The winning author will receive £1,000 to support them and their career and Valley Press will publish the short list of ten in an anthology that represents the best of contemporary short fiction. The anthology will be available nationally in bookshops and online.  Five runners up will also receive a Kobo Touch.

This Award will raise funds for The Big Issue in the North Trust, our registered charity (no. 1056041) that supports homeless and vulnerably housed people across the North of England.

It costs £10 to enter one piece of short fiction up to 3,000 words long and £2 for each subsequent entry. All proceeds go to the Trust.

Kevin Gopal, Editor of The Big Issue in the North, Jamie McGarry, Editor of Valley Press, and short fiction writer David Gaffney will select the winners.

The judges are looking for contemporary writing that displays originality, voice and vision. There is no theme and the wining short stories are expected to display outstanding literary quality. The Award will be presented at a special event taking place as part of Manchester Literature Festival on the 12th of October at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation.

The Award is sponsored by Creative Industries Trafford and Waterside Arts Centre.

The Award will be supported by a number of workshops across the region assisting vendors of The Big Issue in the North to engage with literature and writing as a means of expression. We believe that great fiction breaks down barriers and helps to end isolation. The first place prize will be presented at a special event on Saturday the 12th of October as part of Manchester Literature Festival.

To enter please donate you entrance fee through our JustGiving page set up for the event. Please include the reference you receive from the donation with your submission along with a completed application form. Submissions should be submitted as either a Microsoft Word document, a PDF or an RTF. Submissions should be no longer that 3,000 words in length.

Entries should be submitted to award@bigissueinthenorth.com along with a completed submission form and your donation reference.

Donations to enter the competition should be paid through Just Giving at: www.justgiving.com/asf

You can follow the award on twitter using the hashtag #BITNaward.

We wish you good luck in entering the competition and we look forward to reading all of your submissions.

Entry – £10
Subsequent entries – +£2

1st Place – £1,000 and publication of your short story in Anthology produced by Valley Press.
2nd to 6th Place – Kobo Touch and publication of your short story in Anthology produced by Valley Press.

The writers chosen for publication in the Valley Press Anthology will be expected to engage in an editorial process. By submitting your story to The Big Issue in the North you give non-exclusive right to reproduce the story to Valley Press and The Big Issue in the North. Stories submitted to the Award for Short Fiction cannot be currently under consideration by any other publication, competition or award between the date of submission and 07/08/13. Proceeds from the sale of the anthology produced by Valley Press will go to The Big Issue in the North Trust.