Open for entries from 12th September – 31st October, the judges will be accepting for short stories between 500 and 2,000 words in length. A selection of winning entrants will see their stories published in an anthology. The book launch for this collection will take place at The Book Barge, a bookshop uniquely located aboard a narrowboat on the Birmingham canal.

The panel of judges will include novelists Jean Ure, who was first published at the age of sixteen, and David Belbin, famous for his edgy stories dealing with crime and the lives of young adults.