Happy holidays everyone.

We are closed Tuesday 23rd December to Thursday 1st inclusive. 

We reopen 2nd January 2026.

500 words is back – and it’s bigger and bolder and better

Readers of Village Life won’t have forgotten the Short Story Competition that Quorn Community Library ran during 2023/24 in association with the magazine.  So successful was it that we’ve decided to give it another go. As before, we’ll be publishing something in every issue of the magazine from later this year to the end of next. Selections for publication will be made by library volunteers and the competition will conclude with an awards ceremony when three prizes of £50 will be presented to three overall winners.  We thank Kevan Porter, the editor of Village Life, for donating the prize money once again. Whether we award prizes for the best submission in a particular age band or for the best submission in a particular genre will depend upon what we receive. But be sure of one thing: you’ve got to be in it to win it.

We invite submissions of pieces of writing in three broad forms:  prose, which could include fiction; memoir; and reportage, drama, and poetry/song lyrics.   

The rules 

For prose and drama the word count range is 475-525 for entrants of 12 years old and upwards.  For those under 12 the word count range is reduced to 225-275, although younger entrants are welcome to write something in the higher range.

For poetry, the above ranges apply as a maximum but shorter poems are acceptable, including short forms such as haiku and sonnets. 

There is no limit to the number of submissions that an individual can submit.

Submissions must not have been published elsewhere.

How to apply

Submissions should be typed in Word or Pages and double spaced.  The name of the writer should be included although requests for anonymity will be respected. The age of the writer should be stated clearly in years for those under 18, or as over 18 where appropriate. 

Please email your submission to me, Michael Coxon, at michaeltcoxon@btinternet.com. Do not send them to the magazine.

And finally

Don’t worry about deadlines.  It’d be lovely to have something to publish in the Christmas edition, in which case you need to crack on, but we’ll select from what we have as we go.  And look out for the folder in the library where we’ll place all of your submissions, whether published or not.

Best of luck,

Michael Coxon – on behalf of Quorn Community Library