It’s been the longest period of time that we’ve taken to announce our long list this quarter – due to the increasing number of quality entries we’ve received from all around the world. The judges have enjoyed reading all qualifying entries, and we’re delighted to publish our long list below.

However – We’re still receiving some entries that do not adhere to our rules, and therefore have had to be disqualifed. If you’re entering the competition, please read all the terms of entry very carefully, to ensure your story is in with the best chance of being considered.

Our competition is featured in this month’s Writing Magazine Competition Guide, which is expected to reach 30,000 subscribers, so we’re expecting a further considerable increase in the number of future entries. So make sure yours has the best chance of being considered by sticking to the rules.

Even if you’ve entered our competition before, go back and check the rules again. Make sure you’ve got everything right – not just the word count, but the layout and document title requirements too. Make sure youre document has a covering page, containing all the informatio we need.

It’s all there in the rules – make sure you read them thoroughly.

In the meantime, we’re delighted to reveal our long list of authors for the January 2020 competition:

Joe Bedford
Susan Conrad
Richard Garcka (for 2 stories)
Connor Gherasim
James Harvey
Phillipa Hawley
Richard Hooton (for 2 stories)
Sherry Morris  (for 2 stories)
Lauren O’Donoghue
Nicki Parkins
Ruth Saunderson
Michele Seagrove
Gary Smillie
Barbara Young
Jack Young

Congratulations to you all!

We now have the dauntning task of whittling down your great stories to a short list, before chosing first, second and third places. The short list will be announced, and the three placed stories published here on our website, on 13th March.