Every month we host a new competition on Writing the City. Sign up to our newsletter and be the first to find out about competitions and more. Our competitions are open to writers of any nationality in any location, though some prizes may be specific to Singapore.

Dickens 2012: City Dwellers

Deadline: 29 February 2012

“A boy’s story is the best that is ever told.” ~ Charles Dickens

Always interested in the plight of ordinary people, Charles Dickens earliest work was ‘Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People’. In continuum to our celebration of Dickens 2012, the 200^th year anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, Writing the City invites you into the ordinary lives of ordinary city folk.

Delve into the rich detail of day-to-day city-life, the subtle undercurrents of everyday relationships, and the hidden motivators behind ordinary actions. Build your story using the very people without whom the city could not exist: The gossipy women under the block of flats, the genial shopkeeper who begins his day at six each morning, the waitress who just spilt wine down a customer’s dress, or the dyslexic postman who keeps mixing up your mail. Find and bring to life the vivid ordinariness of the everyday.

Write in any genre you like (poetry, prose, script) as long as you develop this theme. Our judges will be looking out for pieces that turn the seemingly ordinary and into interesting and insightful.

Winners will receive the following prizes:

First Prize: $120 Kinokuniya Book Voucher

2 runners up will receive a special stationary set from Books Actually

Please make sure that you pay close attention to following all the rules and instructions below when entering the Competition:

Rules:

• Prose/script entries must be no longer than 650 words
• Poetry entries must be no longer than 30 lines
• There is no minimum word limit
• All entries must follow our Posting Guidelines, except regarding length
• The deadline for entries is 29 February 2012

To Enter:

• All entries must follow our Posting Guidelines
• All entries must be geo-tagged on the City Unwritten Map
• Sign up/in at http://civiclife.sg/writingthecity/wp-login.php
• Click on WRITE
• Enter your text.
• Tick Dickens 2012: City Dwellers in the categories on the right hand side
• Click Publish
• Click View Post to see your entry
• Click READ to read other people’s entries
• For help, click here
  

City Unwritten Competition

Deadline 31 December 2011

A six-month competition open to all writing – prose, poetry, scripts, scribbles.

The City Unwritten Map plots the places where our writing comes from. As we share more work, it will become a chart of stories, poems and responses to the city, the region and the wider world.

In December 2011, we will select one piece from the map to be made into a short film by a filmmaker based in Singapore.

Feel free to enter new work, or work already posted on Writing the City, just make sure you geo-tag it on the City Unwritten Map (according to either the location where you wrote the story or the location where the story takes place- you can clarify in the “About this piece” section if you would like to) and follow the instructions below.

A shortlist will be drawn up by the Writing the City team, judges from our Writers’ Panel will select the final piece.

Rules

• All entries must follow our Posting Guidelines
• All entries must be geo-tagged on the City Unwritten Map
• Prose/script entries should not be more than 1000 words
• Poetry entries should not be more than 40 lines
• There is no minimum length requirement
• Pieces posted on Writing the City before the launch of this competition may also enter their work. Instructions below
• The writing may take place in any location, real or imagined, as long as it is geo-tagged. The film of the winning piece will be shot in Singapore
• The deadline for entries is 31 December 2011

To Enter:

• Log in or sign up
• Click on WRITE
• Enter your text
• Tick City Unwritten in the categories on the right hand side
• Scroll down to where you see the map, enter your location (e.g. Tiong Bahru, Singapore) in the box and click enter. You should then see that location on the map
• Click Publish
• To enter a piece you have already posted on Writing the City, go to that post, click edit this entry at the bottom and then add the post to the City Unwritten category and geo-tag it following the instructions above
• Click READ to read other people’s entries
• For help, click here or send us a message

Previous Competitions:

Dickens 2012: The Bicentennial Anniversary of the Birth of Charles Dickens

To mark the 2012 bicentennial anniversary of one of Britain’s most beloved writers, Writing the City invites you to step into the imaginative world of Charles Dickens and write a present-day character sketch, taking inspiration from one of Dickens’ characters. Thanks to our judges, Julia Bell (English), Chia Hwee Peng (Chinese), Isa Kamari (Malay) and K Kanagalatha (Tamil), and congratulations to our winners, Resham Premchand with her piece Silence and Amanah Mustafi with her piece Anak Jalanan and our runners up Benjamin Goh and Lin Jiaying with The Old Lady of the Blocks and Unseen.

November 2011: History & the City

A city’s history, its building blocks, and mesh of irony and contradictions. We asked writers to think about a city’s hidden past and unearth the gems beneath cement-exterior, and the characters who once walked this city whose stories are yet to be told. Thanks to our judge, award-winning author Dave Chua, and congratulations to our winners, Jerrold Yam with Inheritance, and runners up Ann Ang and Joel Chua with Finding the Sea and The Great White Lie of 1964.

October 2011: Transactions

Inline with the Singapore Writers Festival 2011, Writing the City asked writers to delve into the topic of “Transactions”. How do the currents of exchange affect our daily lives; from the individual to wider society? Does it distracts us from the truly valuable aspects of life? Does money stimulate or hinder art? Many thanks to judge, Madeleine Lee. And a warm congratulations to our competition winner, Farah Jaffar, with her piece Means of Gains, and runners up Catherine Rose Torres and Tracey Sullivan with Buskerville and Or Do They Laugh?.

Jack and the Beanstalk

What happened to Jack when he climbed the gigantic beanstalk? We asked writers to let their imagination run wild and submit their take on what indeed, did happen to Jack. Who did he meet? What magical encounters awaited him? Congratulations to winners Loh Guan Liang and Joel Chua with Beanstalk and At the Top of the Beanstalk.

September 2011: Looking Forward

Writers looked forward into visions of the future in the city, exploring city scenes disappearing into memory as the city changes and evolves. Judge Pooja Nansi selected winners whose work was showcased at Writing the City’s Spoken Word/Open Mic event on 13 October at the Arts House.  Many thanks to Pooja Nansi and a big congratulations to the winner Lilian Wang with her piece Lim Mong Lee and runners up Joel Chua and Dorothy Low with Futuristic Painting and Remember?

August 2011: The Individual and the City

Writing the City encouraged writers to contemplate a moment amidst the alienation of city life where a lonely individual surprisingly connects with a character or characters around him / her and how this connection reveals the common humanity between people, transcending differences and cultural identity. Congratulations to our winner Nurfilzah Rohaidi with her piece Stickmen and to our runners up, Yi Han Teo with The Meaning of Things and Catherine Rose Torres with Shivering Worlds of Beauty. Thank you so much to our judge Jeremy Sheldon himself.

July 2011: Local Magic

We invited writers to compose a short piece in which magic or an encounter with the supernatural takes place in their neighbourhood. Congratulations to Ryan David Lim who won first prize with his piece rain girl and to the runners up, B. Liew with We’re all ghosts and Tania De Rozario with Whether She Would Dream. Many thanks to our judge, accomplished writer and playwright, Eleanor Wong.

June 2011: Hidden Skyline

We asked writers to choose a meaningful place or building in the city where they had worked, lived, dreamed or loved and to write about the memories that live in that place. Our judge, acclaimed writer and editor Desmond Kon, selected Eric Valles’ poem Verses on Bukit Chandu as the winning piece and two runners up: Catherine Rose Torres for her piece The Birdcage and Bronwyn Tan for The Postman You Recognise So Well.

May 2011: Two Voices

We invited writers to create a piece involving an urban encounter between two characters, and to record themselves reading their work. Congratulations to Ryan How, who won first prize with his piece Dust, and to Catherine Rose Torres and Jia, our runners up. A big thank you to our judge, UK novelist Jeremy Sheldon.

April 2011: Character Snap

We challenged writers to create a character in no more than 500 words, and to include an image that would add something to the piece. Our judge, graphic novelist Dave Chua, awarded first prize to Catherine Rose Torres for her piece The Single Mother. She won a compact canon camera. The runners up were Evariste Galois and Seow Ser Lee.

March 2011: Fair is Foul

Lisa Li, Geraldine Choo and Ashley Ong were the winners of our Fair is Foul Writing Competition, supported by Singapore Repertory Theatre. We challenged writers to explore aspects of the city where ‘fair is foul’ or ‘foul is fair’, and all is not as it seems. All three won tickets to Singapore Repertory Theatre‘s Macbeth in Fort Canning Park. The competition was judged by poet Madeleine Lee.

February 2011: City Loves

Michael Chin, Eric Valles and Melanie Lee were the winners of our special one-day Valentine’s competition. Lucky in words, though not always in love. Click here to read their entries and much, much more.