Thank you to all who entered this competition.
10 writers have been longlisted and the prizewinners will be announced this week.
Amy Hawes, Ben Phillips, Christine Griffin, John Ling, Kate Copeland, Neil Douglas, Paul Thwaites, Rachel Naylor, Sharron Green, Wendy Webb
The three cash prizes are £150, £75, or £35
Prizewinners will also be awarded free publication of an audio book ONLINE.
For each prize winner, we’ll publish an online book as text with audio of up to 20 poems and/or stories.
All long-listed writers are invited to read at least two of their entry works in a Winner’s online Showcase. The event will be on Zoom at 7pm London Time on 7 February and free audience tickets are available via this link.
All poems and stories will be published as text and audio in the ABC Anthology by the end of January.
The judges are Dr Katherine Parsons, Marilyn Timms, Howard Timms
All entries will be checked for anonymity, then read by Dr Katherine Parsons, who will produce a long list of potential prizewinners. Next, Wildfire’s publishing team of Marilyn and Howard Timms will join Katherine to read the long-listed entries and listen to a sample audio supplied with each. The three judges will vote for first, second, and third prize winners plus Highly Commended (shortlisted) entries.
Sample audio books for you see and hear
Competition rules and entry
Writers entered 6 or more creative writing works — poems and/or flash fiction. One or more had to be audio — a recording of the writer reading a work.
The writer can make the recording at home or contact Wildfire Words to book a private online recording session. Further details of either are at this link: Recording your words.
Opened 10 June 2025
Closing date: 30 November 2025
Each prize-winning audio book will be published in 2026.
- The contest is open to writers worldwide except volunteers for Wildfire Words/Frosted Fire.
- All entries must be entirely the entrant’s own writing in English. The book as a whole must be unpublished, but any individual works may have been published singly — without any other work of the author’s being published in the same issue or website.
- Each book title entered should be submitted as a single Word or PDF file containing at least 6 works, each either a poem or prose story. Prize winners will be invited to submit more items to make a book with a maximum of 20 items.
- Each work should be no more than 300 words or 60 lines including stanza breaks.
- An audio of at least one work, read by the author, must be submitted either with the text, or afterwards by the closing date. Details of making or sending audio are at: Recording your Words
- You may submit up to three books, completing a separate entry form for each. Your second and third entries will be at half the entrance fee for your first title.
- Each entry must have a title which appears at the beginning and must also be the name of the file containing the entry, whether text or audio. The title should connect, in some way, most of the works.
- To maintain anonymous judging, there must be no identifying marks anywhere. Your entry must not contain any work that might be recognized by any of the judges through workshops, mentoring, or public readings. We will match your book title to your email address after anonymous judging is complete.
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but an entry must be withdrawn in the event of it winning a prize or publication elsewhere. Entry fees are not refundable once an entry has been received.
- Work will not be returned, so please keep a copy.
- We are unable to give feedback on individual entries or on the results of the competition — the judges’ decisions are final.
- Results will be emailed by 31 January 2026 to all who entered and also published on this website and social media.
- The entry fee for your first entry is £9. Payment can be made by credit or debit card or by PayPal account. PLEASE NOTE if you are entering your second or later entry, the entry fee is £4.50. And if you have entered another Wildfire Words competition this year, the first entry fee is £4.50.
- Entries must be paid for, and your text and audio files uploaded, by the closing time of 11.59 pm on 30 November 2025.
Tickets for the ABC Winner’s Showcase are available here