Actors Sue Thacker and Brian Capron with Anderida chairman Tony Flood (centre).
You can win cash prizes, a three-course meal for two people at the Pomodoro e Mozzarella Italian Restaurant, Eastbourne, and a bottle of bubbly by entering the Anderida Writers Annual Short Story and Poetry competition.
The closing date for entries is this coming Wednesday, June 17th, 2026, but you can qualify by bringing along your entry, as a guest, to the June meeting, which is also being changed to Wednesday, June 17th, at the Hydro Hotel, Eastbourne, in their Wedgewood Suite.
Actors Brian Capron, of Coronation Street fame, and Susan Thacker are being invited to read out entries at the July meeting.
This year’s competition can be on any theme, and there will be cash prizes of £60 for the winner of the short story section and £50 for the poetry section, plus other prizes for those finishing second and third in each section.
The competition categories are:
Short stories up to 600 words
Poems up to 40 lines in length.
Entry requirements:
The competition is open to all Anderida members or guests who have attended at least one meeting on or before the closing date. Entries can be published or unpublished and can have been entered in other competitions, but must be the original work of the writer.
Short stories should be typed in 14pt font, double-spaced, on single-sided A4 sheets (not double-sided). Poems to be typed in 14pt font, single-spaced.
Three copies of each entry and entry fees should be sent to Competition Secretary Francis Wait at the address below in an envelope, ALSO within which an additional sealed envelope must be enclosed, containing the writer’s name, address, phone number and an original title of the entry. The author’s name must NOT appear on the actual story or poem, but a word count must be given at the end of the short story entries.
Entrants should also state whether they would prefer their entry to be read by a man or a woman.
The entry fee is £6 for a single entry and £9 for two entries per person. The maximum number of entries is two per entrant for full members and only one entry for guest members. However, given the time constraints on the reading of entries, a maximum of 24 will be judged. This means that if there are more than 24 FIRST entries, only the first 24 received will be considered. If less than 24 FIRST entries are received, the SECOND entries, up to an overall total of 24, will be judged. Any second entries able to be accepted in this way, will be taken in date order received, until the overall 24 is reached (so the sooner you submit any second entry the better!). Entries not able to be judged will have the submission fee refunded.
Any entries which contain profanities, or other unacceptable material, may be rejected.
Judging:
Readings and judging of all entries will take place at the July meeting. All qualifying members present (full members and guests who have attended at least one Anderida meeting on or before the closing date) can vote for each entry (giving scores up to 10), including their own. A marking form will be issued to each eligible person present, and those voting must write their name at the top of it.
Readings will start at 7.45pm. Anyone arriving after this time will not be able to mark the entries, as they will have missed the initial reading(s).
Submission Arrangements:
Submissions should be sent, to arrive by Wednesday, June 17th, 2026, to competition secretary: Francis Wait, at Flat 30 Lakeside Court, 35 Dallington Road, Hampden Park, Eastbourne, BN22 9EJ. Cheques should be included in the main, outer envelope, NOT in the sealed envelope containing your name, and should be made payable to ‘Anderida Writers’.
Author Bio:
Award-winning writer Tony Flood spent most of his working life as a journalist, initially on local and regional papers and then on nationals. He was also editor of Football Monthly, Controller of Information at Sky Television and enjoyed a spell with The People before retiring in 2010.
More details and book offers are available on two websites as follows:
https://tonyfloodauthor.wordpress.com/
http://www.fantasyadventurebooks.com
Tony is the chairman of Anderida Writers, Eastbourne, a group formed to support local authors. The group holds monthly meetings at which regular guests offer advice and support to members. Visit their website at: www.anderidawriters.co.uk for dates of forthcoming meetings.
Contact Author:
Email: tflood04@yahoo.co.uk
