A not-for-profit organisation
Encouraging creative writing
Supporting literacy-based charities
The start date for both the 2019 Short Story and Poetry Competition is just a short time away and we are looking forward to receiving your entries.
These competitions will once again be open to anyone aged from 17 upwards but we are introducing an additional prize and
This year, simply by entering the main competition, any writer aged 17 - 30 on 1st May 2019 will be eligible for our new YOUNG WRITERS' PRIZE of £100.
For any of you who are new to our competitions and are uncertain whether you should enter, you may find it useful to obtain a copy of the anthology of shortlisted stories and poems. There is an anthology for each year that we have been running and these can be purchased from Amazon. Scroll down this page for the 2018 stories and poems. For previous years click on Archive and scroll to the particular year.
Our special event this year is an "An Evening of Intrigue and Mystery with LEIGH RUSSELL".
Leigh has been a great supporter of BIWC and we are so thrilled that she has agreed to spend an evening talking about her career as a best selling crime writer. Further information about this event can be found by scrolling down this page.
, a charity that provides reading helpers in primary schools to give literacy support.
Nick Everett is founder and co-editor of New Walk Editions poetry pamphlets. He teaches poetry writing and contemporary poetry at the University of Leicester.
Sophie Hannah is a best-selling author of atmospheric, psychological thrillers and her poetry is studied for exams. In September 2015 BWC invited her to be interviewed before a live audience at the Trinity Theatre, Bedford. She entertained us with her recollections of how she became a successful writer and shared some of her novel-writing secrets.
Ruth Hogan was the 2017 short story competition judge and has been a regular supporter of the competition since its start. Being a local author she represents the cultural reputation of Bedford which the BIWC aims to promote. Having spent her early working life in local government she wrote stories as part of her therapy while recovering from cancer. Her success with her first published novel in 2017 is testament to her never giving up hope of becoming a best-selling author and is a fine example to all writers with similar ambitions.
Toby Litt is an English writer and academic in the Department of English and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London. He has several publications to his name both novels and collections of short stories. Born in Ampthill and a former pupil of Bedford Modern School. In 2016 he was the judge of the BIWC Short Story Competition.
Ian McEwen was the judge for the 2016 Poetry Competition. He has had his poems published in a variety of magazines as well as producing a pamphlet, The Stammering Man and his first full collection in book form, Intermittent Beings. He is interested in opportunities to broaden the practice and appreciation of poetry, through readings, workshops or residencies.
Sue Moorcroft is a Sunday Times and international bestselling author and has reached the coveted No.1 spot on Amazon Kindle. She's won the Readers' Best Romantic Novel award, the Katie Fforde Bursary, and has been nominated on several other occasions, including for the Romantic Novel of the Year Awards.
She is a former judge of the Writers' Forum competitions.
Her short stories, serials, columns, writing guides and courses have appeared all over the world.
Margaret Norwich was the judge of the Bedford Prize in 2015 and 2016. She studied liberal arts at Vassar College, New York and then came over to England to read English at Girton College, Cambridge. As well as working in publishing and the voluntary sector, Margaret lectured for many years on English Language and Literature at De Montfort and Cranfield Universities. American born, she now regards herself a true Bedfordian.
Leigh Russell is a best-selling crime novelist. Her association with the BIWC began in 2014 when the competition went 'nternational'. She has been the judge for the 2014 and the 2015 competitions. We are extremely grateful for the encouragement that she has given us and gives to writers of all abilities.
© 2019 The Bedford Writing Competition. Developed by Xiaorong Tan
