FAQs and Contact

If you complete the online entry form, attach your writing and receive an on-screen message asking you to proceed to payment, we have successfully received your writing. The system will not let you proceed to payment unless it has all of the required personal information and the writing attached.

If you successfully complete payment via the eStore, you will receive an order number which is receipt and confirmation of payment.

All entries to the Competition are checked manually during processing and all writing submitted cross-checked and matched with payments made. If we discover a problem with your entry - i.e. we have writing but no payment, or payment but no writing – we will contact you to query this. This applies even if we do not process your entry until after the deadline.

If you have a query about your payment, or would like to check if a payment was received, please contact eStore@mmu.ac.uk. If you have a query about your writing submission please contact writingschool@mmu.ac.uk

No – from 2020, the Manchester Writing Competition accepts entries and payments online only.

We are not able to accept entries via email. All entries must be made using an official online entry form via the Competition website. Email entries will not be accepted and may not be acknowledged

Where entrants are unable to complete payment via the eStore, please contact eStore@mmu.ac.uk in the first instance for help and assistance. They will be able to advise on alternative payment options if necessary.

Unfortunately, we are not able to take payments by telephone.

Yes, you can ask someone else to pay the entry fee on your behalf. If you decide to do this, complete the entry form with your contact details but use the payment details of the person paying on your behalf in the payment section.

Unfortunately, the University is not currently able to accept payments by PayPal.

Whichever currency you normally bank in, the correct amount (the equivalent of £18) will automatically be taken from your bank account. Please note, some bank accounts are not authorised to make payments in foreign currencies. If your payment is not authorised, please discuss this with your bank. Some banks may also charge for you to make payments in foreign currencies

Please discuss with your bank whether any charges will be taken and add the value of the charge to your payment. We will not be able to accept payments from overseas accounts where charges will be taken and these are not added to your payment amount.

So long as you have submitted your writing by the Competition deadline, it’s fine to complete payment at a later date. Please see the terms and conditions of entry for further information about the latest date for receipt of payments. We will contact entrants during processing to chase missing payments or to confirm if you would prefer to withdraw from the Competition.

On the entry form, please use your real name and contact details. No identifying details, including your name, should appear on your work itself as all entries are judged anonymously. If your entry is short-listed, you will be contacted to ask which name you would like to be associated with your work at the prize-giving ceremony and wherever your work is published or mentioned. You can then choose to use a pen name or pseudonym if you wish.

Don’t worry – all entries are manually checked before being sent to the judges and we will delete or obscure any names which are left visible. You don’t need to contact us to ask us to remove it, or resubmit your writing. All electronic files submitted are saved with an ID number in place of the original file name, so names will be removed from there also.

The entry fees are used to fund the competition and generate the prize fund. If insufficient funds are received from entry fees, the prize money has to be reduced, so we are not able to waive the fee.

We are not able to amend, substitute, or make any changes to entries once they have been submitted. You are welcome to submit a new or updated version of an existing entry but you will need to enter again by completing a new entry form and paying a new entry fee. If you wish to withdraw an existing entry, please let us know in writing/email. No refunds are given if an entry is withdrawn.

No – as submissions to our Poetry Prize are judged as a portfolio, it is not possible to withdraw individual poems after submission. If, for example, you had submitted five poems but wanted/needed to withdraw one of them for any reason, you would need to withdraw the full portfolio/entry from the Competition and then re-enter the new version with the poem subtracted, with completion of the entry form and submission of another entry fee.

Please email writingschool@mmu.ac.uk with your name, which prize you have entered (Poetry or Fiction), the title or titles of your submission and, if you completed payment, your order number and we will withdraw your entry from consideration during processing. As stated in the terms and conditions of entry, we are unable to refund entry fees for withdrawn entries.

All entries are manually checked before being sent to the judges and duplicate entries without payments will be withdrawn during processing. You do not need to contact us to request withdrawal of a duplicate submission. If we have any queries about a duplicate submission, we will contact you for clarification

Yes. The competition is open to anyone of any nationality, and resident in any country, over the age of 16 at the point of entry. You do not need to be able to travel to the UK, or to Manchester, to take part in or to win the competition. In cases where short-listed entrants are unable to attend the prize-giving event, they will be invited to send a representative (a friend or relative) on their behalf; if a representative is unable to attend, short-listed entrants will be asked to submit a short written statement to be read out at the ceremony (usually by one of the judges or hosts) should they win. Prize money is paid by electronic bank transfer – you don’t need to be there to “pick up the cheque”.

Entries should be written in English. You can enter an English translation of a poem/story written in a different language as long as the original work, as well as the translation is your own. Short extracts or quotations in non-English languages are fine.

If there is a problem uploading a file, the online system will display a *file error* message. This means that the format of your file is not compatible with the online system. To overcome this, check:

• That your file is saved in .doc /.docx or .rtf formats (click ‘save as’ and choose .doc or .rtf from the format menu). If you use a Mac computer, check that you have created a .doc file that is compatible with Windows computers. If you think this might be a problem, try creating a Word document on a Windows PC and pasting your text in to this file.
• That there are no unusual characters, punctuation or spaces in the name of your file e.g apostrophes or _)(*!£/>< If there are, try re-saving the file with a different name to include only letters.
• That your internet connection is working okay. If your connection is poor, the file will take too long to upload and so may not attach properly.
• You can only submit one file/document - poetry submissions will need to be collated into a single file/document. The system will not accept multiple files/documents or folders.
• If none of these suggestions solve your problem, please contact writingschool@mmu.ac.uk.

There are no rules or guidelines relating to the style/form/topic/genre/target audience. The prizes are awarded for the best short story and best portfolio of 3-5 poems. As long as your work fits these descriptions and is within the word/line count, it will be given equal consideration by the judges in the competition. Short stories should be complete pieces, rather than extracts from longer works (e.g. novels). The poems in a portfolio don’t need to be connected by theme, topic or style, but can be if you like. This competition is for prose stories and for poetry so please do not submit plays.

You are welcome to submit as many entries as you like to either/both the Poetry and Fiction prizes. The process for submitting a second entry is the same as for submitting a first; each entry needs its own entry form and entry fee.

As far as we are concerned, it is okay for work submitted to other competitions to be entered to the Manchester Writing Competition, and/or for your Manchester Writing Competition entry be simultaneously under consideration elsewhere. You would need to check the terms and conditions of any other competitions to make sure this was okay with them. As submissions to the Manchester Writing Competition must not have been published, you would also need to inform us if your work was accepted/published elsewhere while under consideration by us and withdraw it from our competition if necessary.