Writers' Village Short a Story Contest

I received an exciting message today from John Yeoman. It appears that I got a fact wrong when I mentioned the Writers' Village Short a Story Contest.

The top prize is actually £3000 now and total prize values are £4500!

Here are the details from their website.

Win a £3000 ($4800) prize for your short story Cash prizes totaling £4500 ($7200) can be won in the Writers' Village International Short Fiction Competition summer 2014 for prose fiction in any genre up to 3000 words. The first prize is £3000 ($4800), with a second prize of £500 ($800),third prize of £250 ($400) and 15 runner up prizes of £50 ($80).  The top 50 contestants, whether they win a cash prize or not, will also gain a brief personal critique of their stories. That's 50 opportunities to win a valuable prize! The Writers' Village award is one of the world's largest short story competitions that specifically welcomes new writers from anywhere in the English-speaking world. Prizes will go to those writers whose short stories show the greatest originality, mastery of the craft skills of creative writing, and power to move the reader. The new summer 2014 contest follows the continuing success of the previous 11 Writers' Village short story competitions, entered by writers from all over the world.  The judges for the short story award are: Lawrence Block is one of the most widely recognized names in the mystery and suspense genre. He was named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and is a four-time winner of the prestigious Edgar and Shamus Awards. His most recent novels are The Burglar Who Counted The Spoons, Hit Me and A Drop Of The Hard Stuff. He's well known for his books for writers, including the classic Telling Lies For Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible.  Jill Dawson is the Orange and Whitbread-shortlisted author of eight novels including Fred and Edie, The Great Lover and Watch Me Disappear. Her most recent, The Tell-Tale Heart,will be published in 2014 by Sceptre. She teaches creative writing for the Faber Academy and Guardian/UEA and works individually with new writers at Gold Dust, a mentoring scheme for writers which she founded in 2010. Dr John Yeoman, MA Oxon, MA (Res), MPhil, PhD Creative Writing is a university tutor in creative writing and has been a successful commercial writer and publisher for 42 years. He established Writers' Village in 2009. The new contest deadline is midnight GMT Monday 30th June 2014. Early entry is advised.  Gain a £500 ($800) bursary to complete your debut novel Here's a new opportunity to win a full professional critique of your soon-to-be-published novel. Every calendar quarter the Writers' Village Foundation will endow several bursaries having a notional cash value of up to £500 (approx.$800) each. The bursaries must be redeemed for copy critiques at the Hilary Johnson Authors’ Advisory Service. Two bursaries worth up to£500 each will be awarded in the current round ending midnight GMT 31st March 2014. The principal judge for the Foundation awards is novelist Michelle Spring, a mentor for the Arts Council’s Escalator program and a Royal Literary Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge.