WestWord

Submissions are now open on a rolling basis for stories that will be published once a week in our new Story Sunday feature. 

The first story will go live on Sunday 1st September 2024. 

No theme and the same guidelines apply for our general submissions. 

• Max word count: 1000
• Submission fee: £5
• Writer compensation: All writers selected will receive a £15 payment on publication of their story.

Submissions are open on a rolling basis for flash fiction stories to appear in our twice-monthly Flash Focus feature. All writers selected will also have an interview about the story that will run alongside it.

There is no theme but our usual submission guidelines apply. Please read the kinds of stories we publish to get a feel for what we like. 

Words: Up to 750 (excluding the title)

Submission fee: £7 submission only / £22 with feedback

Author payment: £20

ENTRY RULES

• Submit stories written in English through Submittable. Please use a clear font of at least size 12 so that we can read it easily!
• Please use the name of your story as your Submission title and the document you upload.
• Please include the word count at the start or end of the story document.
• Stories must be your own original work and not have been published online or in print, or have won any other competitions (longlisted and shortlisted in other competitions is fine if the story remains unpublished).
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed but if your story wins a prize or is published prior to the winner’s announcement your submission will become ineligible. No refunds of submission fees will be paid.
• By entering the competition you agree to your story being published in WestWord.
• Stories can be in any genre apart from children’s fiction.
• You can enter as many times as you like but all entries must be made separately and the entry fee paid each time.
• The judge’s decision is final.
• Cash prize payments will be made through PayPal or via BACS.
• There are no alternative prizes.

Please do not send us stories with racism, sexism, homophobia, religious hatred or any other kind of bigotry and hate. Any sex must be relevant to the story. Do not send us graphic stories of rape, incest, child abuse, bestiality, or gratuitous violence. We won’t publish it and we do not want to read it.

Authors will retain all rights and copyright to their works. WestWord requests one-time, non-exclusive rights to publish your work.

For 2025, we have revamped the WestWord Prize. There is just one deadline and all the winning and shortlisted stories will be published in one anthology edition.

Deadline: 31st March 2025

Max word count: 1000

Entry fee: £10 submission only / £30 with feedback

Online anthology publication: June 2025

Theme: No theme

Prizes:

• First prize: £400
• Second prize: £250
• Third prize: £100
• Shortlisted: £25

Judge: Sara Hills is the author of The Evolution of Birds (Ad Hoc Fiction, 2021), winner of the 2022 Saboteur Award for best story collection. Her work has won the Bath Flash Fiction Award, SmokeLong Quarterly's Grand Micro Competition, Manchester Writing School’s QuietManDave flash non-fiction prize, National Flash Fiction Day’s microfiction competition, and the Retreat West quarterly prize. She’s on the editorial staff at NFFD’s FlashFlood Journaland The Write-In, and her stories have been selected for Wigleaf’s Top 50, The Best Small Fictions, The Welkin Prize, and elsewhere. Originally from the Sonoran Desert, Sara lives in Warwickshire, UK and tweets from @sarahillswrites.

PRIZE ENTRY RULES

• Submit stories written in English through Submittable using the button above by 23.59 GMT on the deadline date (sorry late entries will not be included). Please use a clear font of at least size 12 so that we can read it easily!
• Please use the name of your story as your Submission title and the document you upload.
• Do not include your name on the story document or submission title but provide a short bio as requested in the submission form. All stories are read anonymously so any showing the author’s name will be disqualified.
• Please include the word count at the start or end of the story document.
• Stories must be your own original work and not have been published online or in print, or have won any other competitions (longlisted and shortlisted in other competitions is fine if the story remains unpublished).
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed but if your story wins a prize or is published prior to the winner’s announcement your entry will become ineligible. No refunds of entry fees will be paid.
• By entering the competition you agree to your story being published in the winners’ online anthology.
• Stories can be in any genre apart from children’s fiction.
• You can enter as many times as you like but all entries must be made separately and the entry fee paid each time.
• The judge’s decision is final.
• Cash prize payments will be made through PayPal or via BACS.
• There are no alternative prizes.

This annual competition is for flash fiction stories inspired by folktales, myths, legends, fables and fairytales. Send us your modern, surreal, ancient and brilliant takes on the ones that have captured your mind.

What’s the Difference Between a Myth, a Legend, a Folktale, and a Fairytale?

This article by International Storyteller has some definitions that can guide you.

Deadline: 30th April 2025

Words: Up to 400 (excluding the title)

Entry fee: £7 submission only / £22 with feedback

Judge: Amanda Saint

Amanda is the author of two novels, As If I Were A River (2016) and Remember Tomorrow (2019), and a novella-in-flash, Pressure Drop (2024 ). She writes The Mindful Writer and The Tao of Storytelling.

Amanda’s stories have been widely published; long/short listed in the Mslexia Flash Fiction Competition, Fish Flash Fiction Prize, Ink Tears Short Story Prize, Cranked Anvil Short Story Competition, Flash 500 and V300; nominated for Best Small Fictions 2023; and won the Editor’s Choice Prize at 101 Words. 

Amanda founded Retreat West in 2012 and expanded to include Retreat West Books in 2017, which published 24 books until July 2023 and was named the 2020 Most Innovative Publisher at the Saboteur Awards. In 2022, she launched the WestWord literary magazine.

PRIZES:

The winning and shortlisted stories will share up to 66% of the entry fees (after Submittable fees are deducted) .

• 1st: 20%
• 2nd: £15%
• 3rd: £10%
• Shortlisted stories (max 7): 3% each

All winning and shortlisted stories will be published in WestWord in September 2025.

ENTRY RULES

• Submit stories written in English through Submittable using the button above by 23.59 GMT on the deadline date (sorry late entries will not be included). Please use a clear font of at least size 12 so that we can read it easily!
• Please use the name of your story as your Submission title and the document you upload.
• Do not include your name on the story document or submission title but provide a short bio as requested in the submission form. All stories are read anonymously so any showing the author’s name will be disqualified.
• Please include the word count at the start or end of the story document.
• Stories must be your own original work and not have been published online or in print, or have won any other competitions (longlisted and shortlisted in other competitions is fine if the story remains unpublished).
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed but if your story wins a prize or is published prior to the winner’s announcement your entry will become ineligible. No refunds of entry fees will be paid.
• By entering the competition you agree to your story being published in the winners’ online anthology.
• Stories can be in any genre apart from children’s fiction.
• You can enter as many times as you like but all entries must be made separately and the entry fee paid each time.
• The judge’s decision is final.
• Cash prize payments will be made through PayPal or via BACS.
• There are no alternative prizes.

One of the best things about flash fiction, is the innovation inherent in these tiny stories. The advent of the hermit crab story has been a wonderful thing to behold. So we want to celebrate this innovative approach to storytelling with a new prize.

Deadline: 23rd February 2025

Words: Up to 650 (excluding the title)

Entry fee: £6 submission only / £23 with feedback

Judge: Avitus B. Carle

Get full info on our competition page on our website.

PRIZES:

The winning and shortlisted stories will share 61% of the entry fees (after Submittable fees are deducted) .

• 1st: 35%
• 2nd: £30%
• 3rd: £25%
• 7 shortlisted stories: 3% each

All winning and shortlisted stories will be published in WestWord in May 2025.

ENTRY RULES

• Submit stories written in English through Submittable using the button above by 23.59 GMT on the deadline date (sorry late entries will not be included). Please use a clear font of at least size 12 so that we can read it easily!
• Please use the name of your story as your Submission title and the document you upload.
• Do not include your name on the story document or submission title but provide a short bio as requested in the submission form. All stories are read anonymously so any showing the author’s name will be disqualified.
• Please include the word count at the start or end of the story document.
• Stories must be your own original work and not have been published online or in print, or have won any other competitions (longlisted and shortlisted in other competitions is fine if the story remains unpublished).
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed but if your story wins a prize or is published prior to the winner’s announcement your entry will become ineligible. No refunds of entry fees will be paid.
• By entering the competition you agree to your story being published in the winners’ online anthology.
• Stories can be in any genre apart from children’s fiction.
• You can enter as many times as you like but all entries must be made separately and the entry fee paid each time.
• The judge’s decision is final.
• Cash prize payments will be made through PayPal or via BACS.
• There are no alternative prizes.

WestWord 1000 Word Picture Competition

A picture paints a thousand words and this annual edition of WestWord we want stories of 1000 words exactly inspired by the image prompt. 

Deadline: 31st December 2024

Word count: 1000 words exactly (excluding title)

Entry fee: £6 submission only / £23 with feedback 

PRIZES:

The winning and shortlisted stories will share 66% of the submission fees (after Submittable fees are deducted) .

1st: 20%

2nd: £15%

3rd: £10%

Shortlisted stories (7 max): 3% each

All winning and shortlisted stories will be published in WestWord in February 2025.

See the picture prompt here: https://westword.substack.com/p/1000-word-photo

You can submit as many stories as you like but each submission must be made separately. All stories are read anonymously so please don't include your name in the document you upload or in the submission title.

Short Story Spotlight publishes one short story a month along with an interview with the author about their craft.

• Word count: Up to 5,000
• Submission fee: £8
• Author payment: £35

There is no theme but please read the stories we have previously published to get a feel for what we like.

Submission Guidelines

• All submissions must be sent through Submittable and we cannot accept email submissions. Anything sent via email will not be read.
• Please submit no more than one story per category in each submission period. If you are submitting to more than one category then each submission must be made separately and the submission fee paid each time.
• Please use a legible, easy-to-read font of 12pt or 14pt.
• All submissions must be previously unpublished (never published in print or online, including a personal blog) and in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format ONLY.
• Simultaneous submissions are fine but please withdraw your submission via Submittable if it is accepted elsewhere.
• Our submissions are open to all adult writers worldwide. All work must be written in English.

Please do not send us stories with racism, sexism, homophobia, religious hatred or any other kind of bigotry and hate. Any sex must be relevant to the story. Do not send us graphic stories of rape, incest, child abuse, bestiality, or gratuitous violence. We won’t publish it and we do not want to read it.

Authors will retain all rights and copyright to their works. WestWord requests one-time, non-exclusive rights to publish your work.

April 2025 Edition

THEME: ILLUSION

We charge a small submission fee (£5) in order to pay writers and cover our production, design and admin costs. We understand that this will be unaffordable for some people so we have 4 free submissions available in each period. Contact us to get one. No need to provide any explanation or evidence, just ask. They are allocated on a first come, first served basis.

If you would like to sponsor a submission so we can increase the number of free submissions available, then you can do that here.

WORD COUNTS

• Short Stories: up to 3000 words
• Flash Fictions: up to 1000 words
• Micro Fictions: up to 350 words

Author Payment

For each edition, the writers we publish will share 50% of the submission fees received (after Submittable fees are deducted). All stories selected for an edition will receive the same payment no matter the length of the story.

We will also nominate stories for prizes (Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, Best Microfictions, etc.).

Submission Guidelines

• All submissions must be sent through Submittable and we cannot accept email submissions. Anything sent via email will not be read.
• Please submit no more than one story per category in each submission period. If you are submitting to more than one category then each submission must be made separately and the submission fee paid each time.
• Please use a legible, easy-to-read font of 12pt or 14pt.
• All submissions must be previously unpublished (never published in print or online, including a personal blog) and in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format ONLY.
• Simultaneous submissions are fine but please withdraw your submission via Submittable if it is accepted elsewhere.
• Our submissions are open to all adult writers worldwide. All work must be written in English.

Please do not send us stories with racism, sexism, homophobia, religious hatred or any other kind of bigotry and hate. Any sex must be relevant to the story. Do not send us graphic stories of rape, incest, child abuse, bestiality, or gratuitous violence. We won’t publish it and we do not want to read it.

To find out what kind of stories we like, read our previous editions.

Authors will retain all rights and copyright to their works. WestWord requests one-time, non-exclusive rights to publish your work.