Congratulations to everyone who entered The Marlowe and Christie Novel Prize! The standard was amazing and we are so grateful to all those who trusted us with their words. Today we are releasing our shortlist, which is divided into Commended and Highly Commended Entries. The ten best pieces from the Highly Commended list will be forwarded to the agents and Patrick Gleeson for feedback and further consideration for the cash prize. The Shortlist is attached here on Marlowe and Christie Skool. Congratulations again, everyone!

Just received feedback from a different competition I entered. It was the same piece as I entered here, and was also waitlisted for Harper Collins Author Academy last month. I was absolutely disgusted by the completed disinterest shown by the reader/s and there was no attempt at finding positives in the extract. I don't usually grumble about stuff, but really the feedback was practically an insult. Compared to Issy's feedback, it was chalk and cheese! Anyone else had this from other competitions? It was a national one, so no excuse.

https://www.iaminprint.co.uk/competitions-2026/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email Twelve different categories, ranging from PBs to Adult genres. You need the first 3,500 words of your story for most, plus some require a synopsis. Judged by agents and publishers. £16 per entry. DEADLINE IS 14th MAY

This is an odd one, but if anyone is on Threads and wants to pitch to an agent, then Nikki Carrero (@nikkigetsliterary) from The Rights Factory is doing a monthly pitchfest on her page. For 24 hours, you can write a text pitch for a completed ms on her thread and if she (or any of her agent friends) comments on it then you can query her with it. It started early this morning and it doesn't matter whether you pitch something on her wishlist or not, as her friends do read it. Here is the link to her wishlist: Nikki Carrero – The Official Manuscript Wish List Website. Just for info, she seems a lovely person and I've been following her for a while. I've just put two of mine up, which I doubt will get picked, but it's good practice and helps for any of the larger pitch events. I've already seen her commenting on a lot of posts, so I'd say it's worth doing.

Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award 2026 The international writing competition is open to unrepresented and unpublished authors for a novel in any adult fiction genre. Winner: £1,500 + Agent Introduction Runner up: £500 + Agent Introduction. Closes 31st May 2026.https://bluepencilagency.com/blue-pencil-agency-annual-competitions/bpa-first-novel-award-2026/