The Westport Town Council in Ireland is running their annual George A Birmingham Short Story Competition.

Closing date for the receipt of entries is Thursday, 31st March 2005.

Winners will be notified by post. The public presentation of prizes will take place on a date to be determined in June 2005.

Entrants should indicate if they will be available to travel to Westport in the event of winning. Contact telephone number is desirable though not essential.

1st Prize: £500;2nd Prize:£300; 3rd Prize:£200.

This competition is open to all writers.

There is no limit to the number of entries per person but each entry must be accompanied by an entry fee of £5.00.

Cheques or Postal Orders to be made payable to "George A Birmingham Committee" and addressed to Westport Town Council, Civic Offices, Altamont Street, Westport, Co Mayo, Ireland.

Entries must be the original work of the entrant. The story must remain unpublished until after 31st March, 2005.

Judge's decision is final and no correspondence will be entertained concerning results.

In the event of the cancellation of the competition due to unforeseen circumstances all monies will be refunded.

Scripts must be typed using one side of paper only. Paper should be A4 in size. Double spacing between lines is required and good margins are essential.

State whether fiction or nonfiction.

Length of script should be at least 1500 words and not exceed 3000.

The name of the author should not appear on the script but the title should appear on each numbered page. The authors name, e-mail address (if available) and a brief C.V. should appear on a separate page along with the approximate number of words.

Entrants wishing to have their scripts returned or to be notified of competition results should enclose a S.A.E. While all reasonable care will be taken of scripts, no responsibility will be accepted by the organisers for lost or damaged scripts.

Web Site: www.shortstoryinfo.netfirms.com.

E-mail: kmartin@dna.ie .