World War One Short Story Competition deadline extended

Wednesday September 3rd 2014

The deadline for submission of entries to the Church of Ireland short story competition to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War has been extended.

The competition was launched by the Historical Commemorations and Centenaries Working Group of the Church of Ireland and is open to young people between the ages of 15 and 21.

The Working Group announced this week that to ensure students who may have missed the launch of the competition at the end of the summer term don’t miss out, the deadline for submissions has been extended to 24 October 2014 and the awards will be announced by the end of the year.

The prize for the best story will be €1,000 with a runner–up prize of €300 and a highly commended award of €200 (or sterling equivalent). It is hoped to publish these and up to eight of the best stories (in a format to be agreed). Entrants are free to write a short story about any aspect of the impact of the First World War in any part of Ireland or on Irish people in the period 1914–18. The story should be fictional and no more than 3,500 words in length.

The competition will be impartially and anonymously judged by a panel including the renowned author Glenn Patterson and the QUB historian Professor David Hayton. Glenn Patterson says: “It is all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that previous generations are not just distant, but different. The competition is an invitation to imagine people just like us in circumstances we would hope ourselves never to have to live through.”

The competition has its own Facebook promo page for entrants: https://www.facebook.com/churchofireland?sk=app_79458893817

or entry forms can be requested from Jenny Compston, Church of Ireland Press Office, by email press@ireland.anglican.org

or by telephone: +44 (0)28 90828880.