Enter up to three poems on one document.
Any students and staff currently working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2027
Note: Entries for the Bournemouth Writing Prize will also be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal.
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
For submissions to the Bournemouth Journal,
Eligibility: students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation unless this is for artistic effect.
Anonymous submission: the stories/poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: For the poetry category, up to three poems per submission, a maximum of 30 lines each; there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English but can include words or phrases from other languages. Poems may be in any form the author chooses. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to their subject matter.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Submissions must be the original work of the author. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools (including generative text or image systems) is not permitted as a primary author of submitted work.
AI tools may be ONLY be used for copyediting:
- The submission remains substantially the author’s own work, demonstrating clear human creative control and decision-making
- The work is not wholly or predominantly generated by AI
- Any use of AI tools is clearly declared at the point of submission
Authors must include a brief statement outlining any use of AI in the creation of their work. Failure to disclose AI use may result in disqualification or withdrawal of the submission.
We reserve the right to reject submissions where AI use is deemed to undermine originality, authorship, or the integrity of the publication.
Bournemouth Journal – Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before submitting your work. By submitting, you agree to these Terms and Conditions. The Bournemouth Journal is run by Bournemouth University (“BU”).
Submissions may be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal and related Bournemouth University outputs.
Simultaneous submissions are permitted; however, please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. In such cases, your submission will be withdrawn from consideration.
Submission deadlines (if applicable) will be published on the Bournemouth Journal website. Any submissions received after a stated deadline may not be considered.
The Bournemouth Journal is open to writers worldwide aged 16 and over (authors must be 16 or older at the time of submission).
Authors may submit multiple pieces of work.
Submissions will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after submission. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate, or for submissions that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
Submissions must be entirely the work of the author. Any work found to have been plagiarised will not be considered. Submissions must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if authors fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions, and authors agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party arising from a breach of these Terms and Conditions.
By submitting your work, you agree to it being edited and published, in both print and digital formats, should it be selected. Authors retain worldwide copyright (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Journal first publication rights. The author agrees that BU may need to modify submissions and may, at its discretion, edit, adapt, abridge or translate the work.
Submissions will be reviewed by the Bournemouth Journal editorial team. Due to the volume of submissions, individual feedback may not be provided. The editorial team’s decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into regarding selection decisions.
Publication decisions are made at the discretion of the editorial team.
Authors will be contacted if their work is selected for publication.
Submissions may be withdrawn at the author’s request by contacting: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
Bournemouth University reserves the right to use photographs and video of authors in its publicity materials.
Submission implies acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. Submissions that fail to comply may not be considered.
Bournemouth University reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary.
Your personal data will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering submissions. Please see the Privacy Notice below for further information.
These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
Bournemouth Journal Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for authors submitting work to the Bournemouth Journal, run by Bournemouth University.
It explains how Bournemouth University collects, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with submissions, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU”, “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation.
As a result of your engagement with BU, we will hold your “personal data”, i.e. information in a form that identifies you as an individual.
BU is the data controller of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means we are legally responsible for safeguarding your data and ensuring it is processed lawfully under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
In particular, BU must:
- Ensure that personal data is accurate and kept up to date
- Provide clear information about how your data is used
- Only process your data for specified purposes and share it as outlined in this Notice
- Keep your personal data secure
How we collect your personal data
We collect personal data from the information you provide when submitting your work. This may include your name and contact details (such as your email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering submissions, including communicating with authors and notifying those whose work is selected for publication.
BU students involved in administering the Bournemouth Journal may have access to the personal data provided.
If your work is selected for publication, your name may be published alongside your work in print and digital formats, and may also appear on the Bournemouth Journal or Bournemouth University websites.
The basis for processing your information
We process your data as necessary for the performance of the agreement between you and BU (i.e. your submission to the Bournemouth Journal).
Your rights
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights, including:
- The right to request access to your data
- The right to request correction of inaccurate data
- The right to request deletion of your data
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to object to processing
- The right to data portability
These rights are not absolute, and we may refuse requests where legal exemptions apply.
Exercising your rights
If you have any questions or concerns about how your data is processed, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
You can also visit: https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy
If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
Online: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
Enter up to three poems of up to 30 lines each.
ENTRIES FOR THE BOURNEMOUTH WRITING PRIZE WILL ALSO BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE BOURNEMOUTH JOURNAL
Enter one short story up to 3,000 words in length.
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2027 Winners read at the Bournemouth Writing Festival: April 2027
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
Guidelines
For submissions to the Bournemouth Writing Prize and our associated publications, e.g. outreach anthologies.
Eligibility: Students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation unless this is for artistic effect.
Anonymous submission: Poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: A maximum of 30 lines each; there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English, although words and phrases from other languages can be included. Poems may be in any form the author chooses. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to their subject matter.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Submissions must be the original work of the author. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools (including generative text or image systems) is not permitted as a primary author of submitted work.
AI tools may be ONLY be used for copyediting:
- The submission remains substantially the author’s own work, demonstrating clear human creative control and decision-making
- The work is not wholly or predominantly generated by AI
- Any use of AI tools is clearly declared at the point of submission
Authors must include a brief statement outlining any use of AI in the creation of their work. Failure to disclose AI use may result in disqualification or withdrawal of the submission.
We reserve the right to reject submissions where AI use is deemed to undermine originality, authorship, or the integrity of the publication.
Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before entering. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions. The competition is being run by Bournemouth University (‘BU’) and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
- Entries for the Bournemouth Writing Prize will also be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal.
- Submissions simultaneously submitted to other writing competitions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if a story/poem is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition. In such instances, the entrant’s work will be withdrawn from the Bournemouth Writing Prize. Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the entrance fee.
- Closing date for receipt of entries for the Prize can be found on the Prize Details page. All entries received after this deadline will be automatically disqualified.
- The Bournemouth Journal and Bournemouth Writing Prize are open to writers everywhere over the age of 16 (entrants must be over 16 years old on the closing date).
- Authors may enter the competition as many times as they like.
- Entries will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate, or for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
- Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified. Entries must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if entrants fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions, and entrants agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
- By submitting an entry, entrants agree to have their work edited and published, in both print and e-book formats, should they be the author of one of the stories/poems selected for the Bournemouth Writing Prize anthology. Authors retain worldwide copyright on their work (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Writing Prize first publication rights to publish their selected story or poem, in both print and e-book formats. The entrant agrees that BU may need to modify entries and may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry.
- No competitor may win more than one prize. Entries will be read by a judging panel of writers and lecturers, including MA Creative Writing and Publishing students and staff at Bournemouth University. They will select a longlist for the final judging panel. The judging panel will select their shortlisted stories/poems and the top prize-winning stories/poems. The judges’ decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into. Judges or readers will not comment on individual stories/poems or give feedback on individual stories/poems.
- Prizes are allocated at the discretion of the judges.
- The 1st Prize winners will each have 2 free tickets and an Open Mic slot of up to 5 minutes for a showcase at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. The Short Story winner will need to truncate their entry to fit into the timeframe. Winners must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements, and any associated costs.
- Each of the winners will receive 2 free tickets to any talk or workshop taking place at the Pavilion Dance over the course of the three-day festival.
- Each winner selected for the anthology will receive a free, physical copy of the resulting anthology.
- Prizes are non-transferable, and no alternative (cash or otherwise) will be given.
- Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist. The shortlist will be announced on the website. The top prize-winners will be displayed on the BU website. Please see the Privacy Notice below for data protection information.
- We will not be able to refund any withdrawn stories/poems; however, stories/poems may still be withdrawn upon an entrant’s request up to one week after the publication of the shortlist. Please email: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to use photographs and video of entrants in their publicity materials.
- Entry implies an acceptance of all The Bournemouth Writing Prize Terms and Conditions. Entries that fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions will be disqualified.
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary in its opinion to do so.
- Your personal data will be used by BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival for the purposes of managing and administering the competition. For further data protection information, please see The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice at the end of these Terms and Conditions.
- These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for entrants to The Bournemouth Writing Prize, run by Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Festival.
It explains how Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival collect, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with the competition, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU” “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
As a result of your engagement with BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival we will hold your “personal data”, i.e., information in a form that identifies you as an individual (often referred to as “data” in this Notice).
BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival are the data controllers of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means that we have the core legal responsibility to safeguard the information and ensure it is processed lawfully. The law is set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (called “GDPR”) and a new UK law, the Data Protection Act 2018. In particular BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival must:
- Take steps to ensure that the data it processes is accurate and up to date;
- Give you clear information about its processing of your personal data, in one or more Privacy Notices like this one;
- Only process your personal data for specific purposes described to you in a Privacy Notice, and only share personal data with third parties as provided for in a Privacy Notice; and
- Keep your personal data secure.
How we collect your personal data
We collect your personal data from the information you provide to us when you enter the competition. This may consist of your name and contact details (e.g., email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering the competition, including providing competition-related information and notifying the shortlisted and winning entrants.
BU students involved in administering the competition will have access to the personal data provided.
We will publish shortlisted entrants’ names should we choose to publish their entries in our anthologies, in both print and e-book formats. The names of the category winners and those on the shortlists may be published on the Bournemouth Writing Prize website.
The basis for processing your information
When we use your data as set out above, this processing is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and BU (i.e., the contractual arrangements dealing with your participation in the competition).
Your rights
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights in relation to our processing of your data. In summary these are:
- Right to request access to your data as processed by BU and information about that processing (“subject access request”);
- Right to rectify any inaccuracies in your data;
- Right to request erasure of your data from our systems and files;
- Right to place restrictions on our processing of your data;
- Right to object to our processing of your data;
- Right to data portability: where we are processing data that you have provided to us, on the basis of consent or as necessary for the performance of a contract between us, you have the right to ask us to provide your data in an appropriate format to you or to another controller.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
Exercising your rights as a data subject
If you have any questions or concerns about our processing of your data, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
If you would like to exercise any of your rights as outlined above, you can contact the DPO as above or visit the Data Protection page on our website https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy to access the relevant forms.
We will always aim to respond clearly and fully to any concerns you have about our processing and requests to exercise the rights set out above. However, as a data subject if you have concerns about our data processing or consider that we have failed to comply with the data protection legislation then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner:
Online reporting: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2026 Winners read at the Bournemouth Writing Festival: April 2026
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
Guidelines
For submissions to the Bournemouth Writing Prize, and our associated publications, e.g. outreach anthologies.
Eligibility: students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: prose should be double-spaced with paragraph indents. Only include spaces between paragraphs to indicate a transition to another time or place. Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation. Write in a consistent tense and from a consistent point of view–unless formally justified by the piece.
Anonymous submission: the stories/poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: include the word count in the top right corner of the page. The title is not part of the word count. The maximum length of submissions for the short story category is 3,000 words (does not include title); there is no minimum length. For the poetry category, up to three poems per submission, a maximum of 30 lines each; there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English. Stories may be literary or genre-based (Crime, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Children’s, etc.). We also consider scripts, and hybrid forms such as prose-poetry. Surprise us with your narrative invention. Poems may be in any form the author chooses. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings include at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to its subject matter.
Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before entering. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions. The competition is being run by Bournemouth University (‘BU’) and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
- Entries for the Bournemouth Writing Prize will also be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal.
- Submissions simultaneously submitted to other writing competitions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if a story/poem is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition. In such instances, the entrant’s work will be withdrawn from the Bournemouth Writing Prize. Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the entrance fee.
- Closing date for receipt of entries for the Prize can be found on the Prize Details page. All entries received after this deadline will be automatically disqualified.
- The Bournemouth Journal and Bournemouth Writing Prize are open to writers everywhere over the age of 16 (entrants must be over 16 years old on the closing date).
- Authors may enter the competition as many times as they like.
- Entries will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate; or for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
- Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified. Entries must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if entrants fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions and entrants agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
- By submitting an entry, entrants agree to have their work edited and published, in both print and e-book formats, should they be the author of one of the stories/poems selected for the Bournemouth Writing Prize anthology. Authors retain worldwide copyright on their work (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Writing Prize first publication rights to publish their selected story or poem, in both print and e-book formats. The entrant agrees that BU may need to modify entries and may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry.
- No competitor may win more than one prize. Entries will be read by a judging panel of writers and lecturers, including MA Creative Writing and Publishing students and staff at Bournemouth University. They will select a longlist for the final judging panel. The judging panel will select their shortlisted stories/poems and the top prize-winning stories/poems. The judges’ decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into. Judges or readers will not comment on individual stories/poems or give feedback on individual stories/poems.
- Prizes are allocated at the discretion of the judges.
- The overall winners will each have 2 free tickets and an Open Mic slot of up to 5 minutes for a showcase at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. The Short Story winner will need to truncate their entry to fit into the timeframe. Winners must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements, and any associated costs.
- Each of the overall winners will receive 2 free tickets to any talk or workshop taking place at the Pavillion Dance over the course of the three-day festival.
- Each winner selected for the anthology will receive a free, physical copy of the resulting anthology.
- Prizes are non-transferable and no alternative (cash or otherwise) will be given.
- Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist. The shortlist will be announced on the website. The top prize-winners will be displayed on the BU website. Please see the Privacy Notice below for data protection information.
- We will not be able to refund any withdrawn stories/poems; however, stories/poems may still be withdrawn upon an entrant’s request up to one week after the publication of the shortlist. Please email: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to use photographs and video of entrants in their publicity materials.
- Entry implies an acceptance of all The Bournemouth Writing Prize Terms and Conditions. Entries that fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions will be disqualified.
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary in its opinion to do so.
- Your personal data will be used by BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival for the purposes of managing and administering the competition. For further data protection information, please see The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice at the end of these Terms and Conditions.
- These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for entrants to The Bournemouth Writing Prize, run by Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Festival.
It explains how Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival collect, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with the competition, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU” “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
As a result of your engagement with BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival we will hold your “personal data”, i.e., information in a form that identifies you as an individual (often referred to as “data” in this Notice).
BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival are the data controllers of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means that we have the core legal responsibility to safeguard the information and ensure it is processed lawfully. The law is set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (called “GDPR”) and a new UK law, the Data Protection Act 2018. In particular BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival must:
- Take steps to ensure that the data it processes is accurate and up to date;
- Give you clear information about its processing of your personal data, in one or more Privacy Notices like this one;
- Only process your personal data for specific purposes described to you in a Privacy Notice, and only share personal data with third parties as provided for in a Privacy Notice; and
- Keep your personal data secure.
How we collect your personal data
We collect your personal data from the information you provide to us when you enter the competition. This may consist of your name and contact details (e.g., email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering the competition, including providing competition-related information and notifying the shortlisted and winning entrants.
BU students involved in administering the competition will have access to the personal data provided.
We will publish shortlisted entrants’ names should we choose to publish their entries in our anthologies, in both print and e-book formats. The names of the category winners and those on the shortlists may be published on the Bournemouth Writing Prize website.
The basis for processing your information
When we use your data as set out above, this processing is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and BU (i.e., the contractual arrangements dealing with your participation in the competition).
Your rights
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights in relation to our processing of your data. In summary these are:
- Right to request access to your data as processed by BU and information about that processing (“subject access request”);
- Right to rectify any inaccuracies in your data;
- Right to request erasure of your data from our systems and files;
- Right to place restrictions on our processing of your data;
- Right to object to our processing of your data;
- Right to data portability: where we are processing data that you have provided to us, on the basis of consent or as necessary for the performance of a contract between us, you have the right to ask us to provide your data in an appropriate format to you or to another controller.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
Exercising your rights as a data subject
If you have any questions or concerns about our processing of your data, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
If you would like to exercise any of your rights as outlined above, you can contact the DPO as above or visit the Data Protection page on our website https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy to access the relevant forms.
We will always aim to respond clearly and fully to any concerns you have about our processing and requests to exercise the rights set out above. However, as a data subject if you have concerns about our data processing or consider that we have failed to comply with the data protection legislation then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner:
Online reporting: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
Enter up to three poems of up to 30 lines each.
ENTRIES FOR THE BOURNEMOUTH WRITING PRIZE WILL ALSO BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE BOURNEMOUTH JOURNAL
Enter one short story up to 3,000 words in length.
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2027 Winners read at the Bournemouth Writing Festival: April 2027
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
Guidelines
For submissions to the Bournemouth Writing Prize and our associated publications, e.g. outreach anthologies.
Eligibility: Students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation unless this is for artistic effect.
Anonymous submission: Poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: A maximum of 30 lines each; there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English, although words and phrases from other languages can be included. Poems may be in any form the author chooses. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to their subject matter.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Submissions must be the original work of the author. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools (including generative text or image systems) is not permitted as a primary author of submitted work.
AI tools may be ONLY be used for copyediting:
- The submission remains substantially the author’s own work, demonstrating clear human creative control and decision-making
- The work is not wholly or predominantly generated by AI
- Any use of AI tools is clearly declared at the point of submission
Authors must include a brief statement outlining any use of AI in the creation of their work. Failure to disclose AI use may result in disqualification or withdrawal of the submission.
We reserve the right to reject submissions where AI use is deemed to undermine originality, authorship, or the integrity of the publication.
Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before entering. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions. The competition is being run by Bournemouth University (‘BU’) and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
- Entries for the Bournemouth Writing Prize will also be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal.
- Submissions simultaneously submitted to other writing competitions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if a story/poem is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition. In such instances, the entrant’s work will be withdrawn from the Bournemouth Writing Prize. Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the entrance fee.
- Closing date for receipt of entries for the Prize can be found on the Prize Details page. All entries received after this deadline will be automatically disqualified.
- The Bournemouth Journal and Bournemouth Writing Prize are open to writers everywhere over the age of 16 (entrants must be over 16 years old on the closing date).
- Authors may enter the competition as many times as they like.
- Entries will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate, or for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
- Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified. Entries must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if entrants fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions, and entrants agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
- By submitting an entry, entrants agree to have their work edited and published, in both print and e-book formats, should they be the author of one of the stories/poems selected for the Bournemouth Writing Prize anthology. Authors retain worldwide copyright on their work (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Writing Prize first publication rights to publish their selected story or poem, in both print and e-book formats. The entrant agrees that BU may need to modify entries and may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry.
- No competitor may win more than one prize. Entries will be read by a judging panel of writers and lecturers, including MA Creative Writing and Publishing students and staff at Bournemouth University. They will select a longlist for the final judging panel. The judging panel will select their shortlisted stories/poems and the top prize-winning stories/poems. The judges’ decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into. Judges or readers will not comment on individual stories/poems or give feedback on individual stories/poems.
- Prizes are allocated at the discretion of the judges.
- The 1st Prize winners will each have 2 free tickets and an Open Mic slot of up to 5 minutes for a showcase at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. The Short Story winner will need to truncate their entry to fit into the timeframe. Winners must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements, and any associated costs.
- Each of the winners will receive 2 free tickets to any talk or workshop taking place at the Pavilion Dance over the course of the three-day festival.
- Each winner selected for the anthology will receive a free, physical copy of the resulting anthology.
- Prizes are non-transferable, and no alternative (cash or otherwise) will be given.
- Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist. The shortlist will be announced on the website. The top prize-winners will be displayed on the BU website. Please see the Privacy Notice below for data protection information.
- We will not be able to refund any withdrawn stories/poems; however, stories/poems may still be withdrawn upon an entrant’s request up to one week after the publication of the shortlist. Please email: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to use photographs and video of entrants in their publicity materials.
- Entry implies an acceptance of all The Bournemouth Writing Prize Terms and Conditions. Entries that fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions will be disqualified.
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary in its opinion to do so.
- Your personal data will be used by BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival for the purposes of managing and administering the competition. For further data protection information, please see The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice at the end of these Terms and Conditions.
- These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for entrants to The Bournemouth Writing Prize, run by Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Festival.
It explains how Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival collect, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with the competition, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU” “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
As a result of your engagement with BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival we will hold your “personal data”, i.e., information in a form that identifies you as an individual (often referred to as “data” in this Notice).
BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival are the data controllers of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means that we have the core legal responsibility to safeguard the information and ensure it is processed lawfully. The law is set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (called “GDPR”) and a new UK law, the Data Protection Act 2018. In particular BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival must:
- Take steps to ensure that the data it processes is accurate and up to date;
- Give you clear information about its processing of your personal data, in one or more Privacy Notices like this one;
- Only process your personal data for specific purposes described to you in a Privacy Notice, and only share personal data with third parties as provided for in a Privacy Notice; and
- Keep your personal data secure.
How we collect your personal data
We collect your personal data from the information you provide to us when you enter the competition. This may consist of your name and contact details (e.g., email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering the competition, including providing competition-related information and notifying the shortlisted and winning entrants.
BU students involved in administering the competition will have access to the personal data provided.
We will publish shortlisted entrants’ names should we choose to publish their entries in our anthologies, in both print and e-book formats. The names of the category winners and those on the shortlists may be published on the Bournemouth Writing Prize website.
The basis for processing your information
When we use your data as set out above, this processing is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and BU (i.e., the contractual arrangements dealing with your participation in the competition).
Your rights
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights in relation to our processing of your data. In summary these are:
- Right to request access to your data as processed by BU and information about that processing (“subject access request”);
- Right to rectify any inaccuracies in your data;
- Right to request erasure of your data from our systems and files;
- Right to place restrictions on our processing of your data;
- Right to object to our processing of your data;
- Right to data portability: where we are processing data that you have provided to us, on the basis of consent or as necessary for the performance of a contract between us, you have the right to ask us to provide your data in an appropriate format to you or to another controller.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
Exercising your rights as a data subject
If you have any questions or concerns about our processing of your data, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
If you would like to exercise any of your rights as outlined above, you can contact the DPO as above or visit the Data Protection page on our website https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy to access the relevant forms.
We will always aim to respond clearly and fully to any concerns you have about our processing and requests to exercise the rights set out above. However, as a data subject if you have concerns about our data processing or consider that we have failed to comply with the data protection legislation then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner:
Online reporting: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2026 Winners read at the Bournemouth Writing Festival: April 2026
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
Guidelines
For submissions to the Bournemouth Writing Prize, and our associated publications, e.g. outreach anthologies.
Eligibility: students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: prose should be double-spaced with paragraph indents. Only include spaces between paragraphs to indicate a transition to another time or place. Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation. Write in a consistent tense and from a consistent point of view–unless formally justified by the piece.
Anonymous submission: the stories/poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: include the word count in the top right corner of the page. The title is not part of the word count. The maximum length of submissions for the short story category is 3,000 words (does not include title); there is no minimum length. For the poetry category, up to three poems per submission, a maximum of 30 lines each; there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English. Stories may be literary or genre-based (Crime, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Children’s, etc.). We also consider scripts, and hybrid forms such as prose-poetry. Surprise us with your narrative invention. Poems may be in any form the author chooses. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings include at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to its subject matter.
Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before entering. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions. The competition is being run by Bournemouth University (‘BU’) and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
- Entries for the Bournemouth Writing Prize will also be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal.
- Submissions simultaneously submitted to other writing competitions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if a story/poem is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition. In such instances, the entrant’s work will be withdrawn from the Bournemouth Writing Prize. Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the entrance fee.
- Closing date for receipt of entries for the Prize can be found on the Prize Details page. All entries received after this deadline will be automatically disqualified.
- The Bournemouth Journal and Bournemouth Writing Prize are open to writers everywhere over the age of 16 (entrants must be over 16 years old on the closing date).
- Authors may enter the competition as many times as they like.
- Entries will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate; or for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
- Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified. Entries must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if entrants fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions and entrants agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
- By submitting an entry, entrants agree to have their work edited and published, in both print and e-book formats, should they be the author of one of the stories/poems selected for the Bournemouth Writing Prize anthology. Authors retain worldwide copyright on their work (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Writing Prize first publication rights to publish their selected story or poem, in both print and e-book formats. The entrant agrees that BU may need to modify entries and may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry.
- No competitor may win more than one prize. Entries will be read by a judging panel of writers and lecturers, including MA Creative Writing and Publishing students and staff at Bournemouth University. They will select a longlist for the final judging panel. The judging panel will select their shortlisted stories/poems and the top prize-winning stories/poems. The judges’ decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into. Judges or readers will not comment on individual stories/poems or give feedback on individual stories/poems.
- Prizes are allocated at the discretion of the judges.
- The overall winners will each have 2 free tickets and an Open Mic slot of up to 5 minutes for a showcase at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. The Short Story winner will need to truncate their entry to fit into the timeframe. Winners must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements, and any associated costs.
- Each of the overall winners will receive 2 free tickets to any talk or workshop taking place at the Pavillion Dance over the course of the three-day festival.
- Each winner selected for the anthology will receive a free, physical copy of the resulting anthology.
- Prizes are non-transferable and no alternative (cash or otherwise) will be given.
- Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist. The shortlist will be announced on the website. The top prize-winners will be displayed on the BU website. Please see the Privacy Notice below for data protection information.
- We will not be able to refund any withdrawn stories/poems; however, stories/poems may still be withdrawn upon an entrant’s request up to one week after the publication of the shortlist. Please email: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to use photographs and video of entrants in their publicity materials.
- Entry implies an acceptance of all The Bournemouth Writing Prize Terms and Conditions. Entries that fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions will be disqualified.
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary in its opinion to do so.
- Your personal data will be used by BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival for the purposes of managing and administering the competition. For further data protection information, please see The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice at the end of these Terms and Conditions.
- These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for entrants to The Bournemouth Writing Prize, run by Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Festival.
It explains how Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival collect, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with the competition, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU” “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
As a result of your engagement with BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival we will hold your “personal data”, i.e., information in a form that identifies you as an individual (often referred to as “data” in this Notice).
BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival are the data controllers of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means that we have the core legal responsibility to safeguard the information and ensure it is processed lawfully. The law is set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (called “GDPR”) and a new UK law, the Data Protection Act 2018. In particular BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival must:
- Take steps to ensure that the data it processes is accurate and up to date;
- Give you clear information about its processing of your personal data, in one or more Privacy Notices like this one;
- Only process your personal data for specific purposes described to you in a Privacy Notice, and only share personal data with third parties as provided for in a Privacy Notice; and
- Keep your personal data secure.
How we collect your personal data
We collect your personal data from the information you provide to us when you enter the competition. This may consist of your name and contact details (e.g., email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering the competition, including providing competition-related information and notifying the shortlisted and winning entrants.
BU students involved in administering the competition will have access to the personal data provided.
We will publish shortlisted entrants’ names should we choose to publish their entries in our anthologies, in both print and e-book formats. The names of the category winners and those on the shortlists may be published on the Bournemouth Writing Prize website.
The basis for processing your information
When we use your data as set out above, this processing is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and BU (i.e., the contractual arrangements dealing with your participation in the competition).
Your rights
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights in relation to our processing of your data. In summary these are:
- Right to request access to your data as processed by BU and information about that processing (“subject access request”);
- Right to rectify any inaccuracies in your data;
- Right to request erasure of your data from our systems and files;
- Right to place restrictions on our processing of your data;
- Right to object to our processing of your data;
- Right to data portability: where we are processing data that you have provided to us, on the basis of consent or as necessary for the performance of a contract between us, you have the right to ask us to provide your data in an appropriate format to you or to another controller.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
Exercising your rights as a data subject
If you have any questions or concerns about our processing of your data, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
If you would like to exercise any of your rights as outlined above, you can contact the DPO as above or visit the Data Protection page on our website https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy to access the relevant forms.
We will always aim to respond clearly and fully to any concerns you have about our processing and requests to exercise the rights set out above. However, as a data subject if you have concerns about our data processing or consider that we have failed to comply with the data protection legislation then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner:
Online reporting: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
Enter one short story up to 3,000 words in length.
ENTRIES FOR THE BOURNEMOUTH WRITING PRIZE WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE BOURNEMOUTH JOURNAL
Enter one short story up to 3,000 words in length.
Any students and staff currently working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2027
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
Eligibility: students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: prose should be double-spaced with paragraph indents. Only include spaces between paragraphs to indicate a transition to another time or place. Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation. Write in a consistent tense and from a consistent point of view–unless formally justified by the piece.
Anonymous submission: the stories/poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: Include the word count in the top right corner of the page. The title is not part of the word count. The maximum length of submissions for the short story category is 3,000 words (does not include title); there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English but can include words or phrases in a different language. Stories may be literary or genre-based. We also consider scripts and hybrid forms such as prose-poetry. Surprise us with your narrative invention. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to their subject matter.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Submissions must be the original work of the author. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools (including generative text or image systems) is not permitted as a primary author of submitted work.
AI tools may be ONLY be used for copyediting:
- The submission remains substantially the author’s own work, demonstrating clear human creative control and decision-making
- The work is not wholly or predominantly generated by AI
- Any use of AI tools is clearly declared at the point of submission
Authors must include a brief statement outlining any use of AI in the creation of their work. Failure to disclose AI use may result in disqualification or withdrawal of the submission.
We reserve the right to reject submissions where AI use is deemed to undermine originality, authorship, or the integrity of the publication.
Bournemouth Journal – Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before submitting your work. By submitting, you agree to these Terms and Conditions. The Bournemouth Journal is run by Bournemouth University (“BU”).
Submissions may be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal and related Bournemouth University outputs.
Simultaneous submissions are permitted; however, please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. In such cases, your submission will be withdrawn from consideration.
Submission deadlines (if applicable) will be published on the Bournemouth Journal website. Any submissions received after a stated deadline may not be considered.
The Bournemouth Journal is open to writers worldwide aged 16 and over (authors must be 16 or older at the time of submission).
Authors may submit multiple pieces of work.
Submissions will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after submission. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate, or for submissions that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
Submissions must be entirely the work of the author. Any work found to have been plagiarised will not be considered. Submissions must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if authors fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions, and authors agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party arising from a breach of these Terms and Conditions.
By submitting your work, you agree to it being edited and published, in both print and digital formats, should it be selected. Authors retain worldwide copyright (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Journal first publication rights. The author agrees that BU may need to modify submissions and may, at its discretion, edit, adapt, abridge or translate the work.
Submissions will be reviewed by the Bournemouth Journal editorial team. Due to the volume of submissions, individual feedback may not be provided. The editorial team’s decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into regarding selection decisions.
Publication decisions are made at the discretion of the editorial team.
Authors will be contacted if their work is selected for publication.
Submissions may be withdrawn at the author’s request by contacting: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
Bournemouth University reserves the right to use photographs and video of authors in its publicity materials.
Submission implies acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. Submissions that fail to comply may not be considered.
Bournemouth University reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary.
Your personal data will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering submissions. Please see the Privacy Notice below for further information.
These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
Bournemouth Journal Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for authors submitting work to the Bournemouth Journal, run by Bournemouth University.
It explains how Bournemouth University collects, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with submissions, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU”, “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation.
As a result of your engagement with BU, we will hold your “personal data”, i.e. information in a form that identifies you as an individual.
BU is the data controller of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means we are legally responsible for safeguarding your data and ensuring it is processed lawfully under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
In particular, BU must:
- Ensure that personal data is accurate and kept up to date
- Provide clear information about how your data is used
- Only process your data for specified purposes and share it as outlined in this Notice
- Keep your personal data secure
How we collect your personal data
We collect personal data from the information you provide when submitting your work. This may include your name and contact details (such as your email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering submissions, including communicating with authors and notifying those whose work is selected for publication.
BU students involved in administering the Bournemouth Journal may have access to the personal data provided.
If your work is selected for publication, your name may be published alongside your work in print and digital formats, and may also appear on the Bournemouth Journal or Bournemouth University websites.
The basis for processing your information
We process your data as necessary for the performance of the agreement between you and BU (i.e. your submission to the Bournemouth Journal).
Your rights
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights, including:
- The right to request access to your data
- The right to request correction of inaccurate data
- The right to request deletion of your data
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to object to processing
- The right to data portability
These rights are not absolute, and we may refuse requests where legal exemptions apply.
Exercising your rights
If you have any questions or concerns about how your data is processed, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
You can also visit: https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy
If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
Online: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
ENTRIES FOR THE BOURNEMOUTH WRITING PRIZE WILL ALSO BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE BOURNEMOUTH JOURNAL
Enter one short story up to 3,000 words in length.
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2027 Winners read at the Bournemouth Writing Festival: April 2027
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
Guidelines
For submissions to the Bournemouth Writing Prize and our associated publications, e.g. outreach anthologies.
Eligibility: Students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation unless this is for artistic effect.
Anonymous submission: Poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: A maximum of 30 lines each; there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English, although words and phrases from other languages can be included. Poems may be in any form the author chooses. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to their subject matter.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Submissions must be the original work of the author. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools (including generative text or image systems) is not permitted as a primary author of submitted work.
AI tools may be ONLY be used for copyediting:
- The submission remains substantially the author’s own work, demonstrating clear human creative control and decision-making
- The work is not wholly or predominantly generated by AI
- Any use of AI tools is clearly declared at the point of submission
Authors must include a brief statement outlining any use of AI in the creation of their work. Failure to disclose AI use may result in disqualification or withdrawal of the submission.
We reserve the right to reject submissions where AI use is deemed to undermine originality, authorship, or the integrity of the publication.
Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before entering. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions. The competition is being run by Bournemouth University (‘BU’) and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
- Entries for the Bournemouth Writing Prize will also be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal.
- Submissions simultaneously submitted to other writing competitions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if a story/poem is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition. In such instances, the entrant’s work will be withdrawn from the Bournemouth Writing Prize. Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the entrance fee.
- Closing date for receipt of entries for the Prize can be found on the Prize Details page. All entries received after this deadline will be automatically disqualified.
- The Bournemouth Journal and Bournemouth Writing Prize are open to writers everywhere over the age of 16 (entrants must be over 16 years old on the closing date).
- Authors may enter the competition as many times as they like.
- Entries will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate, or for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
- Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified. Entries must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if entrants fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions, and entrants agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
- By submitting an entry, entrants agree to have their work edited and published, in both print and e-book formats, should they be the author of one of the stories/poems selected for the Bournemouth Writing Prize anthology. Authors retain worldwide copyright on their work (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Writing Prize first publication rights to publish their selected story or poem, in both print and e-book formats. The entrant agrees that BU may need to modify entries and may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry.
- No competitor may win more than one prize. Entries will be read by a judging panel of writers and lecturers, including MA Creative Writing and Publishing students and staff at Bournemouth University. They will select a longlist for the final judging panel. The judging panel will select their shortlisted stories/poems and the top prize-winning stories/poems. The judges’ decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into. Judges or readers will not comment on individual stories/poems or give feedback on individual stories/poems.
- Prizes are allocated at the discretion of the judges.
- The 1st Prize winners will each have 2 free tickets and an Open Mic slot of up to 5 minutes for a showcase at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. The Short Story winner will need to truncate their entry to fit into the timeframe. Winners must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements, and any associated costs.
- Each of the winners will receive 2 free tickets to any talk or workshop taking place at the Pavilion Dance over the course of the three-day festival.
- Each winner selected for the anthology will receive a free, physical copy of the resulting anthology.
- Prizes are non-transferable, and no alternative (cash or otherwise) will be given.
- Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist. The shortlist will be announced on the website. The top prize-winners will be displayed on the BU website. Please see the Privacy Notice below for data protection information.
- We will not be able to refund any withdrawn stories/poems; however, stories/poems may still be withdrawn upon an entrant’s request up to one week after the publication of the shortlist. Please email: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to use photographs and video of entrants in their publicity materials.
- Entry implies an acceptance of all The Bournemouth Writing Prize Terms and Conditions. Entries that fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions will be disqualified.
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary in its opinion to do so.
- Your personal data will be used by BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival for the purposes of managing and administering the competition. For further data protection information, please see The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice at the end of these Terms and Conditions.
- These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for entrants to The Bournemouth Writing Prize, run by Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Festival.
It explains how Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival collect, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with the competition, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU” “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
As a result of your engagement with BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival we will hold your “personal data”, i.e., information in a form that identifies you as an individual (often referred to as “data” in this Notice).
BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival are the data controllers of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means that we have the core legal responsibility to safeguard the information and ensure it is processed lawfully. The law is set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (called “GDPR”) and a new UK law, the Data Protection Act 2018. In particular BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival must:
- Take steps to ensure that the data it processes is accurate and up to date;
- Give you clear information about its processing of your personal data, in one or more Privacy Notices like this one;
- Only process your personal data for specific purposes described to you in a Privacy Notice, and only share personal data with third parties as provided for in a Privacy Notice; and
- Keep your personal data secure.
How we collect your personal data
We collect your personal data from the information you provide to us when you enter the competition. This may consist of your name and contact details (e.g., email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering the competition, including providing competition-related information and notifying the shortlisted and winning entrants.
BU students involved in administering the competition will have access to the personal data provided.
We will publish shortlisted entrants’ names should we choose to publish their entries in our anthologies, in both print and e-book formats. The names of the category winners and those on the shortlists may be published on the Bournemouth Writing Prize website.
The basis for processing your information
When we use your data as set out above, this processing is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and BU (i.e., the contractual arrangements dealing with your participation in the competition).
Your rights
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights in relation to our processing of your data. In summary these are:
- Right to request access to your data as processed by BU and information about that processing (“subject access request”);
- Right to rectify any inaccuracies in your data;
- Right to request erasure of your data from our systems and files;
- Right to place restrictions on our processing of your data;
- Right to object to our processing of your data;
- Right to data portability: where we are processing data that you have provided to us, on the basis of consent or as necessary for the performance of a contract between us, you have the right to ask us to provide your data in an appropriate format to you or to another controller.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
Exercising your rights as a data subject
If you have any questions or concerns about our processing of your data, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
If you would like to exercise any of your rights as outlined above, you can contact the DPO as above or visit the Data Protection page on our website https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy to access the relevant forms.
We will always aim to respond clearly and fully to any concerns you have about our processing and requests to exercise the rights set out above. However, as a data subject if you have concerns about our data processing or consider that we have failed to comply with the data protection legislation then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner:
Online reporting: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2026 Winners read at the Bournemouth Writing Festival: April 2026
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
Guidelines
For submissions to the Bournemouth Writing Prize, and our associated publications, e.g. outreach anthologies.
Eligibility: students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: prose should be double-spaced with paragraph indents. Only include spaces between paragraphs to indicate a transition to another time or place. Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation. Write in a consistent tense and from a consistent point of view–unless formally justified by the piece.
Anonymous submission: the stories/poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: include the word count in the top right corner of the page. The title is not part of the word count. The maximum length of submissions for the short story category is 3,000 words (does not include title); there is no minimum length. For the poetry category, up to three poems per submission, a maximum of 30 lines each; there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English. Stories may be literary or genre-based (Crime, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Children’s, etc.). We also consider scripts, and hybrid forms such as prose-poetry. Surprise us with your narrative invention. Poems may be in any form the author chooses. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings include at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to its subject matter.
Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before entering. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions. The competition is being run by Bournemouth University (‘BU’) and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
- Entries for the Bournemouth Writing Prize will also be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal.
- Submissions simultaneously submitted to other writing competitions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if a story/poem is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition. In such instances, the entrant’s work will be withdrawn from the Bournemouth Writing Prize. Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the entrance fee.
- Closing date for receipt of entries for the Prize can be found on the Prize Details page. All entries received after this deadline will be automatically disqualified.
- The Bournemouth Journal and Bournemouth Writing Prize are open to writers everywhere over the age of 16 (entrants must be over 16 years old on the closing date).
- Authors may enter the competition as many times as they like.
- Entries will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate; or for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
- Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified. Entries must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if entrants fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions and entrants agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
- By submitting an entry, entrants agree to have their work edited and published, in both print and e-book formats, should they be the author of one of the stories/poems selected for the Bournemouth Writing Prize anthology. Authors retain worldwide copyright on their work (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Writing Prize first publication rights to publish their selected story or poem, in both print and e-book formats. The entrant agrees that BU may need to modify entries and may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry.
- No competitor may win more than one prize. Entries will be read by a judging panel of writers and lecturers, including MA Creative Writing and Publishing students and staff at Bournemouth University. They will select a longlist for the final judging panel. The judging panel will select their shortlisted stories/poems and the top prize-winning stories/poems. The judges’ decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into. Judges or readers will not comment on individual stories/poems or give feedback on individual stories/poems.
- Prizes are allocated at the discretion of the judges.
- The overall winners will each have 2 free tickets and an Open Mic slot of up to 5 minutes for a showcase at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. The Short Story winner will need to truncate their entry to fit into the timeframe. Winners must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements, and any associated costs.
- Each of the overall winners will receive 2 free tickets to any talk or workshop taking place at the Pavillion Dance over the course of the three-day festival.
- Each winner selected for the anthology will receive a free, physical copy of the resulting anthology.
- Prizes are non-transferable and no alternative (cash or otherwise) will be given.
- Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist. The shortlist will be announced on the website. The top prize-winners will be displayed on the BU website. Please see the Privacy Notice below for data protection information.
- We will not be able to refund any withdrawn stories/poems; however, stories/poems may still be withdrawn upon an entrant’s request up to one week after the publication of the shortlist. Please email: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to use photographs and video of entrants in their publicity materials.
- Entry implies an acceptance of all The Bournemouth Writing Prize Terms and Conditions. Entries that fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions will be disqualified.
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary in its opinion to do so.
- Your personal data will be used by BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival for the purposes of managing and administering the competition. For further data protection information, please see The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice at the end of these Terms and Conditions.
- These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for entrants to The Bournemouth Writing Prize, run by Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Festival.
It explains how Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival collect, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with the competition, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU” “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
As a result of your engagement with BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival we will hold your “personal data”, i.e., information in a form that identifies you as an individual (often referred to as “data” in this Notice).
BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival are the data controllers of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means that we have the core legal responsibility to safeguard the information and ensure it is processed lawfully. The law is set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (called “GDPR”) and a new UK law, the Data Protection Act 2018. In particular BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival must:
- Take steps to ensure that the data it processes is accurate and up to date;
- Give you clear information about its processing of your personal data, in one or more Privacy Notices like this one;
- Only process your personal data for specific purposes described to you in a Privacy Notice, and only share personal data with third parties as provided for in a Privacy Notice; and
- Keep your personal data secure.
How we collect your personal data
We collect your personal data from the information you provide to us when you enter the competition. This may consist of your name and contact details (e.g., email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering the competition, including providing competition-related information and notifying the shortlisted and winning entrants.
BU students involved in administering the competition will have access to the personal data provided.
We will publish shortlisted entrants’ names should we choose to publish their entries in our anthologies, in both print and e-book formats. The names of the category winners and those on the shortlists may be published on the Bournemouth Writing Prize website.
The basis for processing your information
When we use your data as set out above, this processing is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and BU (i.e., the contractual arrangements dealing with your participation in the competition).
Your rights
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights in relation to our processing of your data. In summary these are:
- Right to request access to your data as processed by BU and information about that processing (“subject access request”);
- Right to rectify any inaccuracies in your data;
- Right to request erasure of your data from our systems and files;
- Right to place restrictions on our processing of your data;
- Right to object to our processing of your data;
- Right to data portability: where we are processing data that you have provided to us, on the basis of consent or as necessary for the performance of a contract between us, you have the right to ask us to provide your data in an appropriate format to you or to another controller.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
Exercising your rights as a data subject
If you have any questions or concerns about our processing of your data, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
If you would like to exercise any of your rights as outlined above, you can contact the DPO as above or visit the Data Protection page on our website https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy to access the relevant forms.
We will always aim to respond clearly and fully to any concerns you have about our processing and requests to exercise the rights set out above. However, as a data subject if you have concerns about our data processing or consider that we have failed to comply with the data protection legislation then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner:
Online reporting: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
Enter one short story up to 3,000 words in length.
ENTRIES FOR THE BOURNEMOUTH WRITING PRIZE WILL ALSO BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE BOURNEMOUTH JOURNAL
Enter one short story up to 3,000 words in length.
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2027 Winners read at the Bournemouth Writing Festival: April 2027
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
Guidelines
For submissions to the Bournemouth Writing Prize and our associated publications, e.g. outreach anthologies.
Eligibility: Students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: prose should be double-spaced with paragraph indents. Only include spaces between paragraphs to indicate a transition to another time or place. Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation. Write in a consistent tense and from a consistent point of view–unless formally justified by the piece.
Anonymous submission: the stories/poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: Include the word count in the top right corner of the page. The title is not part of the word count. The maximum length of submissions for the short story category is 3,000 words (does not include title); there is no minimum length. For the poetry category, up to three poems per submission, a maximum of 30 lines each; there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English. Stories may be literary or genre-based (Crime, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Children’s, etc.). We also consider scripts, and hybrid forms such as prose-poetry. Surprise us with your narrative invention. Poems may be in any form the author chooses. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings include at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to its subject matter.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Submissions must be the original work of the author. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools (including generative text or image systems) is not permitted as a primary author of submitted work.
AI tools may be ONLY be used for copyediting:
- The submission remains substantially the author’s own work, demonstrating clear human creative control and decision-making
- The work is not wholly or predominantly generated by AI
- Any use of AI tools is clearly declared at the point of submission
Authors must include a brief statement outlining any use of AI in the creation of their work. Failure to disclose AI use may result in disqualification or withdrawal of the submission.
We reserve the right to reject submissions where AI use is deemed to undermine originality, authorship, or the integrity of the publication.
Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before entering. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions. The competition is being run by Bournemouth University (‘BU’) and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
- Entries for the Bournemouth Writing Prize will also be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal.
- Submissions simultaneously submitted to other writing competitions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if a story/poem is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition. In such instances, the entrant’s work will be withdrawn from the Bournemouth Writing Prize. Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the entrance fee.
- Closing date for receipt of entries for the Prize can be found on the Prize Details page. All entries received after this deadline will be automatically disqualified.
- The Bournemouth Journal and Bournemouth Writing Prize are open to writers everywhere over the age of 16 (entrants must be over 16 years old on the closing date).
- Authors may enter the competition as many times as they like.
- Entries will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate, or for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
- Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified. Entries must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if entrants fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions, and entrants agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
- By submitting an entry, entrants agree to have their work edited and published, in both print and e-book formats, should they be the author of one of the stories/poems selected for the Bournemouth Writing Prize anthology. Authors retain worldwide copyright on their work (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Writing Prize first publication rights to publish their selected story or poem, in both print and e-book formats. The entrant agrees that BU may need to modify entries and may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry.
- No competitor may win more than one prize. Entries will be read by a judging panel of writers and lecturers, including MA Creative Writing and Publishing students and staff at Bournemouth University. They will select a longlist for the final judging panel. The judging panel will select their shortlisted stories/poems and the top prize-winning stories/poems. The judges’ decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into. Judges or readers will not comment on individual stories/poems or give feedback on individual stories/poems.
- Prizes are allocated at the discretion of the judges.
- The 1st Prize winners will each have 2 free tickets and an Open Mic slot of up to 5 minutes for a showcase at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. The Short Story winner will need to truncate their entry to fit into the timeframe. Winners must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements, and any associated costs.
- Each of the winners will receive 2 free tickets to any talk or workshop taking place at the Pavilion Dance over the course of the three-day festival.
- Each winner selected for the anthology will receive a free, physical copy of the resulting anthology.
- Prizes are non-transferable, and no alternative (cash or otherwise) will be given.
- Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist. The shortlist will be announced on the website. The top prize-winners will be displayed on the BU website. Please see the Privacy Notice below for data protection information.
- We will not be able to refund any withdrawn stories/poems; however, stories/poems may still be withdrawn upon an entrant’s request up to one week after the publication of the shortlist. Please email: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to use photographs and video of entrants in their publicity materials.
- Entry implies an acceptance of all The Bournemouth Writing Prize Terms and Conditions. Entries that fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions will be disqualified.
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary in its opinion to do so.
- Your personal data will be used by BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival for the purposes of managing and administering the competition. For further data protection information, please see The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice at the end of these Terms and Conditions.
- These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for entrants to The Bournemouth Writing Prize, run by Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Festival.
It explains how Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival collect, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with the competition, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU” “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
As a result of your engagement with BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival we will hold your “personal data”, i.e., information in a form that identifies you as an individual (often referred to as “data” in this Notice).
BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival are the data controllers of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means that we have the core legal responsibility to safeguard the information and ensure it is processed lawfully. The law is set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (called “GDPR”) and a new UK law, the Data Protection Act 2018. In particular BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival must:
- Take steps to ensure that the data it processes is accurate and up to date;
- Give you clear information about its processing of your personal data, in one or more Privacy Notices like this one;
- Only process your personal data for specific purposes described to you in a Privacy Notice, and only share personal data with third parties as provided for in a Privacy Notice; and
- Keep your personal data secure.
How we collect your personal data
We collect your personal data from the information you provide to us when you enter the competition. This may consist of your name and contact details (e.g., email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering the competition, including providing competition-related information and notifying the shortlisted and winning entrants.
BU students involved in administering the competition will have access to the personal data provided.
We will publish shortlisted entrants’ names should we choose to publish their entries in our anthologies, in both print and e-book formats. The names of the category winners and those on the shortlists may be published on the Bournemouth Writing Prize website.
The basis for processing your information
When we use your data as set out above, this processing is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and BU (i.e., the contractual arrangements dealing with your participation in the competition).
Your rights
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights in relation to our processing of your data. In summary these are:
- Right to request access to your data as processed by BU and information about that processing (“subject access request”);
- Right to rectify any inaccuracies in your data;
- Right to request erasure of your data from our systems and files;
- Right to place restrictions on our processing of your data;
- Right to object to our processing of your data;
- Right to data portability: where we are processing data that you have provided to us, on the basis of consent or as necessary for the performance of a contract between us, you have the right to ask us to provide your data in an appropriate format to you or to another controller.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
Exercising your rights as a data subject
If you have any questions or concerns about our processing of your data, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
If you would like to exercise any of your rights as outlined above, you can contact the DPO as above or visit the Data Protection page on our website https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy to access the relevant forms.
We will always aim to respond clearly and fully to any concerns you have about our processing and requests to exercise the rights set out above. However, as a data subject if you have concerns about our data processing or consider that we have failed to comply with the data protection legislation then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner:
Online reporting: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
KEY DATES
Submissions close: 15th August 2026 Shortlist announced: Autumn 2026 Winners announced: Winter 2026 Anthology published: Spring 2026 Winners read at the Bournemouth Writing Festival: April 2026
Please make sure that you have read and understood the following:
Guidelines
For submissions to the Bournemouth Writing Prize, and our associated publications, e.g. outreach anthologies.
Eligibility: students and staff working on the Bournemouth Writing Prize and/or the Bournemouth Journal are ineligible to submit.
Formatting: prose should be double-spaced with paragraph indents. Only include spaces between paragraphs to indicate a transition to another time or place. Copy edit with care to ensure proper spelling and punctuation. Write in a consistent tense and from a consistent point of view–unless formally justified by the piece.
Anonymous submission: the stories/poems must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address. Entries will be read and judged anonymously by the Panel.
Word count: include the word count in the top right corner of the page. The title is not part of the word count. The maximum length of submissions for the short story category is 3,000 words (does not include title); there is no minimum length. For the poetry category, up to three poems per submission, a maximum of 30 lines each; there is no minimum length.
Content and form: All entries should be in English. Stories may be literary or genre-based (Crime, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Children’s, etc.). We also consider scripts, and hybrid forms such as prose-poetry. Surprise us with your narrative invention. Poems may be in any form the author chooses. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Please include content warnings include at the top of any works that might disturb readers due to its subject matter.
Terms and Conditions
Please read this carefully before entering. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions. The competition is being run by Bournemouth University (‘BU’) and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
- Entries for the Bournemouth Writing Prize will also be considered for publication in the Bournemouth Journal.
- Submissions simultaneously submitted to other writing competitions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if a story/poem is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition. In such instances, the entrant’s work will be withdrawn from the Bournemouth Writing Prize. Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the entrance fee.
- Closing date for receipt of entries for the Prize can be found on the Prize Details page. All entries received after this deadline will be automatically disqualified.
- The Bournemouth Journal and Bournemouth Writing Prize are open to writers everywhere over the age of 16 (entrants must be over 16 years old on the closing date).
- Authors may enter the competition as many times as they like.
- Entries will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry. BU will not accept responsibility if contact details provided are incomplete or inaccurate; or for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit.
- Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified. Entries must not infringe the rights of any other party. BU accepts no responsibility if entrants fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions and entrants agree to indemnify BU against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
- By submitting an entry, entrants agree to have their work edited and published, in both print and e-book formats, should they be the author of one of the stories/poems selected for the Bournemouth Writing Prize anthology. Authors retain worldwide copyright on their work (including film and dramatic rights) but grant the Bournemouth Writing Prize first publication rights to publish their selected story or poem, in both print and e-book formats. The entrant agrees that BU may need to modify entries and may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry.
- No competitor may win more than one prize. Entries will be read by a judging panel of writers and lecturers, including MA Creative Writing and Publishing students and staff at Bournemouth University. They will select a longlist for the final judging panel. The judging panel will select their shortlisted stories/poems and the top prize-winning stories/poems. The judges’ decision is final, and no individual correspondence will be entered into. Judges or readers will not comment on individual stories/poems or give feedback on individual stories/poems.
- Prizes are allocated at the discretion of the judges.
- The overall winners will each have 2 free tickets and an Open Mic slot of up to 5 minutes for a showcase at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. The Short Story winner will need to truncate their entry to fit into the timeframe. Winners must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements, and any associated costs.
- Each of the overall winners will receive 2 free tickets to any talk or workshop taking place at the Pavillion Dance over the course of the three-day festival.
- Each winner selected for the anthology will receive a free, physical copy of the resulting anthology.
- Prizes are non-transferable and no alternative (cash or otherwise) will be given.
- Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist. The shortlist will be announced on the website. The top prize-winners will be displayed on the BU website. Please see the Privacy Notice below for data protection information.
- We will not be able to refund any withdrawn stories/poems; however, stories/poems may still be withdrawn upon an entrant’s request up to one week after the publication of the shortlist. Please email: bournemouthwritingprize@bournemouth.ac.uk
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to use photographs and video of entrants in their publicity materials.
- Entry implies an acceptance of all The Bournemouth Writing Prize Terms and Conditions. Entries that fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions will be disqualified.
- Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions if deemed necessary in its opinion to do so.
- Your personal data will be used by BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival for the purposes of managing and administering the competition. For further data protection information, please see The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice at the end of these Terms and Conditions.
- These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The Bournemouth Writing Prize Privacy Notice
This privacy notice is for entrants to The Bournemouth Writing Prize, run by Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Festival.
It explains how Bournemouth University and the Bournemouth Writing Festival collect, uses and shares the personal data provided in connection with the competition, and your rights in relation to such personal data.
In this Notice, “BU” “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation and the Bournemouth Writing Festival.
As a result of your engagement with BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival we will hold your “personal data”, i.e., information in a form that identifies you as an individual (often referred to as “data” in this Notice).
BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival are the data controllers of the information we collect and process as described in this Notice. This means that we have the core legal responsibility to safeguard the information and ensure it is processed lawfully. The law is set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (called “GDPR”) and a new UK law, the Data Protection Act 2018. In particular BU and the Bournemouth Writing Festival must:
- Take steps to ensure that the data it processes is accurate and up to date;
- Give you clear information about its processing of your personal data, in one or more Privacy Notices like this one;
- Only process your personal data for specific purposes described to you in a Privacy Notice, and only share personal data with third parties as provided for in a Privacy Notice; and
- Keep your personal data secure.
How we collect your personal data
We collect your personal data from the information you provide to us when you enter the competition. This may consist of your name and contact details (e.g., email address).
How we use your personal data
The personal data you provide will be used by BU for the purposes of managing and administering the competition, including providing competition-related information and notifying the shortlisted and winning entrants.
BU students involved in administering the competition will have access to the personal data provided.
We will publish shortlisted entrants’ names should we choose to publish their entries in our anthologies, in both print and e-book formats. The names of the category winners and those on the shortlists may be published on the Bournemouth Writing Prize website.
The basis for processing your information
When we use your data as set out above, this processing is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and BU (i.e., the contractual arrangements dealing with your participation in the competition).
Your rights
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights in relation to our processing of your data. In summary these are:
- Right to request access to your data as processed by BU and information about that processing (“subject access request”);
- Right to rectify any inaccuracies in your data;
- Right to request erasure of your data from our systems and files;
- Right to place restrictions on our processing of your data;
- Right to object to our processing of your data;
- Right to data portability: where we are processing data that you have provided to us, on the basis of consent or as necessary for the performance of a contract between us, you have the right to ask us to provide your data in an appropriate format to you or to another controller.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
Exercising your rights as a data subject
If you have any questions or concerns about our processing of your data, please contact the BU Data Protection Officer (DPO):
Email: dpo@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962472 Address: Poole House, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB
If you would like to exercise any of your rights as outlined above, you can contact the DPO as above or visit the Data Protection page on our website https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy to access the relevant forms.
We will always aim to respond clearly and fully to any concerns you have about our processing and requests to exercise the rights set out above. However, as a data subject if you have concerns about our data processing or consider that we have failed to comply with the data protection legislation then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner:
Online reporting: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ Email: casework@ico.org.uk Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF