Laurie Lee Prize for Writing

How to Enter - COMPETITION CLOSED FOR 2023!

  1. Entries (in Word format) should be uploaded to our website here. Receipt will be acknowledged by email.
  2. On the upload form, please supply your name, address, birth date if you are under 21, email address and phone number and a maximum of three sentences on how you qualify to enter the prize as a current resident of Gloucestershire or South Gloucestershire or as someone born there.
  3. Please also supply a short biography (maximum 100 words) in the space provided.
  4. As the entry will be judged blind, please ensure your name does not appear anywhere on the document.
  5. All pages should be numbered.
  6. Use one-and-a-half or double line spacing.

Competition Rules

  1. The competition is open to anyone who has not previously published a full-length work (print or online). Your entry must not have been broadcast; nor have won a prize. Self-published writing is admissible. If in doubt, contact info@stroudbookfestival.org.uk.
  2. There is no charge for submissions.
  3. Prose entries must be a maximum of 2,500 words (there is no minimum). Poetry entries must be 125 lines maximum across up to five poems.
  4. Entries must be on the theme of nature or conservation (urban or rural).
  5. Entrants must be current residents of Gloucestershire or South Gloucestershire, or be residents elsewhere in the UK but born in Gloucestershire.
  6. Entries must be in Engish, must be your own unaided work, and must not be a translation of another writer's work.
  7. Entrants must be 16 or over on the closing date.
  8. Winners from the preceding year may not apply.
  9. Copyright remains with the authors, but we reserve the right to publish the winning entries on the Stroud Book Festival website for a year after the announcement (with the authors' prior approval). We also reserve the right to use any sound or video recordings of work for promotional use (also with the authors' prior approval).
  10. All decisions made by the judges are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
  11. Should a named judge be unable to proceed, we aim to find an alternative judge of equivalent standing as an author/poet.
  12. The prize-giving will take place at an event at Stroud Book Festival in November 2023. Please note we cannot cover travel expenses for prize-winners.
  13. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to all contest rules. Contest rules are subject to change and will be kept up to date on our website.
© The Estate of Laurie Lee
© The Estate of Laurie Lee