All in on Allingham

You still have a month to arrange your submission to the 2021 Margery Allingham Short Story competition, sponsored by Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association. As a press release explains, “The Margery Allingham Society, set up to honour and promote the writings of the great Golden Age author whose well-known hero is Albert Campion, works with the CWA to operate and fund the writing competition. Each year the competition attracts many entries from the UK and overseas.”

Entrants should focus their brief yarns on elements matching Allingham’s definition of a mystery: “The Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it.” Submissions are to run no longer than 3,500 words. The charge to enter is £12. This competition’s winner will receive £500, a selection of Allingham books, and two free passes to CrimeFest in 2022.

The deadline for submissions is 6 p.m. on February 26. For information about the contest’s rules and how to enter, click here.