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The David St John Charitable Trust

edited December 2007 in - WM and WN

Comments

  • Hi everyone

    Having just read the inspiring magazine that arrived through my door with my Writing Magazine a couple of months ago called Annual Competitions Guide '07-'08, I don't suppose anyone would know whether the company 'The David St John Charitable Trust' is a separate competition programme to which you need to enter for competitions or is it the overall name given to all Writing Magazine and Writers' News competitions?  The reason I ask is that I've won one of the competitions in Writers' News recently and was wondering whether I will be invited to the event next year.  Any advice would be most appreciated.

    Many thanks

    Gary Smith
  • Up until last year, the DSJTCT ran the Writing Magazine and Writers' News comps, with an annual presentation in Harrogate in May. That association has now stopped. There is now no presentation for the WM and WN competitions - you will receive a cheque in the post close to the time your story is published in the magazine.
    The David St John Thomas Charitable Trust are now running a few competitions of their own (details from them) - closing date sometime in January. Presentation of their awards will now take place at the Society of Authors in London.
    Hope that helps.
  • Hi, Gary. Welcome to Talkback.
  • Hello GFary, welcome to Talkback.
  • Apologies, my finger caught the F- I've been out of practice for a few days.
  • good to see you here
  • I'm disappointed too, Gary.  For the first time ever, I won a short story competition in Writers' News this year and was looking forward to meeting everyone in Harrogate in 2008.  Getting the cheque by post, welcome though it was, just wasn't the same.
  • Hello, Gary.  Congratulations on your Writers' News success.  Good luck with your writing.
  • I think the first place story is published in the magazine, while one or two of the others are published on this site.
  • Congrats Gary
    My first winning story is to be published in February too.  I didn't realise that there were to be no more award ceremonies.  What a shame.  It seemed a great way to meet fellow writers.  Oh well, keep on blogging.
  • You have just reminded me that I need to make my submission, as one of their competitions is for self published books. It is a good opportunity for me, since a lot of competitions exclude such books - even better is the fact that it covers non fiction and not just novels, as most also tend to do.   
  • Read your story Gary. It seems to lean to a Stephen King type of story which kept me hooked to the end. Well done on your success. Regards, Dora
  • VivViv
    edited January 2008
    It is a shame there will be no more Harrogate ceremonies. I have been twice. The trouble was that it cost so much to get up there from London, plus a hotel or a very long travelling day, that you can spend far more than you win, especially if it was just one of the WN comps that paid £100. Still great for prestige though!

    Gary- if you click on the Writers News tab at the top of the page, then click competitions it will tell you all about it.
  • Does anyone know if DStJT are still publishing books? Or has the Writers News 'How To' series taken over? I'm doing a bit of market research on writing advice books.
  • Yeah going to Harrogate was a drag, and an expensive one. I would not have gone if I'd had to spend all my winnings on fares ~ I won £1,000 for best self published book.

    I'm rather confused now. Am I right that WN is handling all the short story/poetry etc and DStJTCT is stilll handling the self-published books competitions? I need to know because I want to enter my new book. Mind you it was WN that asked me to write a piece about what winning in 2007 meant to me so perhaps it's WN who is handling them?

    Total confusion!

    Helena
  • edited June 2008
    WN/WM are running their own competitions in the mag- short story/poetry.
    The DStJTCT are continuing to run their competitions, but no longer via WN/WM.

    But WN does mention the winners, and highlight when those competitions are announced, but as I understood it that is the limit of their connection.
  • David St J Thomas lives down the road from here. I went to a talk he gave on Thursday as part of our book festival week - lots of inside tips on publishing, particularly self-publishing non-fiction. He remembers the days when he used to write back to authors of unsolicited manuscripts, encouraging them and giving them advice on how to improve their chances. Them were the days...
  • Where are the DStJTCT comps now run from and where is the info?
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