The Wakefield Weekly Writing Competition is an exciting monthly challenge for authors Australia-wide. Each month, we’ll release a new prompt for authors to respond to. The prize for the winning author (or authors) includes gift vouchers and the publication of winning entries right here on the Wakefield Press blog.
We’d like the competition to help writers and researchers build readerships, help spread Wakefield’s own name and news of our books, and, who knows, perhaps help seed a few books of the future.
We announce the new prompt once a month in our newsletter, with this page updated shortly afterwards. The best way to keep on top of the current prompt is to subscribe to the Wakefield Weekly here.
Read on for the boring things, like the terms and conditions, and the fun things, like the prizes on offer!
Terms and conditions of entry:
- Entries may be any genre; fiction, opinion, history, etc., but they must respond to the set prompt.
- Entries must include the prompt in either the body of the entry, and/ or as the title.
- Entries may be no longer than 1500 words in length, and may include relevant images.
- Entries should be sent as attachments – Word docs or PDF files – and include the title of the entry and the author’s name.
- Authors may be based anywhere in Australia to enter.
- Entries from authors of all ability and experience level are welcomed.
- Entries should be written in a black, standard font, with regular spacing and margins.
- Entries may have been previously published elsewhere, but Wakefield Press expects that authors will have sought permission from the original publisher to reproduce their work.
- Authors acknowledge that their entry may be republished by Wakefield Press. The copyright of the piece remains with the author. By entering the competition, authors agree to allow Wakefield Press to publish their work on the blog and/ or in the Wakefield Weekly.
- The decision of the judges is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
The Wakefield Weekly Writing Competition will briefly pause over the Christmas and New Year break, returning once again in early 2025. Keep an eye on this page, or on the Wakefield Weekly, to find out the first prompt for 2025.
Read previous WWWC winning entries below:
January 2022: Cheryl Williss, responding to ‘moving around’
February 2022: Lolo Houbein, responding to ‘the birds return’
March 2022: Kristin Murdock, responding to ‘hands up’
April 2022: Cheryl Williss, responding to ‘I started a joke’
May 2022: Amanda Lee, responding to ‘history repeats’
June 2022: Maureen Alsop, responding to ‘heroes and villains’
July 2022: Valerie Volk and Mike Ladd, responding to ‘glimmer of light’
August 2022: Janette Parr, responding to ‘my father’s gift’
September 2022: not awarded, responding to ‘sleight of hand’
October 2022: Lana Guineay, responding to ‘beamish boy’
November 2022: James Byron Books, responding to ‘car on a hill’
December 2022/ January 2023: Jillian Smith, responding to ‘dream daze’
February 2023: Salvatore Pesaturo, responding to ‘holding on’
March 2023: Valerie Volk, responding to ‘reading the tea leaves’
April 2023: Cath Bishop, responding to ‘an excellent hat’
May 2023: Julia Archer, responding to ‘floral emblem’
June 2023: Paige Johnstone, responding to ‘looking in and looking out’
July 2023: Shreya Nidumolu, responding to ‘temperance’
August/ September 2023: not awarded, responding to ‘celebrate a little’
October/ November 2023: Djuna Hallsworth, responding to ‘on your bike’
December 2023: not awarded, responding to ‘caught in traffic’
January 2024: Margaret Crohn, responding to ‘time and again’
February 2024: Megan Sougleris and Robert Moore, responding to ‘the air was moving’
March 2024: Dante DeBono, responding to ‘there is joy in things’
April 2024: Valerie Volk, responding to ‘three generations’
May 2024: Mike Ladd, responding to ‘funny thing happened the other day’
June 2024: Julia Archer, responding to ‘down by the river’
July 2024: Span Hanna, ‘plenty of books’
August/September 2024: Warren Cox, responding to ‘backyard secrets’
October 2024: Susan Hobson, responding to ‘one long, lost weekend’
November 2024: Jessica Zelli, responding to ‘rolling back the years’
Hi there Maddy Sexton and people at Wakefield Press.
I’ve seen your WWWC competition on this site… but is there a new theme (that needs to be adhered to?)
I’ve just written two entry possibilities within the last couple of weeks or so; that would fit in with this competition… but they are NOT of your original theme. Shall I send one in, anyway?
Kind regards,
Trish Reeves.
Hi Trish, thanks for your comment.
The current theme is ‘the birds return’. Make sure to include this phrase in your entry! Entries need to be received by Friday 4 March, so if either of the pieces you’ve written fit the theme, make sure you send it to us before this date.
When is the next topic released?
Hi Cathryn – we’ll be announcing the next topic in our newsletter on Friday 9 September. If you’re not already subscribed, you can sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/wakefieldpress/subscribe
We’ll also update this page with the new theme early next week.
Hi Maddy, i’m going to give this a go if i can get my piece finished in time, but wondered if one can ‘split’ the phrase? thanks heaps.
Hi Rose – I assume this question refers to November’s prompt, ‘car on a hill’. We are looking for interesting pieces responding to and using the phrase as a whole, but we will accept pieces that use the prompt as their title, so you can get around your problem in this way.
Hi Maddy
I have worked on the entry for the competition, ‘Dream Haze’/’Dream Daze’.
What type of font do you prefer? Size? Times New Roman, 12?
Double-spaced or single?
Thanks a lot and Merry Xmas!!
Best Wishes
Rose
0430 575 571
Hi Maddy,
I emailed you earlier in the week, but this is probably a better way to reach you. I am hoping to enter the writing comp this month, but I wanted to ask a question about genre.
I know that you are accepting fictional entries, but I was wondering whether or not you were open to horror or at least semi-creepy speculative fiction. I know a few competitions out there who aren’t too interested in publishing such stories and I wanted to inquire about it before I wasted your time by entering.
I look forward to your response,
Paige.
Hi Paige, We’re certainly open to receiving speculative/ horror pieces – our main requirements are creativity and the inclusion of the prompt.
Hello Mady,
Is there any age restrictions to this competition?
Hi Caitlin – there are no age restrictions on entering the WWWC.
Hi Maddy,
Are contributions to the WWWC acknowledged (i.e. can contributors expect to hear from WP that their entry has been received)?
regards
Rosa
Hi Rosa, thanks for your query. We receive a huge volume of entries each month, so we’re not able to individually respond confirming receipt of each entry. Rest assured that if you send your entry to maddy@wakefieldpress.com.au with WWWC in the subject line, your work will be received safe and sound.
I emailed you twice but got a mail failure notice and hope the outlook option will work.
Hi Sara – we have been having problems with emails recently, while our provider switches us to a new service. Sorry to hear that you’ve been having trouble getting in touch with us! Since I don’t know which email address you’ve had issues with, it might be best if you give us a call on (08) 8352 4455 so that we can direct you to the right person.
Hello, I just emailed a question about entering the competition to the advertised submissions email address, but got a response that submissions are closed due to the literary awards. My question was, if I submit an entry as a word document, should the document include author name with the title, or be anonymous? Also, is there a better email address to submit to?
HELLO…are you there? I emailed you on the 2nd. of this month and am still awaiting a reply. How do I enter your story competition? Thanks…John…ruglen@tpg.com.au 12.12.2023.
Hi John, thanks for your comment. The post you’re commenting on has all of the details on entering the WWWC. Regrettably though we are currently having issues receiving emails from people using providers under TPG’s umbrella. I can see that you are a TPG user, so no doubt you’ve been receiving bounce back messages, or no response at all. Many apologies for this. If you’d still like to enter the current round of the WWWC, please feel free to email your entry to wakefield.press@gmail.com. Please note that this gmail address is not frequently monitored, but we will get back to any messages there as soon as we can.
Thanks, Maddy…I thought that it was only me having difficulties with TPG. I’ve been with them for well over 15 years, and never had any trouble. I could ask them ANY thing, and get my problems completely solved by someone (back then), whom I didn’t have to keep saying “Pardon?” or “Could you repeat that please?” to, every few minutes. They’ve recently ‘sold their souls’ to some mob called ‘Messenger’ or ‘Messaging’, and it seems to have gone from bad to worse. I’m seriously thinking about going to GMail, but I’d have to inform the mountain of people in my address book. Then there are all the sites I’m registered with, which have my E Address ‘cemented’ into their data base, along with my passwords. It’ll be a monumental job changing it all…and I’m getting too old for this sort of malarkey. Anyhow, I hope that you and yours have a great Christmas and a happy New Year. And, I’m looking forward to maybe getting my ‘fifteen minutes of fame’ through Wakefield Press.
Hello
My name is Jace,
I was wondering if I’m too late to enter in the current writing competition? I have a story that I’m halfway through writing and was wondering if I could possible enter it if I finish it in time?
Hi Jace – we’ve extended the entry deadline for the prompt ‘plenty of books’ until Friday 23 August.