Requirements:
Open from 20th October to 31st December 2025
Open to UK residents only.
Must be your own original, unpublished work. No simultaneous submissions or reprints.
Complete, standalone short stories only - no first chapters, prologues or sequels.
Open to any fiction prose (except for horror) written in 2025. Minimum word count 2000 words. Maximum word count 7000 words.
Must be submitted as a Word document, 12 point font, single line spacing. Please DO NOT put the title or your name or pen name on the document. This is to help us anonymise the entries for our judges.
Successful submissions will be published by April Showers Publishing as a perfect-bound paperback in a collection titled Midnight Streetlight (early 2026).
Whilst we aren’t asking for pieces to be inspired by any particular theme this time, but it may help you to read our company’s Mission Statement before choosing your piece(s) for submission.
We take a zero tolerance stance on the use of generative AI. Please do not submit any prose written with generative AI.
Maximum of 3 submissions per person. The entry fee is per 1 submission. DO NOT submit all three together, at risk of being auto-rejected
How to submit:
Add 1, 2 or 3 entry fees to your cart (£5 per entry) and checkout.
Once you have paid, you will receive a confirmation email with your order number.
Send your piece(s) as separate Word documents, 12 point font, single line spacing to aprilshowerspublishing@gmail.com with your order number and name as the email subject line.
After submission:
Please reply to any emails from aprilshowerspublishing@gmail.com ASAP in case there is an issue with your submission.
If we do not receive your submission in the proper format by the deadline, even if you have paid, you will not be entered and will not receive a refund.
You will be contacted in January 2026 to let you know if your work has been accepted. Rejected submissions will receive short, analytical, encouraging feedback from our in-house editors.
Please be patient - we’re a very small team working hard to get back to everyone as soon as possible after the deadline. If you haven’t heard from us by the end of January 2026, please contact aprilshowerspublishing@gmail.com
Requirements:
Open from 20th October to 31st December 2025
Open to UK residents only.
Must be your own original, unpublished work. No simultaneous submissions or reprints.
Complete, standalone short stories only - no first chapters, prologues or sequels.
Open to any fiction prose (except for horror) written in 2025. Minimum word count 2000 words. Maximum word count 7000 words.
Must be submitted as a Word document, 12 point font, single line spacing. Please DO NOT put the title or your name or pen name on the document. This is to help us anonymise the entries for our judges.
Successful submissions will be published by April Showers Publishing as a perfect-bound paperback in a collection titled Midnight Streetlight (early 2026).
Whilst we aren’t asking for pieces to be inspired by any particular theme this time, but it may help you to read our company’s Mission Statement before choosing your piece(s) for submission.
We take a zero tolerance stance on the use of generative AI. Please do not submit any prose written with generative AI.
Maximum of 3 submissions per person. The entry fee is per 1 submission. DO NOT submit all three together, at risk of being auto-rejected
How to submit:
Add 1, 2 or 3 entry fees to your cart (£5 per entry) and checkout.
Once you have paid, you will receive a confirmation email with your order number.
Send your piece(s) as separate Word documents, 12 point font, single line spacing to aprilshowerspublishing@gmail.com with your order number and name as the email subject line.
After submission:
Please reply to any emails from aprilshowerspublishing@gmail.com ASAP in case there is an issue with your submission.
If we do not receive your submission in the proper format by the deadline, even if you have paid, you will not be entered and will not receive a refund.
You will be contacted in January 2026 to let you know if your work has been accepted. Rejected submissions will receive short, analytical, encouraging feedback from our in-house editors.
Please be patient - we’re a very small team working hard to get back to everyone as soon as possible after the deadline. If you haven’t heard from us by the end of January 2026, please contact aprilshowerspublishing@gmail.com
