The 2027 To Hull And Back Humorous Short Story Competition
July 2026 will see the launch of the 10th To Hull And Back Humorous Short Story Competition, a biennial writing contest with a humorous twist that celebrates the most imaginative and amazing short stories from writers all over the world.
Prizes:
- 1st prize: £1000
- 2nd prize: £200
- 3rd prize: £100
- 3 x runner up prize: £70
- 14 x shortlisted prize: £35
The competition is open to authors residing anywhere in the world. This is an open competition and there is no set theme, but stories must contain some element of humour. All stories must be written in English.
Stories must be no longer than 2500 (two-thousand five-hundred) words in length. This includes the title. To make this crystal clear, if your entry contains 2 501 (two-thousand five-hundred and one) words or more, it will be disqualified.
Stories entered into the competition can be previously published. This also means you can submit your work elsewhere at the same time as entering it into this competition. If your story is accepted elsewhere, it will still be eligible for this competition and will not be disqualified, but you can withdraw it if you want / need to.
Entry fee:
- There is an ‘early bird’ entry fee from 1st July 2026 to 31st March 2027. It is £10 (ten pounds GBP) for 1 (one) entry, £17 (seventeen pounds GBP) for 2 (two) entries and £20 (twenty pounds GBP) for 3 (three) entries. The ‘early bird’ entry fee closes at 11.59pm BST (GMT +1 / UTC +1) on 31st March. If you pay the early bird fee, you must submit your story by 31st March.
- From 1st April 2027 the entry fee will be £12 (twelve pounds GBP) for 1 (one) entry, £20 (twenty pounds GBP) for 2 (two) entries and £24 (twenty-four pounds GBP) for 3 (three) entries.
Each author can enter up to 3 (three) stories maximum. Each author can only win 1 (one) cash prize.
Deadline: 30 June 2027 at (8pm) BST (GMT+1 / UTC +1)