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Ulster-Scots Writing Competition 2026

07 July 2026

Everybody kens a wee bit o Ulster-Scots and this is your chance to get creative with it!

With the support of the Ulster-Scots Agency, The Linen Hall will be hosting its sixth annual Ulster–Scots writing competition this summer.

There will be two competition categories, one for prose and one for poetry. The winner for each section will receive £500 and one runner-up for each section will receive £250.

The winners will be announced during the Ulster-Scots Language Week in November and the winning entries will be published in a special edition anthology.

A distinguished panel of judges has been assembled to adjudicate and this year's judges are Steve Dornan, Helen Mark and Lee Reynolds.

Deadline for entry is Tuesday 1 September 2026 at 5pm. Entries can be submitted via email or post, with further details in the Entry Guidelines below. 

Guid luck! 

ENTRY GUIDELINES:

  • The competition is open to writers born or resident in Ulster or Scotland over 16 years of age.
  • Entries MUST be written in Ulster-Scots.
  • No entry form is required.
  • Entries must NOT have been, by the date of submission, published or broadcast in any medium.
  • Entries will be considered ineligible if they are not entirely human‑created. The use of AI, machine learning, or automated writing tools to generate or significantly edit content is prohibited. 
  • Entries must be typed, in double spacing. Please write on one side of the page only if you are submitting in hard copy.
  • Prose entries must NOT exceed 3,000 words and poetry entries must NOT exceed 40 lines.
  • Entries can be emailed to info@linenhall.com or posted to the Linen Hall Library (7 Donegall Square North, Belast, BT1 5GB). Hard-copy entries will not be returned.
  • If submitting by email, please submit your entry as a Microsoft Word file attached to your entry email – PDF files will NOT be accepted.
  • Please use Ulster-Scots Writing Competition 2026 as the title of your email or write this on your hard-copy submission.
  • No indication of the writer’s identity should be placed on the entry (story or poem) itself. With your entry, you must include your name, address, telephone number and email address either in the body of your email, or on a separate page if entering via hard copy.
  • You may only submit one entry in total for the competition.
  • The winners of the competition in any given year will be ineligible to enter the competition in the year following their win.
  • The decision of the judges is final.
  • Only winners and runners-up will be notified.
  • Staff, board members or volunteers from The Linen Hall and/or Ulster-Scots Agency are ineligible for entry.
  • The winners will be awarded their prizes in The Linen Hall during Ulster-Scots Language Week in November 2026.
  • The Linen Hall reserves the right to select for publication such entries as may be deemed appropriate, in any year.
  • The Linen Hall will liaise with successful authors in preparing texts for publication.