⏳ Weekly Writing Contest | November 2: The Interview
This week's guest judge is author and journalist Hattie Crisell. Submit your entry by Friday, November 7th at 12pm ET/5pm GMT.
Welcome to the Weekly Writers’ Hour Contest!
This week’s challenge invites you to explore what it means to ask the right questions.
*PLUS* Our friends at Scrivener and Chill Subs are adding prizes to the first-place winning bundle. Read more below.
📝 PROMPT
Write the interview you’ve always wanted to have. Imagine yourself as interviewee—or interviewer—and script the conversation you’ve always longed for.
Write an interview, real or imagined, in the genre of your choosing. Maybe it’s the dream interview where you finally get to explain yourself, or a chat with a character who refuses to stay quiet.
Unpublished pieces of 500 words or less in any genre are eligible.
Submissions are due by Friday, November 7th, at 5pm BST / 12pm ET.
Keep reading for more information on prizes and FAQs – plus an introduction to this week’s guest judge, author, journalist, and contributing editor of Grazia magazine, Hattie Crisell.
Happy writing!
The Writers’ Hour Magazine Team
Meet Our Guest Judge: Hattie Crisell
Hattie Crisell is a writer based in London. Her book, In Writing: Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation, was published by Granta Books in 2024. She produces the podcast In Writing with Hattie Crisell, interviewing writers of all kinds in their studies.
Crisell a freelance journalist, and a contributing editor of Grazia magazine. She has also written for Bustle, Elle, Vogue, You, The Times, The Telegraph, The Evening Standard and The Sunday Times Style, among others.
Crisell taught sold-out workshops on interviewing and other topics via Arvon, the Edinburgh Book Festival and the National Centre for Writing. She often chair events at bookshops and festivals (authors have included David Nicholls, Geoff Dyer and Emma Jane Unsworth). Crisell has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row and Woman’s Hour.
You’ll find much of Crisell’s published work on her website, and can get updates on her and her thoughts on the writing process by signing up to the In Writing newsletter.
A Note from Our Editorial Team
This week’s prompt invites you to sit down with the person, voice, or idea you’ve always wanted to question—or to finally let someone ask you what you’ve been longing to say.
You might write the dream interview where you get to tell your story on your own terms, or a conversation with a character who has things to reveal. You might question your past self, your future self, or something stranger: a muse, a landscape, a fear.
The beauty of the interview form is its flexibility. The shape of question and answer can hold humor, grief, confession, or play. Follow where it leads. Let the conversation surprise you.
How to Submit:
Submissions should be made through our online submission platform, Submittable, and formatted as a Word Doc.
For more details, please read the full Contest Guidelines.
The winning entries will receive:
First Prize:
$65 USD (£50 GBP)
Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine
3-months of London Writers’ Salon Silver Membership (£79 value)
*NEW* Scrivener Writing Software (£55 value)
*NEW* 3-Month Chill Subs Better Membership (£25 value)
Commemorative Writers’ Hour trophy mug
Second Prize:
Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine
1-month of London Writers’ Salon Silver Membership (£29 value)
Third Prize:
Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine
FAQs:
What genres can I write in?
All genres - fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc - are welcome.Is there a word limit?
Your piece must be 500 words or less. Pieces that exceed this will not be considered. There is no minimum word limit.Do I need to submit in a specific format?
Please follow the instructions outlined in the Contest Guidelines.When is the deadline to submit?
Submissions are due by Friday, November 7th at 5pm BST / 12pm ET / 9am PT. Submissions received outside this window will not be considered.When will the winner be announced?
The winner will be contacted via Submittable, and the winning entries will be published in Writers’ Hour Magazine by Saturday, November 29th.Can I submit a piece I’ve already published?
Only previously unpublished pieces are eligible for this contest. (Published means anything that has already been made publicly available in print or online.)Can I use AI tools (like ChatGPT) to help write my contest submission?
No. We do not accept any AI-assisted writing for contest entries. All submissions must be the author’s original work and human-generated. Use of AI will disqualify you from this and any future contests.
Congratulations to the winners of In the Spirit of Jeopardy!
We are thrilled to share the contest results for the week of October 5. Writers were invited to write a piece that was concise, puzzle-like, surprising, and rewarded close attention. Special thanks once again to our guest judge, Michael Davies.
First Place: In the spirit of Jeopardy! by Cathryn Nolan
Second Place: The Reversal of Fortune -or- Why Is Daddy Walking So Funny? by John Cardamone
Third Place: What is Love? by Beth Hendrickson
Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who participated. It’s a pleasure to share these pieces with you, and we can’t wait to see what you create in the next contest!
PS: ✍️ Write with us daily at Writers’ Hour
Come work on your submission at Writers’ Hour—our daily silent writing sprints—where writers around the world gather together to write. It’s the perfect environment to focus, share space with other writers, and make progress on your contest entry.
🔒 Paid Subscriber Perk: Editorial Feedback Lottery
This week, three paid subscribers will be chosen at random to receive personalized feedback from our editorial team on their contest submission.
How to enter the feedback lottery:
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