Hi!
I wondered if anyone was taking part in the Great British Write Off this year?
https://www.greatbritishwriteoff.co.uk/
Leighanna
Hi!
I wondered if anyone was taking part in the Great British Write Off this year?
https://www.greatbritishwriteoff.co.uk/
Leighanna
Thank you for your comments.
Our prizes are paid for by our fantastic sponsors. We also support the cash prize fund. Last year's winner, Anastasia Prempeh, received a cheque for £1,450.50 and Anastasia has joined our judging panel this year too. The other way to support the prize fund, which we have chosen not to do, is to charge an entry fee. The Great British Write Off is free to enter.
We're sorry to hear you feel our website is 'dodgy-looking' - we've had great comments, including it's clearly laid out and easy to use. We understand everyone's opinion is different and thank you again for your feedback.
With regards to the term 'flash fiction' - that term is generally used for work that is anywhere between 300 and 1,000 words. However, this does vary from country to country! As our word limit is 250 words, we decided to refer to this as a short story.
We wish you both well with your future writing endeavours.
I'm not saying there's anything fraudulent or illegal about it, but I'd advise anyone thinking of entering to read the Terms & Conditions very carefully, especially this one:
16. To be eligible for one the prizes your work must be published in a The Great British Write Off anthology. No purchase is necessary to be included in an anthology and the author retains their copyright. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into.
If you look on the website's Books page I think that will explain where the prize money is coming from.
To be honest, between the dodgy looking website and the somewhat random and dubious claims on it, I think I will be giving this one a miss. I'm not sure I trust the whole "We'll add 50p to the prize fund for each entry" claim (where is that money going to come from?) and the 250 word limit should be listed as flash fiction rather than short story. It might be semantics, but I worry when the people behind the contest get something like that wrong. There is also the fact that the front page says "An opportunity to get published" but that isn't brought up anywhere on the prize page. Again, it sounds like I'm being nit-picky but their website raises enough red flags for me that I think my time and energy will be better spent elsewhere.