply a final spit and polish to those potentially prize-winning entries. The deadline is now midnight on 21 September! If you somehow missed our banshee shrieking, none other than Cressida Cowell is judging this year's Children's Novel Competition. Yup, Children's Laureate Cressida Cowell. Multi-million-selling author of How To Train Your Dragon Cressida Cowell. Alongside her co-judges of lit agent Chloe Seager (Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency) and critic Imogen Russell Williams, Cressida is poised and ready to read your children's/YA manuscript! With the winner nabbing £5,000 as well as manuscript feedback, pitch training AND agent/editor intros at a private party in London, this really is one of the most prestigious children's novel competitions in the world. Simply put, it's where stars are born. And just a reminder – we'll only need your first 3,000 words up front, and won't call in the full manuscripts until February 2023. So if you don't have a finished novel on your hands just yet, there's still plenty of time. All we need is to be swept away on your opening chapters... There are also categories for short stories and flash fiction, judged by esteemed writers Diana Evans and Audrey Niven respectively, making the Mslexia Fiction Competition 2022 total prize pot worth over £10,000. More details on each category – plus links to enter – can be found below. Go, go, go!       CHILDREN'S & YA NOVEL Judged by Cressida Cowell, Chloe Seager and Imogen Russell Williams, this competition is open to unpublished novels of at least 20,000 words in any genre for children and/or young adults.  Entry fee: £26 1st prize: £5,000 + agent/editor introductions Deadline: 21 Sep Enter here     SHORT STORY Judged by Diana Evans, this competition is for unpublished complete short fiction of up to 3,000 words in any genre and on any theme. Entry fee: £12 1st prize: £3,000 + anthology publication Deadline: 21 Sep Enter here     FLASH FICTION Judged by Audrey Niven, this competition is for unpublished complete flash fiction of up to 300 words in any genre and on any theme. Entry fee: £6 1st prize: £500 + anthology publication Deadline: 21 Sep Enter here       Copyright © 2022 Mslexia Publications Ltd., All rights reserved.     Copyright © 2022 Mslexia Publications Ltd., All rights reserved.