UPDATE Wednesday August 7th, 12.18pm:
You can enter online until MIDNIGHT TONIGHT Weds, August 7th.
& to make it fair for those entering by post we will accept all entries postmarked August 7th
(even if they arrive after that date). Still time to enter!
2019 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition
OPEN TO POETS & FICTION WRITERS WORLDWIDE
YOU CAN NOW ENTER ONLINE
COMPETITION JUDGE:Liz McSkeane
Major sponsor Charlie Byrne's Bookshop
Other sponsors:
DEADLINE: Midnight on Wed,
August 7th
If you make your payment online before midnight on
August 7th, we will accept your entry. And we will accept all entries
postmarked August 7th or earlier, even if they arrive after that date. Extracts
from novels absolutely accepted. As well, of course, as short stories and
poems.
In 2019 Over The Edge is continuing its exciting annual international
creative writing competition. Since its inception in 2007, it has grown to
become one of the most important competition’s for emerging writers in Ireland
and internationally. The competition is open to both poets and fiction writers
worldwide. The total prize money is €1,000.
The best fiction entry will win €300. The best poetry entry will win €300. One
of these will then be chosen as the overall winner and will receive an
additional €400, giving the overall winner total prize money of €700 and the
title Over The Edge New Writer of The
Year 2019. The 2019 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year will be a
Featured Reader at Ireland’s leading literary reading series, the Over The
Edge: Open Readings in Galway City Library, on a date to be scheduled in Winter
2019/20. Salmon Poetry will read,
without commitment to publish, a manuscript submitted to them by the winner in
the poetry category. Turas Press will read,
without commitment to publish, a manuscript of short stories submitted to them
by the winner in the fiction category. The overall winner will receive a hamper
of books from the famous Kenny’s Bookshop of Galway, Ireland. The winner in the
poetry category will have one of the poems from her or his winning entry
published in the Spring 2020 issue of Skylight47 magazine.
Entries should be sent to Over
The Edge, New Writer of the Year competition, 3 Carbry Road, Newcastle, Galway,
Ireland or emailed (as attachments) to over-the-edge-openreadings@hotmail.com. Entries
will be judged anonymously, so do not put your name on your poem(s) or stories.
Put your contact details on a separate sheet (or in the body of your email, if
you enter online). If you live in Ireland and wish to be informed of the
results by post, please enclose a stamped addressed envelope. OTHERWISE, YOU DO
NOT NEED TO ENCLOSE A STAMPED ADDRESSED ENVELOPE. Criteria: fiction of up to
three thousand words, three poems of up to forty lines, or one poem of up to
one hundred lines. Any of the aforementioned is one entry. Multiple entries are
acceptable but each must be accompanied by a fee.
The fee for one entry is €10. The fee for multiple entries is €7.50 per
entry e.g. two entries will cost €15, three entries €22.50 and so on. Fee
payable by cheque or money order to Over The Edge. The competition is open to
writers worldwide. We accept payment in Dollars, Sterling, Australian Dollars,
Canadian Dollars and so on. Writers from outside the Euro area can calculate
the payment for their entry here http://www.xe.com/ucc/ WE ALSO NOW
ACCEPT ONLINE PAYMENTS. See below for details. If you pay the entry fee
online you can still, if you wish, post us a hard copy of your entry/entries
and enclose with it a note saying ‘entry fee paid online’; you may also email
us your entries (see above). PLEASE INCLUDE THE EXACT NAME IN WHICH THE ONLINE
PAYMENT HAS BEEN MADE SO THAT WE CAN VERIFY.
To take part you must be at least sixteen years old by September 1st
2019. Chapbooks/ pamphlets excepted. Entries must not have been
previously published or be currently entered in any other competition. The
closing date is Wednesday, August 7th, 2019. A long-list will be
announced at the August Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library on
Thursday, August 29th 2018 (6.30-8pm). THE LONGLIST WILL BE
AVAILABLE, BEFORE THAT, AT CHARLIE BYRNE’S BOOKSHOP FROM 5PM ON THURSDAY AUGUST 29th. The shortlist will be announced at the September Over
The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library on Thursday, September 26th, 2019
(6.30-8pm). The winners will be announced at the October Over The Edge: Open
Reading in Galway City Library on Thursday, October 31st, 2019
(6.30-8pm).
ABOUT THE
COMPETITION JUDGE
Liz McSkeane born in Scotland of Scottish and Irish parents and has lived in Dublin
since 1981. She is an award-winning novelist, poet and short story writer. Her
début novel, Canticle, was a winner
in the Irish Writers' Centre/Greenbean Novel Fair of 2016. In 2011, she was an IWC Lonely Voice winner and in
1999, she won the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year. Liz has published three poetry collections and
her poetry and short stories have been published in the Irish Times, Poetry Ireland
Review, Irish Pages, The Shop, Stinging Fly, Orbis, Stepaway, Gutter Magazine, The
Lea-Green Down and others. In 2016, Liz set up her own small press, TurasPress, which published six books during 2016-18, with a
further four scheduled for 2019. In addition to her literary work, Liz is an
educational consultant. She holds a PhD in Education and consults on education
policy and practice for organisations in Ireland and Europe.
TO PAY YOUR ENTRY FEE FOR 2019 OVER THE EDGE NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR ONLINE SEE BELOW