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CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST
IDEAS FESTIVAL ** SUBMISSION DEADLINE 23.59 CET on Sunday 8th November 2026
CONNECTION
What does it mean to be truly connected? We can reach anyone, anywhere, instantly, yet our circles grow wider globally while shrinking at home. Are we more connected than ever, or lonelier than ever? The jury is still out, and we'd like you to weigh in.
As part of Full Circle's Ideas Festival, a space for thoughtful conversations that challenge how we see the world, this year's theme is Connection.
We want your stories, essays, and poems on what connection really means: the ties that hold us together and the ones that fray, distance and closeness, presence and absence. Write about a phone call that changed everything, or a silence that said more than words. Write about connection to place, history, the earth, a stranger, or yourself.
Categories:
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Fiction
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Non-fiction
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Poetry
Here's how you can take part :
Conditions for participation: There are three categories in the competition: fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Please choose your category and submit one entry. Only one entry per category is allowed. Entries of max 1,000 words or up to 40 lines of poetry in English are to be submitted by completing the google form and attaching your work. (Please note: entries composed using AI will be disqualified).
Submission link: Apply here (sign in on google required)
Who can enter? Anyone based in Belgium can enter the contest with max one entry for each category.
Practical: Entries to be written in English. 3 entries (one per category) will be pre-selected in the week before the Festival and the winner will be announced at the Festival.
Prize: A public reading slot at the Festival, your work published on Full Circle website, one year of Full Circle Membership and a Book Voucher (cash prize).
Deadline: Sunday 8th November 2026 at 23.59 CET
Queries: You can contact the organisers with any questions on ideasfestival@fullcircle.eu
The 2026 Judges
The 2026 Writing Contest is chaired by author and former journalist Eleonora Balsano, joined by writer and Pauline Arnould and publishing agent Thomasin Chinnery.
Eleonora Balsano is an Italian-born polyglot journalist and writer based in Brussels. She is also the host of Chosen Tongue, a podcast on translingual writers and their journeys, and the co-founder of the European Writers Salon, a travelling salon for writers across Europe. Eleonora's short fiction in English has appeared in Portland Review, Fictive Dream, Reflex Fiction, Janus Literary, JMWW Journal, and elsewhere. In 2023, she was longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50 and in 2021 she was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. She is a reader for Longleaf Review and WestWord.Pauline Arnould is a writer, former university professor, and avid zine-maker. In addition to regularly contributing to publications including Rolling Stone, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, and others, her poems, essays, and fiction have been published throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. She is the author of Captor, a collection of poetry published by Gacha Press in 2026.
Thomasin Chinnery is a literary agent at Zeitgeist Agency, with offices in Brussels, London and Sydney. Here she specialises in children’s books, young adult, middle grade, and crime. An avid reader, her career spans editing, translation and publishing.
The judges decision is final.
The winners will be announced at the festival, check full programme for details.
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FULL CIRCLE HOUSE 89 Ch. de Vleurgat, Brussels 1050, Belgium OPENING |
