The Yeovil Literary Prize and the role of the YCAA

For many years now the Yeovil Community Arts Association (YCAA) (a registered charity No: 299372), has provided an opportunity for writers from around the world to enter our writing competition. The aims of the Yeovil Literary Prize are threefold:

• to promote Creative Writing,
• to provide a genuine opportunity for aspiring writers, everywhere
• to support the YCAA in its future role by raising funds

This is the eleventh year of the Yeovil Literary Prize and it is now fully realising its aims. The UK and international response to the Prize has been outstanding with wide-ranging quality writing being entered for judging. It is very clear that there is a huge community of talented writers who thrive on the opportunity to develop their craft. We are proud to offer an award to novelists who are not well-represented among literary prizes elsewhere. Several past winners and Highly Commended authors have now been published.  We know this competition is watched keenly by agents and publishers for thriving talent.

There are two ways to enter the competition; by using the postal system, or online using PayPal; its ease of use has encouraged a significant increase in entries. We look forward to even more this year as our writing contest opened on 1st January 2014.

All profits from this volunteer-run competition are ploughed back into the community to sponsor local talent in their study of the arts, and to host cultural events with renowned speakers. We have reached out to all the arts including poetry, screenplay writing, music, painting, writing, photography and garden design, as well as the influence of specialist books, film and new authors. We also host an annual YCAA Man Booker Debate in partnership with the Yeovil Waterstones store.

We participated in the first Yeovil Literary Festival in September 2013. This highly enjoyable weekend was opened by the YCAA Literary Dinner on Thursday 19 September 2013. Our speaker was Santa Montefiore, and we’re delighted that Santa has agreed to be our short story judge for the 2015 Prize.

The second Yeovil Literary Festival will run from 6th until 9th November 2014. The YCAA has forged a strong bond with The Octagon Theatre, Hendford, Yeovil, BA21 1UX, where we host our by-monthly café style events in the Johnson Studio. Full details of the YCAA activities are available on our website at www.yeovilarts.co.uk.

There is an additional award given by the YCAA each year to the Western Gazette Best Local Writer of £100, and the winner in 2013 was Elizabeth McLaren for her poignant short story Lola the Carolla.
The Yeovil Literary Prize is operated and managed by a dedicated team of volunteers and all details of how to enter can be found on www.yeovilprize.co.uk. The writing competition runs from 1st January and closes on 31st May each year.

Send postal entries to:  YCAA, The Octagon Theatre, YEOVIL, BA20 1UX


Liz Pike is Secretary of the Yeovil Community Arts Association.  She is also a member of the Yeovil Cre8ive Writers and Yeovil Art Group. The YCAA administers the annual, international writing competition The Yeovil Literary Prize. Liz is passionate about the written word, having had success writing short stories, and enjoys two reading groups, one of which is the YCAA Lunchtime Book Group.

The YCAA Lunchtime Book Group

The Yeovil Community Arts Association is dedicated to bringing all forms of art and culture to a wide audience in the south Somerset area.  Among their many ways of  bringing people together, they have recently launched the YCAA Lunchtime Book Group.

This was in response to comments made by many people who, for whatever reason, find it difficult to join a book group that meets in the evenings.  Parents of school age children, or people who live on their own, or simply do not like going out after dark, especially in the winter months. Transport can be problem, and the convenience of buses and the bus pass was always mentioned.

So this very friendly and not too ‘highbrow’ group of  diverse people of all ages, meet to discuss a couple of books each month.  One may appeal more than the other, so only one may be read, but it is always interesting listening to the discussion.  You may end up reading the one that didn’t, at first, appeal to you.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 11th February at the Theatre Café of the Octagon, in Yeovil. We meet from 12 noon until 2pm.  The is a FREE event, where you can buy a drink from the Octagon to have with your own lunch.  Sandwiches and salads are easy to eat as you listen and talk about books.

The choice for February is:-  Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Marriage, by Alice Munro, who in 2013 won the Nobel Prize for Literature.  This is a marvellous collection of short stories, all set in the author’s home country of Canada.

The second book is widely available in paperback, and is called Two Caravans by Maria Lewycka.  This is a funny and compelling novel touching on a currently topical subject, and is very thought-provoking. 

Both these books are really good ‘reads’.  Come along and enjoy the company of like-minded people in a super setting in the Theatre Café of The Octagon, Yeovil.


Liz Pike is Secretary of the Yeovil Community Arts Association.  She is also a member of the Yeovil Cre8ive Writers and Yeovil Art Group.The YCAA administers the annual, international writing competition The Yeovil Literary Prize. Liz is passionate about the written word, having had success writing short stories, and enjoys two reading groups, one of which is the YCAA Lunchtime Book Group.