Archives: Competitions

Writers who are Australian residents are invited to submit short stories 600 words or less for this year’s competition. Entries must be unpublished works, not have won prior recognition and must not be under consideration elsewhere (competition or publication).

To enter the competition please follow the link below. Before entering, please make sure you read through all the information provided on this page.

The competition will open for entries on March 6’th

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/2023-peter-cowan-600-word-short-story-competition-tickets-562690631827

Attach your Entrant Details Form (word document) to your email. Click here to download the entry form.

Prose

Maximum 600 words per story (stories can be less than 600 words)

Theme

Open

Categories

Open to all writers as well as separate categories below:

Youth (12-17 years)

Senior (Writers over the age of 60 years)

Novice (Writers who have never won or placed in a writing competition before)

Students who attend a Secondary Education Support Centre (student’s teachers

will send in their entries for them through the school)

PRIZES:

1st prize $200              2nd prize $100           3rd prize $50

Senior Writer Award $100

Novice Writer Award $100

Secondary Education Support Centre Student Award $100

Julian Cowan Youth Award  (12-17 years) $100 (donated by Diana Cowan)

ENTRY FEE:

Adult and Senior: One entry: $10 + Eventbrite fee*,

Youth and Secondary Education Support Student: $5 + Eventbrite fee*

RULES:

Make sure your story has never been published (print, blogs and internet) has not won or been acknowledged in
any other competitions (awarded certificates or prizes) and is not under consideration for a competition or publication.

If you have never won a competition or been awarded a certificate in a competition you will be eligible for the Novice
Award. Your story must be 600 words or less. We are looking forward to reading your stories.

Formatting:

1. Make sure you DO NOT include your own name on your story/stories as it is a ‘blind’ judging.
2. Give each story a different PEN NAME (the pretend name you will use just for this story)
3. Use 12-point font (Arial, Times Roman)
4. Use double spacing
5. Indent the first line of each paragraph
6. Include your PEN NAME, the TITLE of the story and the WORD COUNT on the first page of the story.
7. Save each story/entry as a separate Word document or a pdf.

Check List:

1. Have you paid your fee and entered the Eventbrite Receipt Number in your Entrant Details?
2. Does each story have a different PEN NAME?
3. Does your story have the PEN NAME and TITLE and WORD COUNT on the first page?
4. If you are 12-17 years old, have you typed YES next to the words Youth 12-17?
5. If you are a Senior (over 60 years of age) have you typed YES next to Senior 60+?
6. If you have never won or placed in a competition, have you typed YES next to Novice?
7. If you attend a Secondary Education Support Centre at your high school, have you typed YES next to
Secondary Education Support Centre Student?
8. Is your story 600 words or less?

Sending in your story and Entrant Details:

1. Attach your Entrant Details Form (word document) to your email. Click here to download the entry form.
2. Attach your story/stories to your email.
3. In the subject heading of your email type PC600SS Competition.
4. Send your email to PeterCowanWritersCentre@outlook.com

CLOSING DATE:

Friday, 14^th April 2023 11:59 PM (AWST)

 

 

The Peter Cowan 600 Short Story Competition was launched by our Centre in 2010 in honour of our namesake Peter Cowan (1914–2002), one of Western Australia’s most esteemed writers and academics. It is fitting that the competition celebrates short story writing as Peter Cowan published several volumes of short fiction and is well known for writing in this genre. Peter was the recipient of several major writing awards and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1987. He was named a Western Australian State Living Treasure in 1999.

PCWC re-published eight of Peter Cowan’s stories in the Centre publication, Homecoming: Peter Cowan Writers Centre 20 Years. The book may be ordered HERE:

 

Entries Open: Tuesday, 1 March 2022 at 8:00 AM

Closing Date: Friday, 15 April 2022 at 11:59 PM (AWST)

Theme: Open

No of words: 600 words maximum per story

No. of entries:  The maximum number of entries is three entries for the Open and Novice Awards, with a limit of one entry for Youth entrants.

Eligibility:

Writers who are Australian residents are invited to submit their unpublished prose entries in the Peter Cowan 600 Short Story Competition. Stories must not have been recognised in any other prose competition and must not have been published or be currently under consideration for publication or another award. Stories are considered published if they have appeared in print, on a website, in an online forum or a personal blog.

Simultaneous Submissions Allowed: No, your story must not be under consideration elsewhere for publication or in another competition

Judge: the judge for the competition is not announced until entries have closed to ensure impartiality in the judging process

Categories/Awards:

This year we are offering three categories: Open, Novice and Youth

Open Category Prizes: 1st prize – $200    2nd prize – $100      3rd prize – $50                   plus 4 x Highly Commended and 4 x Commended certificates

Novice Category Prize: $50 prize (for writers who have not won or been recognised in a competition before)

Julian Cowan Youth Award (12-18 years): $100 kindly sponsored by Ms Diana Cowan

If given permission by the authors, the winning stories will be published in the PCWC e-Magazine.

Entry Fees (no refunds given): 

Open and Novice Categories: First entry – $10 + $0.76 Eventbrite* processing fee, Two entries – $18 + $$0.94* processing fee, Three entries: $25 + $1.09* processing fee

Youth Category:  $5 + $0.65* Eventbrite* processing fee (limit of one entry only)

*Eventbrite retains the processing fees

Eventbrite Payments

Please read all competition rules before making your payment. No refunds will be given. Please complete all required fields in Eventbrite (marked with a red *) when making your payment. Eventbrite accepts Credit/Debit cards from most major banks or you can pay via Paypal. You will receive a confirmation e-mail from Eventbrite if your payment has been successful.

Pay your entry fee/s on Eventbrite HERE. Detailed instructions are provided below for writers unfamiliar with the payment platform.

1. Once you are in Eventbrite, click on the green tickets tab on the right-hand side of the screen.
2. At the next screen, choose the tab you want to pay by clicking on the down arrow and changing the 0 to a 1. For example, one entry, or two entries, or three entries for the Open/Novice categories, or one entry for the Youth category. Then click on the RED checkout button at the bottom of the screen.
3. At the next screen, complete all fields marked with a red *, for e.g. your first name and surname, e-mail address (twice), then click to choose whether you are paying by card or Paypal and enter the relevant card/Paypal details.  You will then need to enter your name and email address again and click on the Place Order button down the bottom of the page.
4. If your payment is successful, a message will flash up on the screen confirming your payment with your Order/Receipt No. Eventbrite will also send you an email to confirm your payment and this will contain your Order/Receipt No. for your competition entry form. Peter Cowan Writers Centre will also receive an email notification from Eventbrite regarding your payment.

Formatting your Story/Stories:

1. Make sure you DO NOT include your own/real name on your story/stories as it is a ‘blind’ judging.
   2. Give each story a different PEN NAME (the pretend name you will use just for this story)
   3. Use 12-point font (Arial, Times Roman, Helvetica)
   4. Use double line spacing
   5. Indent the first line of each paragraph
   6. On the first page of your story, please include your PEN NAME, the story TITLE and the WORD COUNT.
   7. Save your story as a Word document or pdf. Please save each story as a separate Word document or PDF.

Entry Forms:

To download the Word document entry form as a Word.doc, please click  Entry form.doc, or to download as a Word.docx, please click Entry Form.docx

Complete the entry form with your real name and your contact details. Your pen name and the story title for each of your entries goes into the entry form in the Story 1, Story 2, Story 3 fields of the form.

Submitting you entries:

1. Pay your Eventbrite entry fees. Please complete all fields marked with an * when making your payment. Save the Order/Receipt No. You can pay your entry fee/s on Eventbrite HERE using a credit/debit card or Paypal. Eventbrite will send a confirmation e-mail to confirm successful payment.
2. Complete the Entry Form including your Eventbrite Receipt No./Order No. and using a pen name for each story.
3. E-mail your entry form and your story/stories (each story must be a separate Word document or PDF) to: PeterCowanWritersCentre@outlook.com with the Subject: PC600SS Competition
4. Entries must be received by 11:59 pmon Friday, 15 April 2022 (AWST).

Queries:

If you have any problems completing your Eventbrite transaction, or have any queries, please contact the Centre at e: PeterCowanWritersCentre@outlook.com with the nature of your query.

Results: The results of the competition will be announced on our website. The Judge’s report will also be uploaded onto the website and sent to entrants in the competition.

We wish all entrants Good Luck!

The Peter Cowan Writers Centre conducts four annual writing competitions: The Peter Cowan 600 Short Story, the Trudy Graham-Julie Lewis Literary Award for Prose, the Patron’s Prize for Poets, and the Glen Phillips Poetry Prize.

The Peter Cowan 600 Short Story Competition was run in February and March this year. It was a great success with well over 300 entries. Unfortunately, our other prose competition the Trudy Graham-Julie Lewis Literary Award for Prose, together with our two poetry competitions the Patron’s Prize for Poets, and the Glen Phillips Poetry Prize, will all have to be put on hold for this year. This is due to the planned refurbishment of Edith Cowan House, which should be completed by early 2020.

The Centre looks forward to another busy year in 2020 conducting our popular competitions!

Due to COVID-19 we have put our 2020 calendar of activities on hold until further notice, this includes competitions, workshops and writing groups. For competitions we are researching a suitable online program.

The competition has an open theme and entrants may submit stories up to a maximum of 600 words.  Entries must also be unpublished and not have received any previous awards or recognition in any other competition within or outside Australia.

The competition has an open theme and entrants may submit poetry up to a maximum of 50 lines. Entries must also be unpublished and not have received any previous awards or recognition in any other competition.

The competition also caters for youth with the ‘Judge’s Encouragement Award for Youth’ for young poets aged from 12-17 years to encourage and support the upcoming poets of the future.

The ‘Open’ category carries a $200 First Prize, with $100 for Second and $50 for Third Prize. The Novice Poet Award $50

The ‘Judge’s Encouragement Award for Youth’ also has a prize of $50.

 

There are also four, Highly Commended and four Commended Certificates to be awarded in the competition.

Entry fees $10 each $20 for three entries $30 for five entries and for youth entries (12-17 years) $5.00 per entry.

This competition is now closed!

Instructions for interactive PDF

Download PDF registration form onto your desktop.

Working within your desktop environment, open and fill in all applicable information.

Save As: Put in your name and  GPPP then click save.

Attach this document to your email.

Postal entries to P.O. Box 239 Joondalup WA 6919
Online entries to cowan05@bigpond.com

For further information please ring (08) 9301 2282, (Tuesdays and Thursdays)

The 2018 Trudy Graham-Julie Lewis Literary Award for Prose (Fiction or Non-Fiction) is now open.

 The competition has an open theme and entrants may submit prose up to a maximum of 2000 words. Entries must also be unpublished and not have received any previous awards or recognition in any other competition.

The competition also caters for youth with the ‘Judge’s Encouragement Award for Youth’ for young writers aged from 12-17 years to encourage and support the upcoming writers of the future.

The ‘Open’ category carries a $200 First Prize, with $100 for Second and $50 for Third Prize.

The ‘Judge’s Encouragement Award for Youth’ also has a prize of $50.

There are also four, Highly Commended and four Commended Certificates to be awarded in the competition.

Entry fees $15 each $25 for two entries $35 for three entries. Youth (12-17 years) entries are $7.

This Competition is now closed! 

 

Poets of all ages and experience are encouraged to enter the 2018 Patron’s Prize for Poets Competition.

This national poetry competition has an open theme and entrants, who must be Australian residents, may submit poems up to a maximum of 50 lines. Entries must be unpublished and not have received any previous awards or recognition in any other competition.

In addition to the Open category for writers of all ages and experience, the Centre has established a category for Novice Poets which aims to encourage beginning and fledgling poets who may feel they have no chance against established poets in the Open category.

The competition also caters for youth with the ‘Judge’s Encouragement Award for Youth’ for young writers aged from 12-18 years to encourage and support the upcoming poets of the future.

The ‘Open’ category carries a $200 First Prize, with $100 for Second Prize and $50 for Third Prize.

The ‘Novice Poet Award’ is $50.

The ‘Judge’s Encouragement Award for Youth’ of $50.

Four Highly Commended and Commended Certificates will also be awarded in the competition.

This competitions is now closed!