With the coronavirus outbreak causing social isolation, we at ‘Ireland Writing Retreat’ felt the need to support you and fellow writers worldwide at this particularly difficult time - by launching our first-ever competition, with key prizes for winners.
Welcome to the inaugural ‘Wild Atlantic Writing Awards’ (WAWA), a competition we hope will provide challenge, diversion and enjoyment for you as a wordsmith in the strange times we live in right now.
After much brainstorming, we felt our competition should reflect the nature of ‘Ireland Writing Retreat’ itself, and what we have focused on over the last five years of operation.
This led us to conclude that there should be not one, but two, separate competitions:
fiction and creative nonfiction.
Flash Fiction Award
We decided our fiction writing competition should be open to all genres – sci-fi, crime, romance, horror, humor, thriller, mystery, whatever tickles you and your Muse’s fancy. And that it should take the form of flash fiction, a field growing rapidly in popularity.
To add spice to our idea, we also felt there should be a single theme.
But what?
After many hours of debate and list-making, we suddenly realised the perfect theme was staring us right in the face.
Writing itself.
In other words, upon reading competition entries, judges are left in no doubt that a key element in your story is linked in some way to writing itself. For example, one of the characters, human or non-human, is a writer or a piece of writing plays a key role in the story. Let your imagination be your guide.
We would like you to pen a flash fiction story in any style or genre focusing on the act of writing in any way, shape or form, with a maximum length of 500 words.
PRIZE
The winner will receive 500 euro in cash.
And more.
An added bonus of 990 euro in value in the form of free participation* - including all excursions, by land and sea, food and drinks tastings, concerts and dance performances, and all writing workshops and author talks – at one of our retreats of your choice, either this autumn in either Paris or Donegal, or one of our retreats next year.
In effect, a total prize equal to almost 1,500 euro.
Plus, with the writer’s permission, winning entries will be published on the ‘Ireland Writing Retreat’ website, with short bio and photograph. Writers retain all copyrights to their work.
Creative Nonfiction Award
As for our creative nonfiction competition, we offer you a similar challenge.
To write a story of not more than 500 words on any subject – whether it be in the form of memoir, profile, literary journalism, personal essay, travel (and remember, award-winning travel articles don't have to be about exotic destinations, it could be about your own hometown), food or any creative nonfiction category you prefer.
PRIZE
The winner will receive 500 euro in cash.
And more.
An added bonus of 990 euro in value in the form of free participation* - including all excursions, by land and sea, food and drinks tastings, concerts and dance performances, and all writing workshops and author talks – at one of our retreats of your choice, either this autumn in either Paris or Donegal, or one of our retreats next year.
In effect, a total prize equal to almost 1,500 euro.
Plus, with the writer’s permission, winning entries will be published on the ‘Ireland Writing Retreat’ website, with short bio and photograph. Writers retain all copyrights to their work.
So, grab the opportunity to unleash your creative abilities during this period of restrictive ‘social distancing’ and emerge a happy winner.