Opportunity: Berlin Writing Prize 2019

The 2019 Berlin Writing Prize is now open for submissions! Until the closing date of June 30, 2019, we invite entries on the theme “The Circus” from both published and unpublished writers resident anywhere in the world.

Up for grabs is a one-month residency in a luxury apartment in one of the world’s most creative destinations for travellers, Berlin’s Circus Hotel. From January 4th to February 3rd 2020, the winning author will have a month to write, a free four-day pass to The British Council Germany’s Literary Seminar, and access to the famously inspiring Berliner Luft!

Alongside a host of runner up prizes, a shortlist of ten writers will be published in an anthology by the independent Berlin press KLAK Verlag. 

OVERVIEW

Theme: The Circus

Genre: Prose (fiction and non-fiction)

Length: Max. 3000 words, excluding title

Entry Fee: 12 euros via PayPal, submission via email to competition@thereaderberlin.com (see Submission Guidelines below)

Opens: January 10th, 2019

Closes: Midnight June 30th, 2019

Announcements: Longlist mid-August 2019. Winners will be announced on October 1st, 2019

Prize Giving Event: January 2020 (date tbc)

Residency Dates: January 4th to February 3rd, 2020

PRIZES

Winner: A one-month (four-week) residency at Berlin’s The Circus Hotel to take place from January 4th to February 3rd, 2020. The competition winner will receive their very own apartment, plus a month’s breakfast vouchers for the Circus Hostel, and up to 100 euros in travel costs toward their travel to Berlin. The winning entry will be showcased in a Reader Berlin anthology published by KLAK Verlag in January 2020.

In addition, The British Council Germany has generously offered the winner a place as a delegate at the British Council Literature Seminar 2020, due to take place over three days during the residency. The seminar, in its 37th year, offers students, academics, publishers, translators, journalists and literature fans the chance to hear the latest writing from the UK and engage with the writers and their work at first hand. Over the years, the list of writers taking part has included Ian McEwan, A S Byatt, Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson and David Nicholls.

Runners Up: Two runners up will receive two nights in a double room at The Circus Hotel over February’s competition prize-giving event in January 2020 (dates to tbc in early 2019), and 100 euros each towards their travel to Berlin. Their winning entries will be published in a Reader Berlin anthology.

Shortlist: A further seven shortlisted writers will win Reader Berlin goodie bags, plus invitations to our prize-giving event in January 2020. Their winning entries will be published on The Reader Berlin’s website and in the anthology.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Firstly, pay the entry fee of 12 euros via PayPal to competition@thereaderberlin.com and receive your PayPal transaction ID number (if you can’t see it, or have lost it, log into your account, click on ‘Summary of Activity’, click on the payment you made to us, and it will be visible bottom left).

Register for submission via this Google Form.

Submissions are to then be sent via email attachment to competition@thereaderberlin.com.The subject line of your email must contain the PayPal transaction ID number of your entry-fee payment along with the title of your piece. The attachment must be a Word document or PDF. Please ensure the title of the Word document or PDF is the official title of your submission (NOT “final draft 4.3” or “edited version”). Your entry should be anonymous, with page numbers, and double spaced in 12-point text.

RULES

• Closing date for receipt of entries is June 30th, 2019 at midnight Berlin time.
• Entrants must be 18 years old or over on the closing date, June 30th, 2019.
• The maximum length of submissions is 3,000 words (does not include title). There is no minimum length.
• The 2019 Berlin Writing Prize is open to all published and unpublished writers. There is no geographical restriction on entry, but all entries must be in English.
• Authors may enter as many times as they like. There is an entry fee of 12 euros for each entry submitted. Entries must be submitted via separate emails. Payment of the entry fee must be made via PayPal to competition@thereaderberlin.com. The PayPal transaction ID for each payment must be entered into the subject line of the submission email.
• Entries must be the work of a sole author, no co-authored texts will be accepted.
• Entries will not be returned. Please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made to your submission after receipt of the entry, though the winning, runner-up, and longlisted entries will be subject to editing before publication.
• Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been previously published, either in print or online (this includes self-published work, ebooks, magazines, journals, websites, blogs, social-networking sites), or broadcast or won a prize in another writing competition on or before June 30th, 2019. Any entry found guilty of plagiarism will be disqualified. Simultaneous submissions are welcome – but please let us know as soon as possible if your submission is to be published elsewhere, in print or online.
• Entries will be read and judged anonymously; the entrant’s name and contact details should only appear in the entry email and not anywhere on their manuscripts. The manuscripts must be free of all personal information about the author, i.e. email address, contact info, etc.
• Email entries will be acknowledged by email. If an entrant does not receive an email acknowledgement for an online entry they are very welcome to contact hello@thereaderberlin.com to confirm their entry has been received. Contact via email in the first instance is preferable.
• No entrant to the 2019 Berlin Writing Prize may win more than one prize. The judges’ decision is final and no individual correspondence will be entered into. Judges or readers cannot comment or give feedback on individual entries.
• By entering, entrants agree that if they are shortlisted for the prize, their entry will be published in a Reader Berlin anthology in both print and ebook formats in English and in German translation. Their entry may also be published online. Authors will retain worldwide copyright of their work (including film and dramatic rights) but The Reader Berlin has first publication rights to publish the 10 shortlisted pieces. The shortlisted pieces must not have been previously published, in print or online (including self-published, ebook, magazines, journals, websites, blogs, social-networking sites), or broadcast or have won a prize in another writing competition on or before June 30th, 2019.
• The overall winner must be able to undertake the residency at the Circus Hotel during the specified dates. Dates are not transferrable and no cash alternative is offered. During their residency, they will be required to read from their winning piece at the prize-winners’ event and to attend a further evening event to be agreed upon nearer the time with The Circus Hotel. In the event the winner cannot undertake the residency, the title of winner and the respective prizes will pass to the first runner up, and so on.
• Prizes will be awarded at the 2019 Berlin Writing Prize Event in January 2020. Results of the competition will be posted on The Reader Berlin website on the aforementioned dates.
• Any entrant wishing to withdraw their entry from the 2019 Berlin Writing Prize may do so at any time prior to the closing date. Entry fees cannot be refunded.

Entry implies an acceptance of all The Reader Berlin 2019 Berlin Writing Prize rules, including the right of The Reader Berlin to publish the ten winning entries in print, as an ebook and online. Copyright remains with the author. Entries that fail to comply with the entry rules and requirements may be disqualified. To request a press release, or with regard to any queries, please contact hello@thereaderberlin.com.