So here we are, the last day for our first monthly competition and we will be taking entries up to midnight - whenever it occurs in the countries of the globe!

What happens next? Well, the stories will be sent off to our judge, Fiona Cooper, who will have the task of coming up with our winning writer, and a highly commended if she feels strongly enough on behalf of a story that runs it close. There will be a small prize for any runners-up.

When she makes her decision, we will let the winning writer, or writers, know about their success first then announce it on the site. The winning story, or stories, will be posted on the site as well.

We have been asked one or two questions about the posting of stories. Yes, you retain the copyright, yes you can send it to other competitions, magazines or publishers and yes, tell everyone it is there! Our hope is that winning this competition will become a thing of which to be immensely proud.

And yes, you can enter again for the next competition: if doing so via the site you will need to re-register as if you were a new person.

The standard of entries for our first competition looks very good indeed, some very innovative and powerful writing.

As mentioned in previous blogs, Australia writers represent a strong contingent in the entries, closely followed by the UK, New Zealand and a number from Canada. We were also delighted to have our first entry from Finland.

So, there is still time to enter and even if you do not, January’s competition opens for business in a few hours!

Good luck

John Dean

The deadline is fast approaching for entries to our first monthly competition - and it is the Australians, above all others, who have taken up the cudgels.

With the closing date rapidly approaching, we have received a growing number of entries from Down Under, and there is some pretty powerful writing among them.

Other countries are represented as well, including New Zealand, Canada and Finland, as well as the UK.

Already we can see that our judge, the respected writer Fiona Cooper, is going to have a tough task selecting a winner.

So, Happy New Year to one and keep writing!

John Dean

The festive season is upon us and folks are getting ready for the big holiday.

However, we at the Global Short Story Competition know that writers just keep on writing and will continue to receive your stories over the festive period.

As you will all know by now, the closing date for this first competition is the final day of December, after which the entries will be sent to our judge Fiona Cooper.

We will then let the winner know of their success and post the winners‚ name and story on the site.

However, by then we will be well into January’s competition and we look forward to seeing those entries as well.

Everyone at Certys would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year.

John Dean

Writing is truly a global pastime and we are beginning to see that as our competition develops.

In addition to entries from the UK, Australia and New Zealand, I have also been contacted by writers from as far afield as India and the United States, all expressing interest in what we are doing.

That is very gratifying and next month we will be able to announce our first winner of the £100 prize. We are looking forward to that moment

What has been a strong theme in the entries so far is that writers are clearly excited by the power of their stories, by a desire to tell tales.

I believe that, to make a story work, you need three things. For a start, you need a good strong story, one that will sustain the narrative without losing the reader’s interest.

Then you need a strong sense of being, characters that are real and take over your story. If you are writing well, those characters should be speaking to you, writing their own dialogue, twisting your plot their way.

Then there is the third corner of the triangle, a sense of place. Your reader needs to know where the story is happening, to feel you take them by the hand and walk them into your world.

Once you have got those corners in place, everything else flows from them - narrative, drama, pace, tension, depth and the like.

Happy writing!

John Dean

Three weeks to go to the closing date of our first monthly competition and things are gathering pace with more entries coming in.

You will perhaps have noticed that we are developing the site as we go along. The Frequently Asked Questions section is now being filled in, based on questions from yourselves. We will continue that process as and when the queries are submitted.

We have also amended our rules section to give details for postal entries. Just over half the entries so far have been via our electronic system, but we are happy to receive them in the post as well.

So far, we have had entries from the UK, Australia and New Zealand, underlining the strength of writing in those countries.

Hopefully, we will start to see entries from other parts of the world as well. Certys set up the competition to find new talent and, hopefully, our monthly winners will be able to use their success when trying to interest publishers.

Till next time, keep writing!

John Dean

Recent days have seen Australian writers entering the fray in our competition and they are very welcome indeed.

The idea of the competition was always to find the best new writers across the globe and give them a chance to enjoy success with their work.

There is less than a month to go in our first competition now: you will note that the counter on the home page zeroed itself at the start of December. As mentioned previously, we gave writers six weeks for this inaugural challenge.

At the end of the month, our judge, the novelist Fiona Cooper, will read the entries and announce her decision on this site. It should be a tough decision and we are eagerly awaiting her verdict.

Entries keep coming in but if you experience any problems with our site - technology being what it is, there are sometimes glitches - please do not hesitate to get in touch and we can address it promptly.

In the meantime, we are enjoying seeing the first stories. Like we keep saying, there’s a lot of talent out there.

John Dean