WELCOME TO THE JANE AUSTEN LITERACY FOUNDATION WRITING COMPETITION

I hope you are all keeping safe and sane at this challenging time. As one of the many activities we are offering our community to keep us connected and remain active while in social isolation, I hope the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Writing Competition will provide a creative opportunity for writers, uplifting reading entertainment for the community, and the chance to participate in choosing the winner. 

The winner will be named the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Writer of 2020 and the winning story will be recorded as an audiobook by multi-award winning and best-selling Austen narrator, Alison Larkin, published WORLDWIDE and promoted for all to hear!

The Winner, Two Runners Up and five Highly Commended stories will be published on our website for everyone to read and enjoy.

The theme of the competition is ‘inspiration’ and you are invited to write an original, fictional short story. Your story does not need to relate to Jane Austen in any way - as long as it is original and fictional, you have free rein. No further guidance will be provided - we encourage you to be creatively inspired by our theme!

The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation panel of judges will shortlist three finalists which will be published on the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation website/platforms (with the author identities kept confidential) for a two-week public vote to select our winner.  

The winner will be announced by the end of June and the finalist stories, along with five Highly Commended stories (chosen by the judges), will be published on the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation website for the rest of the year, with a short biography of each author, for us all to enjoy and congratulate. 

The competition is open to everyone around the globe (aged 16+). Perhaps you have never written a short story before or entered a competition – do not fear! Over the next couple of weeks we will be posting video tutorials from experienced and successful short story writers on our social media channels to help you (follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

Whether you wish to enter or not, please support this initiative by sharing details of the competition with your friends and family, book clubs, writing groups and anyone else who may be interested.

Before you start writing:

Please click here for the Entry Guidelines, including details of how to enter: 

Please read the guidelines carefully before you start writing and before you submit your entry, as any breach of the Entry Guidelines will result in exclusion from the competition.

If you have any questions, please email us at JALFcompetition@gmail.com

Thank you:

The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation is run entirely by volunteers and I would like to sincerely thank the fabulous team who have worked with me to organise this competition in record time:

Athena Bryant – Project Manager

Jane MacKenzie – Chair of the Judging Panel

Delicia Johnson – Competition Administrator

Evan Kinney – Competition Graphic Design (evankinneydesign@gmail.com)

Ashlee Bodger – Social Media Manager

Emily Prince – Editor, Pride & Possibilities

Julia Grantham – Pride & Possibilities Graphic Design

I would also like to thank our panel of Judges and the authors who are recording short story writing tutorial videos.

Lastly I would like to thank Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Ambassador, Alison Larkin, for donating her talent, time and audiobook production to support our competition and to Alison Larkin Presents (www.alisonlarkinpresents.com) for publishing the winning story in audio worldwide.

If you have any questions, please email us at JALFcompetition@gmail.com

I hope you enjoy writing and crafting your inspirational stories. I can’t wait to read your entries and look forward to announcing the winner at the end of June.

Keep safe,

Best

Caroline

© Caroline Jane Knight - Founder & Chair, Jane Austen Literacy Foundation

Self-isolating, social distancing, or just in need of some reading material to relax and entertain you? You can catch up on our previous issues of Pride & Possibilities here:

Image credit: Evan Kinney