Submission guidelines

• Manuscripts must fall within the prescribed word count limit and not exceed it by even a few words. Manuscripts must not include the author’s name or contact details, only the title of the work. Entries which fail to meet these two conditions will not be eligible.
• Manuscripts should be 12pt, double or line-and-a-half spaced, in an easily readable font such as Times, Arial or Helvetica. Please insert page numbers.
• The Margery Allingham competition is open to all – both published and unpublished authors – and is for unpublished short stories of up to 3,500 words.
• By unpublished story we mean in any format, on any platform, in any language and at any time.
• The competition is open until 6pm GMT 28 February 2022.
• We advise writers to pay attention to Margery Allingham’s definition of a mystery and the chronology that it outlines. Scoring will be weighted towards stories that follow that chronology.

Terms and Conditions

If you are not ready to submit your document, or want to make some final revisions after paying for your entry with PayPal, you can.