€1,000 up for grabs in Gweedore writing competition

As part of its 10th anniversary celebrations this year, Gweedore-based ‘Ireland Writing Retreat’ has launched a special writing competition with an impressive  €1,000 euro in prize money.

Entitled the ‘Wild Atlantic Writing Awards’ (WAWA) with a strict deadline two weeks from now, Sunday, July 28, the literary group invites people to submit stories on the theme of ‘danger.’ 

The competition has two categories - flash fiction and creative non-fiction - with a maximum word count of 500.

“Most people have felt threatened or in danger in some way or another in their lives so we’re asking them to recall those occasions in either memoir or essay form, or even as a news or feature story,” said Sean Hillen, author and journalist who is co-founder and tutor at ‘Ireland Writing Retreat.

“At the same time, in the flash fiction category, people can imagine a dangerous or threatening situation that could affect them or others and write a story about that idea. It could be in any writing genre including science-fiction, fantasy, magic realism and crime.” 

Due to the limited word count, Sean advised writers to have a maximum of only three characters in their flash fiction stories, preferably two, and begin in the middle of the action rather than use precious words in long descriptive introductory paragraphs.

“We host week-long creative writing retreats every year in Donegal and France with people from all over the world from Scotland, Wales and England to Australia, Canada, the US and across Ireland, people from all walks of life including teachers, civil servants, doctors, nurses, entrepreneurs and those working in IT sectors, all with an interest in writing and a book idea in their heads or in manuscript form,” he said. 

See https://www.irelandwritingretreat.com/wawa for further information on the competition.