The Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest was the created by Professor Scott Rice. Sentenced to write a seminar paper on a minor Victorian novelist, he chose the man with the funny hyphenated name, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton. Best known for The Last Days of Pompeii, his novel Paul Clifford began with the famous opener that has been plagiarized repeatedly by the cartoon beagle, Snoopy
Throughout the years the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest has been covered by all the major American television networks, and for decades the winners continued to be announced by both national and international media.
It has once again announced the commencement of its 2023 contest and the deadline is June 30th.
Eligibility for The Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest
- The contest is open to writers around the world who write in English.
- There is no entry or reading fee required.
Submission Guidelines
-
Each entry must consist of a single sentence, but you may submit as many entries as you wish. Note, it is not a short story contest.
-
Sentences may be of any length but it greatly recommended that entries do not go beyond 50 or 60 words. Entries must be “original and authentic” (as it were) and previously unpublished.
-
Due to the volume of submissions, if your entry is more than one sentence or is missing a name or location it won’t be considered.
-
The contest accepts submissions every day of the livelong year, but the deadline for each year’s contest is June 30th.
-
Winners are announced in mid August. The 2021 winners were announced on August 13th.
-
In keeping with the gravitas, high seriousness, and general magnitude of the contest, the grand prize winner will receive … an absolute pittance (and bragging rights).
-
Please inflict your entries for the 2023 contest register using the form provided by the organizers.
Payment
- A pittance: This is small amount of money paid to someone.