Aurora Prize for Writing 2026

The Aurora Prize for Writing 2026 is now open for entries! Writing East Midlands is seeking short stories of up to 2,000 words per entry and poetry of up to 60 lines per entry; in any genre, on any subject! Aurora is an international competition open to writers aged 18 and above.

Prizes include up to £500 in cash, feedback from a leading literary agent or editor on a piece of work of your choice, a year’s free membership to the Society of Authors, an SoA advisory session, free tickers to an Aurora Prize masterclass and a WEM gift voucher to the value of one Writers’ Conference 2027 ticket. A longlist (of 25 in each category) and a shortlist (of 10 in each category) will be published online on the Writing East Midlands website, with shortlistees each receiving a 20% discount on a year’s membership to the Society of Authors and a 20% discount on The Writers’ Conference 2027 tickets.

We’re thrilled to reveal that our judges for the 2026 creative writing competition are none other than BAFTA award-winning screenwriter and Stonewall Book Award-winning author Dean Atta, judging our poetry entries, and 2021 Desmond Elliot Prize winner and 2023 Dylan Thomas Prize shortlistee A K Blakemore, judging our short fiction entries. You can find out more about judges on the Aurora Prize webpage here.

This year, Writing East Midlands has made some exciting changes to our international competition. Not only has the prize opened later in the year, with entries now accepted from October until the deadline on 13^th January 2027, but we are delighted to reveal that winners will be announced live and in person by our judges at an extra special award ceremony closing The Writers’ Conference on 10^th April 2027.

The Aurora Prize is now open for entries until 13^th January 2027 at 11.59 pm.