This competition is free to enter. There will be prizes and routes to publication.
General Competition Information
We are looking for Full-Length Novels for adults that in some way touch upon ideas around building a sustainable society. If you’d prefer to create your story in a different format, click here. We will consider all genres – rom-com, literary fiction, science fiction, mystery, crime etc. – but stories must engage with the idea of environmentally sustainable practices and/or sustainable societies.
Most stories set in the future are dystopian, meaning they have a pessimistic view of society. We will consider all stories, but we encourage you to imagine a more positive settings and practices for your stories. You can find out more about why we recommend positive stories by clicking here. Do feel free to draw upon the resources in the Green Stories website to write your story (found in the menu on the homepage. Each page provides links to articles/videos that describe the ideas and also ideas for how such ideas may be integrated into stories.
The story doesn’t have to be about sustainability or climate change directly. A rom-com, for example, could be set in a society that replaces ownership with borrowing and the heroine goes to a clothes library to pick up a posh dress and borrow jewellery for her big date; or the hero in a crime drama could use a carbon credit card and hear the news in the background reporting on the wellbeing index instead of GDP; or the characters in a legal drama could live in a city where everyone has gardens on their roofs and generates energy from their own waste.
No children’s books as we expect to run a later competition for children’s stories.
We are especially interested in stories that would translate well into a TV series or film.
Full-length novel (adult) Guidelines
Deadline: extended to 2nd July 2020
Length: Typically novels are 50,000 – 100,000 words. Submit 5000 – 10,000 words that must include the following:
– the first chapter
– another chapter that best showcases how your novel meets the green stories criteria
– a third chapter (suggest the final chapter if possible)
– a one-page synopsis with your name and contact details
You can submit more than three chapters if you need to, in order to make up to 5,000 words. We may then ask for the full novel from the best entries.
Prizes: £750: 1st prize £500, 2nd prize £100, third prize £50. An additional prize of £50 for the best student submission (18-25 years) and £50 for best < 18-year submission (if sufficient high-quality entries). If a student or under 18 entry is the best overall then it will win first prize regardless of whether the entry is from a student, and the student prize will then go to the next best student entry.
Eligibility: Open to all, as long as it has not been published elsewhere. All submissions must be in English and conform to the Green Stories criteria of showing a positive vision of what a sustainable society might look like or in some way smuggling in green solutions/policies/characters in the context of an otherwise mainstream story. Entries must be submitted via the link below.
Helping you achieve success: We have agreement from Peter Cox from the literary agency, Redhammer Management, to provide a one to one mentoring session with the winners (at their office in London or virtual meeting).
Submit here. Send as a PDF.
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