Orton Competition (2020/21)

It’s that time of year when we showcase the amazing talent of Orton Writers. Last year’s competition on the theme of Winter was a great opportunity to use Orton’s publishing platform to create the Orton Collection 2020, available on Amazon. And now, we are carrying on the tradition with the Orton Collection 2021.

Last year, all of the writing we received was a pleasure to read and so we are really excited to read what you have for us this year!

The theme for this competition is Nostalgia.

Bring us your stories looking back in fondness. Whether it’s longing for loved ones and disappeared landmarks, or affection for the scratch of vinyl and the smoothness of pogs. There is no restriction on genre. Send us Darth Vader waxing lyrical about the days he ruled the galaxy, a serial killer remembering her first victim and recollections of secret love affairs.

Word limits are:

• Poetry : 40 lines
• Flash Fiction : 500 words
• Short story : 3000 words

The shortlist will be published in our annual anthology and the winner in each category will receive a paperback copy of the book. The deadline for entries is midnight on 15th January 2021. Please submit as a word document attachment to [email protected] with the subject 'Orton Competition – your name – title of your story'.

Please include a word count in the body of the e-mail and number the pages of your submissions. The judging will be anonymous so please do not put your name anywhere on the work.

We will accept one submission per category per person.

If your work is submitted elsewhere and accepted/published, please let us know as soon as possible as it will need to be withdrawn from this competition. Copyright for the work will remain with the author, however Orton Publishing will have the unrestricted right to publish the shortlist in the anthology or on their website and to use extracts for advertisement and PR purposes.

The judges will be Cheryl Byrne, Ali Al-Jamri and Kenzie Millar.

Cheryl writes short stories and is the Head of Community at Orton Publishing. As well as taking a primary role in running Orton’s Manchester Writer’s Circle, she arranged and contributed to the relay novel project, resulting in the publication of I’m Partial to Romance.

Ali is a co-organiser of Orton’s Manchester Writers Circle and a writer of both prose and poetry. He has been longlisted in the QuietManDave prize a Notable Contender in the Bristol Short Story Award and was in the 2020 BBC Words First spoken word programme.

Kenzie is a gifted writer of short stories and a co-organiser of Orton’s Manchester Writer’s Circle. She is currently working toward her Masters in Creative Writing. Kenzie was shortlisted in last year’s competition in both the Short Story and Flash Fiction categories with Yuletide and Christmas Dinner.

We are very excited about this competition and look forward to reading the submissions!