***STOP PRESS***
*Hay Writers’ Circle*
Fiction Competition 2025
The Frances Copping Memorial
Prize for Fiction

***Now Accepting Submissions!***

Submissions are now invited for our annual Fiction Competition, The Frances Copping Memorial Prize 2025, named in fond remembrance of our Lifetime President who sadly passed away in 2020.

The competition is open to everyone, members of Hay Writers’ Circle and non-members too. Pieces of 500-1500 words on any fiction theme are accepted. Closing date for entries is Tuesday 6th January 2026. Prizes are awarded for first, second and third place.

This year we are delighted to announce that our judge is the wonderful Holly Müller.

Holly Müller is a writer and musician living in the Bannau Brycheiniog. Her short stories are published in Rarebit (Parthian Books, 2013) and New Welsh Fiction (Seren Books, 2015). Her debut novel My Own Dear Brother (Bloomsbury, 2016) was Waterstones’ Book of the Month and garnered positive reviews in the Guardian, Independent, Sunday Times, Sydney Morning Herald and other international press. Holly achieved a 1:1 in Creative and Professional Writing at the University of South Wales (USW), winning the departmental prize for best creative submission, and completed USW’s Creative Writing PhD. Holly has written for the Guardian Observer, Independent, Sunday Times, Glamour Mag, Writers and Artists Yearbook, as well as prominent online publications, namely Strand Magazine, Female First, Bookish, Business Line New Delhi, and Literary Hub. Holly has performed at Cheltenham, Hay, Laugharne and Cardiff Literature Festivals. Holly taught creative writing at USW and ran Ty Newydd Writing Centre courses with Kate Hamer, as well as workshops at schools and festivals, before having a family.

Holly’s Publications:
Novel:
My Own Dear Brother (Bloomsbury, 2016)

Short stories in anthologies:
Rarebit (Parthian Books, 2013) and New Welsh Fiction (Seren Books, 2015).

Please follow the guidelines listed on our COMPETITIONS page if you would like to enter.

You can contact writers4haycomp@gmail.com if you have any questions or queries. 

Click on the link below to download the competition guidelines and entry form :

Good luck!

Don’t forget to subscribe with your email address in the box below.