Every year we run a themed short story contest for our members, with the view to encourage writing fiction to a brief, finishing and polishing a draft, and getting used to submitting anonymously.

It is a period of encouragement and engagement for the active members of the group, topped off with exciting prizes, an awards party, and the achievement of having yet another story one can send off to magazines!

Themes in the past have included:

• Betrayal
• Water
• Rebirth
• Mirrors
• Depths

… and prizes have ranged from custom printed Spectrum mugs to bookshop vouchers and story critiques from authors and magazine editors!

Our timeline usually runs for a while, allowing 3 months to draft your entry, then a month and a half to read everyone’s entries and vote on your favourites. We have a unique voting system that allows weighted choices across a range of categories, and the winner is the story that amasses the most points at the end of the voting period.

To be eligible to participate, you have to be a full Spectrum member. This means you must have attended and provided feedback at a Spectrum critique meeting at least twice since you joined Spectrum, have attended a critique meeting in the last calendar year, or to be a member of an active Novel Track group.

So if this sounds like fun, come to our next critique meeting and get this party started!