The YCAA (Yeovil Community Arts Association) provides an opportunity for writers from around the world to enter our writing competition. The aims of the Yeovil Literary Prize are:

• to promote Creative Writing,
• to provide a genuine opportunity for aspiring writers, everywhere
• to support the YCAA in its future role by raising funds to support the arts

The Yeovil Literary Prize, started in 2002, has gained recognition as an established fixture in the international literary calendar. It fulfils its aims. The response to the Prize is magnificent, with quality writing being submitted from all corners of the globe. Many talented writers thrive on the opportunity to develop their craft through competition with other writers. We are proud to offer an award to novelists, as well as for writers of work that does not fit the usual writing categories with our ‘Writing Without Restriction’. We welcome short stories of every genre, and poetry. We have recently launched a new category for authors of Children’s and YA novels. If you are proud of something you have written, then enter it and see what happens next. Click on our SUCCESSES tab to see what happened to novels and inspired writers after entering the Yeovil Literary Prize.

The YCAA offers an additional award of £100 for the Western Gazette Best Local Writer, giving an added incentive for local writers who live within the distribution area of the Western Gazette to enter.

All entries for the five categories must be entered online using PayPal, BACS or IBAN; its ease of use has been proven by new entrants. We look forward to receiving and reading your work when the contest opens on 1st January 2024.

All profits from this competition are used within the community to sponsor local young people who are studying the arts, to support various art projects, and to host cultural events. We reach out to all the arts and also host an annual YCAA Booker Debate in partnership with the Yeovil Waterstones store.

We are a partner in the annual Yeovil Literary Festival. The twelfth Yeovil Literary Festival will happen in October 2024.

The Yeovil Literary Prize is managed by a dedicated team of volunteers and all details of how to enter can be found on www.yeovilprize.co.uk

The writing competition runs from 1st January and closes on 31st May each year.