Calling All Writers! Submit to the 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize – Deadline: June 30, 2025

Are you ready to take your writing to the next level? The 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize is your chance to be discovered! Open to emerging voices worldwide, this prestigious competition seeks bold, fresh talent in life writing, poetry, and fiction.

For over 15 years, this prize has launched the careers of literary stars like Akwaeke Emezi, Caleb Femi, and Louise Kennedy, who have gone on to win major awards and secure global publishing deals. Could you be next?

This year, we’re breaking new ground—for the first time ever, we’re accepting translated works! If you have an unpublished English translation (up to 3,000 words) from any language except modern English, now is your moment to shine. You can even include a 300-word Translator’s Note to share your vision.

The 2025 judging panel is led by Romesh Gunesekera, with category judges Anton Hur (Fiction), Noreen Masud (Life Writing), and Yasmine Seale (Poetry)—renowned voices who are eager to discover the next literary sensation.

What’s at stake?
£1,000 cash prize for winners in each category
Publication in Wasafiri magazine
Exclusive mentorship opportunities with The Literary Consultancy
A one-year print subscription to Wasafiri

This isn’t just a competition—it’s a launchpad for your literary future. Don’t let your story go untold. Submit by June 30, 2025, and let your voice be heard!

Enter Now

Eligibility

1. The competition is open to anyone who has not published or signed a contract to publish a book-length work of fiction, life writing, or poetry, except for self-published works or poetry chapbooks.
2. Work in translation is eligible for entry.
3. Entries must be in English and must not have been previously published in any form (excluding live performances or shares on personal blogs or social media channels).
4. Entrants can submit an unpublished English translation of a published or unpublished work of up to 3,000 words from any written language, with the exception of modern English, alongside the original work, and an optional Translator’s Note of no more than 300 words.
5. Entries of work of self-translation are accepted.
6. Entries in translation must be the original work of the entrant and not a copy or substantial copy of another translation; it must not have been previously published.
7. Translations will be assessed for their quality in English and the focus will be on the work of the translator.
8. All entries are checked for plagiarism, and the prize organisers reserve the right to disqualify any entries suspected of containing plagiarised content.
9. The use of assistive software and/or technology is permitted. Entries formed entirely of AI-generated content, or which have been produced solely through the use of machine translation are not permitted; entries found to be formed entirely of AI-generated content, or produced solely through the use of machine translation will be treated as plagiarism.
10. Should the prize-winning work in any category be a translation, the Prize is awarded 50% to the translator, and 50% to the original writer. If the original writer is deceased, but his/her/their work is still within copyright, 50% of the Prize is given to the original writer’s estate.
11. If entries are published, or accepted for publication, elsewhere between submission and shortlisting, they will no longer be eligible. You must inform us immediately if work submitted to the prize is then accepted for publication elsewhere by emailing wasafirinewwritingprize@qmul.ac.uk.
12. The competition is not open to members of the WasafiriBoard, Editorial Boards, or Wasafiristaff, or any individual involved in the administration of the prize, or their families.
13. Entries must be completed through the submissions form no later than 11.59pm BST on 30 June 2025.
14. Failure to meet the conditions of entry will mean that a submission is automatically disqualified from the competition. Entry fee(s) will not be refunded.

Format of entries

15. No entry may exceed 3,000 words. Any entry which exceeds 3,000 words will be disqualified.
16. The optional 300-word Translator’s Note is not included in the word limit, but any Translator’s Note which exceeds 300 words will result in the entry being disqualified.
17. All prizes are for short works, not for novel/memoir extracts. While extracts from longer works are eligible, they must stand alone as complete works in their own right.
18. A single poetry entry can include up to three poems, which together total no more than 3,000 words. Each entry comprising three poems submitted as a single document.
19. Do not write your name or provide any other form of identification on your manuscript or in the document title. All submissions will be considered anonymously.
20. Work must be typed, in a legible font, font size 12, double-spaced, A4, and submitted as a .doc, .docx, .pdf file or similar.
21. Manuscripts cannot be altered after submission.

Fees

22. Entries are considered accepted through our website once the fee is paid. All successful submissions will receive an acknowledgement. If you do not receive an acknowledgement, there may have been a problem with your entry; in this case, check your email spam folder, and then contact wasafirinewwritingprize@qmul.ac.ukto confirm successful receipt.
23. We offer subsidised entries for those who would not otherwise be able to enter the prize.
24. Fee is per entry: £12 for a single entry, £16 for a double entry, and £6 for a single subsidised entry. You may make multiple entries if you would like to do so by completing the entry form multiple times.

Find the complete set of guidelines and submission form here.

Deadline for submissions: June 30, 2025