Prize Eligibility & Conditions

Eligibility & Conditions – 2025

A – HOW THE PRIZE IS FUNDED:

1. The literary prize is co-funded by The de Groot Foundation and Desperate Literature.
2. The Civitella residency is co-funded by The de Groot Foundation and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation.
3. All sponsored entries are covered by Desperate Literature.
4. We have no other funding and, as such, all other costs – prizes, in-house labour, web-development, publishing, Madrid event launch, translations, publicity, jury costs, and in-house residency – are funded by Desperate Literature and/or the proceeds raised by the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize. Further proceeds go to ensuring the continued viability of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize, the bookshop, and its community.

B – GENERAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

1. Entrants must be individuals and not a company or organization.
2. Entrants must submit their work using their legal name on all forms, though pseudonyms can be used for the purposes of promotion and publishing should you be shortlisted.
3. Entrants must be over 18 years of age at the time of submission.
4. The competition is not open to employees of Desperate Literature, of any collaborative entity or members of the judging panel. Family members of any of the aforementioned are also not eligible.
5. The competition is open to all writers (with or without an agent, published or previously unpublished) as long as their story itself meets the entry requirements.

C – SHORT FICTION REQUIREMENTS:

1. Submissions must be in English.
2. Submissions must be made in .pdf format (carrying no mention of the author’s name) when paying for your entry. Please do not email stories directly.
3. Submissions that carry an author name will not be considered.
4. Submissions may include images, but the maximum file upload size per entry is 10MB.
5. Submissions must be previously unpublished works of up to 2000 words. Unpublished here means unpublished in any form in any language, online or in print.
6. Submissions may be made simultaneously to other short fiction prizes, however your story can only be shortlisted for the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize if you accept to withdraw your story for any and all other competitions at the time of selection.
7. Entrants may submit more than one story.
8. The entry fee is set at €20 for the first piece of short fiction and €10 for every further entry with a maximum of five entries per person.
9. The Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize offers up to 40 sponsored entries, offering free entry to underrepresented writers or writers suffering from financial hardship.
10. The Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize offers up to 60 reduced-fee entry places sponsored by Desperate Literature, offering 50% entry to underrepresented writers or writers suffering from financial hardship.
11. If you consider yourself eligible and would like to apply for either a fully sponsored or reduced fee entry for this year’s prize, please apply by emailing prize@desperateliterature.com with the subject heading ‘sponsored entry application’ or ‘reduced fee entry application’ and include your name, contact information, and a very brief summary of your eligibility and why you are applying. Deadline for applications: April 1st 2025 (23h59). We will contact all applicants after the applications deadline and at least one week before the initial prize deadline (April 1st) with the result of their application, and those who are offered a fully sponsored or reduced fee entry will receive details on how to process their entry. Entry via a sponsored place will not compromise the blind reading of the prize.
12. A sponsored or reduced fee entry covers a single entry, though recipients may pay for further entries.
13. The sponsorship scheme is run in collaboration with Spread The Word, UK. Desperate Literature has extended a further ten sponsored places to Spread the Word, five places to Helter Skelter, and five places to The Literary Consultancy, to be selected by the organisations and sent before the closing date of midnight April 13th 30th CEST 2025 (EXTENDED DEADLINE).
14. We accept translations. Entrants may be the original author or the translator of the piece, but must have permission to submit and the rights for both pieces, and must be willing to provide proof of both if necessary. Neither the translation nor the original story may have been published previously. Cash prizes will be shared between translator and original author (where possible). Where prizes are for a single entrant (residencies, publication), original author and translator must agree to organise prize distribution. Where disputes arise, Desperate Literature will award single recipient prizes to the original author.
15. Only submissions received and paid for by midnight April 13th 30th CEST 2025 (EXTENDED DEADLINE) will be accepted.
16. Entries that are unpaid, incomplete, corrupted, or submitted after the deadline will not be considered.
17. Uploads are be made after purchase (please scroll to the bottom of the page to find the upload box) and can be revised on your order page here.
18. Please make sure to verify and proofread your .pdf upload before submitting. Stories cannot be swapped via the customer portal once uploaded. All exchanges must be made via email sent to prize@desperateliterature.com. Please include your order number, the name of the file to be deleted and the replacement file. We do our best to replace files when upload errors occur (the wrong file has been uploaded, for instance), but we cannot guarantee that small errors in the story can be accommodated (recently discovered typos, for instance). Please note: we really do our best to accommodate for such erroneous uploads, but once a story is allocated to a first-round reading group, we cannot guarantee changes or refunds.
19. PLEASE NOTE: We begin the reading process before the prize deadline. 
20. PLEASE NOTE: Your file will be available for you download on your order page here until it is allocated to a reading group! Once your story is allocated to a reading group, it is removed from your customer file and will not be available to download.
21. We cannot guarantee refunds on withdrawn stories. If the withdrawal is done before the story has gone out to a first-round reading group, we may be able to offer a refund under exceptional circumstances, but once a story has been entered into the reading pool, we cannot guarantee changes to the story or refunds.
22. Prizes are not transferable.
23. Entrants will retain copyright of their work. However, in submitting work, authors give permission to Desperate Literature to publicize and promote the work if appropriate and to use author names and story titles in publicity.
24. Entrants give permission to Desperate Literature to publish shortlisted stories in a single print run book of the shortlisted stories, for sale by Desperate Literature in-store, online, and through any relevant third-party distributors. Entrants also give permission to Desperate Literature to share this book with relevant parties (media, agents etc).
25. Entrants give permission to Desperate Literature to publish shortlisted stories in .pdf format for sale by Desperate Literature (only) in perpetuity. Entrants also give permission to Desperate Literature to share this .pdf with relevant parties (media, agents etc).
26. Shortlisted entrants will be given a one-off honorarium of €50 for the above mentioned print rights and .pdf rights.
27. We will be sending the shortlist book to agents in the USA and UK. As our aim is to get you all published, we can share a little of the advice we’ve received from agents over the years. For writers who wish to make the most of our prizes and opportunities, other than having a manuscript of short fiction or a novel ready, it is helpful to have ideas for future works lined up and ready to present, no matter the state of development. Voilà.

D – PRIZE CONDITIONS:

1. The week-long residency in the Civitella Ranieri Foundation must take place in either May or October the year following the prize win and includes two meals a day. It does not include travel to or from the Foundation, and the winner must arrive at the foundation on a weekday. The winner has up to one year to claim their place.
2. Winners of monetary prizes accept to receive transfers by PayPal or bank transfer, except in exceptional circumstances, in which case alternative arrangements can be made.
3. The winner of the ten-day Desperate Literature residency, Madrid, will be selected by the Desperate Literature team. The residency is self-catered and incudes a travel stipend of €100 paid by the bookshop. The winner of this residency will be informed over summer of 2025 and have one month to accept their place before it is passed on to another shortlisted entrant. The winner of the residency MUST take their residency by the close of 2026, co-ordinating with the Desperate Literature team, and ideally between the months of September and December.
   The Desperate Literature residency is hosted in a dedicated residency room in Desperate Literature, accessed by stairs. The bookshop will be open during daytime hours.
   The resident has keys to areas of the shop and so we have created some house rules for the use of the space and to protect everybody involved.

   The residency is conditional upon the resident accepting the Desperate Literature Residency House Rules. Desperate Literature reserves the right to end the residency at any time during the stay should the resident not respect the house rules.

   House Rules:

   The resident is given a set of keys to the side entrance and the building, along with keys to their residency room including a dedicated code for the alarm system.
   Residents will not smoke inside the bookshop.
   Residents will not bring third parties into the bookshop outside of opening hours.
   Residents will respect the neighbours of the building.
   Residents will have the opportunity to participate in / perform a reading of their work at Desperate Literature during their stay.
   Residents will have the opportunity to run a paid writing workshop during their stay, should they feel comfortable and have the requisite experience to do so. Residents will receive 70% of all workshop income, with 30% going into maintenance and upkeep of the space.
   Residents will receive a 25% discount on all books, excluding certain rare and valuable items to be discussed on an individual basis.
   Residents will receive a €100 travel stipend, to be paid in cash at Desperate Literature.

4. The Desperate Literature residency is hosted in our beautiful new space, currently under construction. As such, the offer of the residency is conditional upon the bookshop being fully functional and operative by the time of the residency period.
5. The winner of the European Writers Salon invitation will be selected by the European Writers Salon team and is only available to writers based in Europe (including the UK). The winner will receive a free ticket (c.250€ value) to their 2025 Salon in Brussels on September 12-14, where they will be offered a spot to read their work along with places on any sessions the winner wishes to attend. Two meals are included but accommodation is not. There is a €100 travel stipend to be paid after the event.
6. The final say for publication in all associated journals and magazines falls to the editors and is not guaranteed by Desperate Literature.
7. Publication in one magazine does not exclude the possibility of having further stories published in the other journals. The aim of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize is to promote the works of the winners as widely as possible.
8. Literary agent Ed Wilson of Johnson & Alcock offers a 30 minute consultation to the winner and two runners-up either by phone or Zoom.  The consultation is not an offer of representation.
9. All shortlisters will receive three contributor copies of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize booklet, given in person at events or sent via post.
10. All events dates are yet to be confirmed, dependent upon availability.
11. Prize participants are responsible for travel expenses to prize events.
12. The prize winner will receive a manuscript assessment through The Literary Consultancy for a manuscript of up to 60,000 words. The winner will be given six months to submit their manuscript to The Literary Consultancy, starting from the date of the winner announcement of the 2025 Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize, which is estimated to be late July 2025. Should the winner not have a manuscript to submit by that point, the service will then be offered to other members of the 11-person shortlist, until a suitable candidate is found. This decision will be made at the discretion of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize. While we do not intend to impose a minimum word count, we will encourage that this be at least 30,000 words, in order to make it worthwhile for both the writer and for The Literary Consultancy.
13. All longlisted writers will receive one year’s access to The Literary Consultancy’s ‘Being a Writer’ scheme, with access to be sent out to the longlist after the close of the prize.

E – REVIEW PROCESS:

1. We are looking for well crafted, boundary-pushing fiction. But a great story of any genre is a great story, so we’re also looking for anything with a strong sense of character, engagement, and tension.
2. All submissions to the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize are read blind by reviewers. Throughout the process, we subscribe to the CLMP contest code of ethics.
3. If a reader becomes aware of the writer’s identity, they will withdraw themselves from the process of reviewing the piece in question.
4. All entries are read by at least two reviewers before the shortlist is selected and then passed onto our judging panel. Our 2025 first-round reading team is made up of: Fatema Abdoolcarim, Lara Alonso Corona, Bárbara Bianchi Ceballos, Dom Chapla, Rali Chorbadzhiyska, Terry Craven, Finola Griffin, Kate McCully, Vesna Maric, Federico Guillermo Toro Uribe.
   We strive to bring together a diverse group of professional readers with experience in literary and creative fields.
5. Entrants agree to receiving information by email concerning the progress of their entry. Entrants can opt in or out of receiving further prize information from Desperate Literature.
6. An informal longlist selection is made during the last week of May, which will be announced on our website. We will also email all entrants with the results of the longlist, once it is made, but we ask that longlisted authors avoid public announcements in order to adhere to our anonymous judging process.
7. The shortlist will be selected early June 2024. All longlisted entrants will be contacted by email about whether they have been shortlisted or not, and shortlisted authors will be asked to avoid public announcements in order to adhere to our anonymous judging process. We will also announce the shortlist on social media and our website.
8. Once the judging panel has selected the winner and runners-up, all shortlisted entrants will be contacted by email and the winner and runners-up will be contacted by telephone. Expected date for selection: late June (though this is subject to slight change).
9. A public announcement of the winners will be made by the end of June/early July.
10. The shortlist will comprise eleven stories.
11. The winners are chosen from our shortlist by our jury panel and their decision is final.
12. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted individually.
13. No editorial feedback can be provided.

F – CLMP CODE OF CONDUCT:

CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines — defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.