The HG Wells Short Story Competition
The annual HG Wells Fiction Short Story Competition offers a £500 Senior and £1,000 Junior prize and free publication of all shortlisted entries in a quality, professionally published paperback anthology.
Theme 2026
Theme: The Cheat.
Entries will open in late January 2026 and close on Tuesday 7th July at 11pm BST.
Our shortlisted stories will be announced on Monday 21st September (the 160th anniversary of HG Wells birth).
Winners will be announced on Sunday 15th November.
For further information, please read the rules and FAQs below.
If you cannot find the answer to your query there, you can email hgwellscompetition@gmail.com
Competitions: — Overview
The Margaret and Reg Turnill Competition & Senior Writing Competition
The Margaret and Reg Turnill Competition for young writers of 21 years and under, for which the prize winner receives £1,000, and a competition for the over 21s which offers the Grand Prize of £500.
The Margaret and Reg Turnill Competition for young writers of 21 years and under, for which the prize winner receives £1,000, and a competition for the over 21s which offers the Grand Prize of £500.
HG Wells Short Story Competition Winners & Awards
At the 2025 HG Wells Short Story Competition Award Ceremony Sunday 16th November on the theme “The Middle Ground”, the winners were announced as:
Jane Belle for The Syrup Boy of Whickering Moor.
LM Bestie for Halfway Through The In-Between.
The 2025 Anthology of “The Middle Ground” is available now on Amazon at:
Buy The Middle Ground from Amazon.
Buy The Middle Ground as a Kindle download from Amazon.
The 2024 Anthology of “The Fool” is available now on Amazon at:
“I seek, in fiction, to advance ideas and naturally I repeat the ideas in which I believe.”
HG Wells
Events & Workshops
Every year, we run a series of workshops (often free to attend) in the lead-up to our writing competition’s closing date.
We hope that these workshops will inspire, educate and inform everyone who attends. You don’t have to be entering a story in to our competition – anyone can come to the workshops – but of course we hope you will send in an entry too!
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