The European Writing Prize 2022

The European Society of Literature hosts many writing competitions each year, but the European Writing Prize is the most prestigious of them all.

How To Submit To The European Writing Prize 2022

The European Society of Literature hosts many writing competitions each year, but the European Writing Prize is the most prestigious of them all.  The annual competition will help showcase a variety of writers from different backgrounds, and this year marks the first.

 The theme is usually quite vague so as to give authors room to add as much of their own individuality and creativity to their pieces as possible.

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Dates For The European Writing Prize 2022

Submissions will open on 1 October 2022, and will close on 1 January 2023. The longlist will be published 2 weeks later, on 15 January 2023.

 The shortlist will then be published a week later, on the 22 January 2023, with the winner being announced the following week, on the 29 January 2023. We know: there’s a lot of dates.

 However we expect to receive a lot of submissions, and it takes our judges time to sift through them.

Theme For The European Writing Prize 2022

The theme for this European Writing Prize is ‘Anxiety’. Writers should incorporate the notion of anxiety into their work however they see fit.

 What matters most is whether you submit a fine piece of writing — it isn’t so much about how close to the prize theme you make your work.

Who can submit?

Anyone! Despite ‘European’ being in the title, you can submit a piece of writing regardless of where you are in the world. We only ask that your submission be written in English, as our judges mostly speak that as their first language. 

Entry fee

There is no entry fee!  Due to the novelty of the organisation and its freshness on the literary scene, we believe it would be inappropriate for us to charge you to potentially showcase your work. 

Length of submissions

The length of your submitted piece should be from anywhere between 1500 and 3500 words.

Who will judge my writing piece?

The European Society of Literature’s competition team is made up of writers, authors, journalists, avid readers and people within the field of literature. 

Submissions will be passed between them all and judged based on their quality. The judging process is a strict one, and there is a very high standard of quality at TESL, so you can rest assured that a low quality piece of writing won’t be favoured over something fantastic.

What’s the prize if I win?

The prize for the winner will be as follows:

50 euros paid via PayPal or bank transfer

Automatic lifetime membership into The European Society of Literature

Publication in the following quarterly literary journal of TESL

Potential talks with literary agents — they may scout the shortlist and winners.

The prestige associated with being victorious! An unmatched opportunity to get your foot in the burgeoning literary industry of Europe and the Americas.

Rules For The European Writing Prize 2022

You must be 18 years of age to submit

You must submit your piece in English

Closing date for entries is Jan 1, 2023 at midnight (Berlin time).

Your piece must be your own work, not the work of others. Evidence of plagiarism will have your work removed from the competition.

You may enter the competition as many times as you want.

If you enter the competition more than one time, don’t use different names. You can use a pen-name if you wish, but stick to that name.

Any entrant can opt to remove themselves from the competition prior to the closing date, but no later than that.

The formatting of your writing piece should be 12 point, double-spaced. Page numbers should also be included

Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but let us know via email so we don’t mistake anything for plagiarism.

By submitting a piece, you accept all of the rules stated above and give TESL permission to publish your work in the journal granted you win or are shortlisted. Entries that don’t conform with the rules stated above will be disqualified and you may have to resubmit.

Submit