Current Competition - SW TED JONES SHORT STORY TROPHY COMPETITION 2025
Brief: Write a Ghost Short Story
Word Count: 1600 - 1800 words
Judge: Dominic Vines
Thoughts From The Judge
Dominic reads a lot of fantasy fiction, and is looking primarily for a good story, but especially for a good - possibly twist - ending. He’s interested in hauntingly scary, but potentially humorous, and especially with an interesting twist. He’s read too many stories with disappointing endings for his taste, so make it a good one!
Deadline:
MIDNIGHT SUNDAY 16th Feb 2025
Results:
Monday 24 March 2025
Rules:
Open to members only.
One entry per member.
Email entry only.
No author’s name to appear anywhere on the manuscript.
Title of piece and page number to appear on each page. (Footer or Header)
Title on Page 1 (Please do not use the title of competition as a title)
Line spacing – 1.5
Insert word count at the end of your piece.
If you are unsure about the formatting of your entry, you might find the Word documents on our website about suggested layouts and formats useful.
Submission Rules:
E-mail your short story as a word attachment to the Adjudicator (Neil Dickinson)
Your file must have the same name as the title of your entry prefixed by SWSS25. (e.g. ‘SWSS25 – Boo!)
Once all the entries are in, the Adjudicator will send them electronically to the judge
Please note that the Adjudicator (Neil Dickinson) will only check that your file opens and not carry out any formatting or corrections on your behalf So please ensure you check that you have adhered to the rules and check you presentation, spellings etc.
You will receive an e-mail from the Adjudicator (Neil Dickinson) confirming both they have your entry and when it has been received by the judge.
For this competition, work may be discussed amongst members, but is entirely up to the individual and done on a mutual basis between writer and reader. Members should not discuss any other entries without the permission of the author to respect the privacy of those who wish to keep their work to themselves.
Failure to comply with any of the rules may result in your work being withdrawn from the competition.
Good Luck
Slough Writers Competitions (in general)
Style guides can be found here: Format & Layout, Instructions
Each term and over the summer break the Group organises a competition for members. See below for the terms of the currently-active competition.
Article over the Autumn term.
Short Story over the Spring term.
Poetry over the Summer term.
Varied topic over the summer break.
An external judge is appointed and there is a trophy for the winner and cash prizes for the three winning entries. The Summer competition sometimes involves the participants critiquing and ranking the other entries.
For more information about our competitions and trophies, please read About us page.