Dear Reader

Welcome to our biannual competition special. And yes, we’ve done it again – once more, we’ve managed to juggle details of even more competitions than ever before, with over 800 competitions to enter, and more than £1.6m in total prize money. What more could you need to inspire you and get you motivated? The last time I wrote one of these letters, we were beginning to come out of lockdown for good, and there might be no going back now, but many organisations and competitions are still struggling – all the more as we all start to feel the pinch of an economic downturn. Perhaps you’ll need to be pickier about which competitions you enter? (You should at least have plenty to choose from.) Perhaps you’ll use the themes and ideas for your own work, without even entering. Or perhaps you might consider focusing on free comps only? (Plenty of those too!) But if you can support a local charity, literary journal or writing festival, even a humble writing magazine, with your entry fee, you’ll be helping to enrich the cultural landscape for all of us. As usual, I’ll highlight that many organisations still have only tentative plans, and competition details are subject to change. We’ve tried to verify everything we can but it would be best to check details for yourself before putting pen to paper. Not to mention the good practice of checking out past winners or other writing they publish to get a flavour of judges’ tastes. So, whether you’re going to try new ideas, find a new outlet for something old, or go all out to earn some serious trophy cash, I’m sure you’ll find what you need in the next thirty pages. Good luck, and let me know how you get on.