THE KIPLING SOCIETY

The John McGivering Writing Prize 2026

Judges: Jan Montefiore, Mary Hamer, Sarah LeFanu

Entries on the subject of the Supernatural are now invited.

First Prize £350

Second prize £100

Third Prize £50

“Kitty,” I cried, “there are poor Mrs. Wessington’s jhampanies turned up again! I wonder who has them now?”

Kitty had known Mrs. Wessington slightly last season, and had always been interested in the sickly woman.

“What? Where?” she asked. “I can’t see them anywhere.”

Even as she spoke her horse, swerving from a laden mule, threw himself directly in front of the advancing ’rickshaw. I had scarcely time to utter a word of warning when, to my unutterable horror, horse and rider passed through men and carriage as if they had been thin air.

   The Phantom ’Rickshaw (1885)

“There wasn’t ’ardly no one in the streets ’cept the cats. ’Twas ’ot, too! I turned into the gate bold as brass; up de steps I went an’ I ringed the front-door bell. She pealed loud, like it do in an empty house. When she’d all ceased, I ’eard a cheer, like, pushed back on de floor o’ the kitchen. Then I ’eard feet on de kitchen-stairs, like it might ha’ been a heavy woman in slippers. They come up to de stairhead, acrost the hall—I ’eard the bare boards creak under ’em—an’ at de front door dey stopped. I stooped me to the letter-box slit, an’ I says: “Let me take everythin’ bad that’s in store for my man, ’Arry Mockler, for love’s sake.” Then, whatever it was ’tother side de door let its breath out, like, as if it ’ad been holdin’ it for to ’ear better.”

“Nothin’ was said to ye?” Mrs. Fettley demanded.

“Na’un. She just breathed out—a sort of A-ah, like. Then the steps went back an’ downstairs to the kitchen—all draggy—an’ I heard the cheer drawed up again.”

   The Wish House (1926)

Rudyard Kipling,  famous for  the realism of his fiction, was from first to last a master of the uncanny and of the terrors  (often, as in the quotations above, associated with women) shadowing apparently familiar things.  The Competition, funded by the generosity of the late John McGivering, is open to tales of the supernatural which should be also connected, whether directly or obliquely, with  Kipling’s writings and/or his life.

The Kipling Society also offers a Competition for Younger Writers aged between 12 and 17 years, for  stories of supernatural, which should likewise be connected with  Kipling’s writings and/or his life, for which the Kipling Society offers a prize of £75, and £25 for the runner-up.

Rules

1. Entries should be a maximum of  2500 words excluding the title. There is no minimum length.
2. Entries must be original. Plagiarism will not be accepted. The  story must not have been published previously, either in print, or online, or in any other media.
3. Competitors give their permission for the winning entries to be published in the Kipling Journal, and subsequently on the Kipling Society’s website.
4. Entries must be submitted as Word attachments to emails addressed to kswritingprize@gmail.com. They must be unsigned, but must have on their title line the writer’s initials in reverse order. These reversed order initials must appear in the accompanying email, together with the writer’s name and contact details: email, telephone number, and postal address, including postcode or Zip code.

The competitors’ emails must also mention where they first learned about this competition.

1. For entrants to the competition for younger writers, confirmation of their age by a parent, guardian or teacher is required.
2. There is an entry charge of £8 for each entry, to be paid to the Kipling Society by Paypal via the John McGivering Writing Prize 2026 tab on our website, www.kiplingsociety.co.uk. Younger writers pay a charge of £5.
3. The competition will open for entries on 1 March 2026, and will close on 1 May 2026 at 11.59 pm, BST.

[From the pages of The Kipling Society web site]