Media, creative & cultural

Taking part in competitions can enhance your career opportunities in this sector. You could win a cash prize, an internship or even a chance to travel abroad.

Deadlines are staggered throughout the year, so check each link for up-to-date information.

Advertising, PR & marketing

DMA Talent Marketing Challenge - opportunity to win hands-on experience, prizes and the opportunity to meet and impress marketing’s top VIPs. Set up your student agency, get stuck into a real-life marketing brief and pitch your solution to a real-life client. Open to students at any stage of any course. Applications opened in January and closed on 17 May 2021.
D&AD: New Blood Awards - annual competition to cultivate new creative talent. Open to all students and recent graduates, the challenge is to answer a creative brief set by world famous brands. Call for entries opened in January, this year's deadline was 23 March 2021.
GMKC Global Marketing Competition - business simulation competition, open to teams of current students. Last year's sign up deadline was June, with the final held in December in Madrid.
L'Oréal Student Innovator Brandstorm - crack a real business case, take it from idea to concept, learn to be a brand manager and be automatically invited to an assessment centre for a L’Oréal UK internship. The prize is a trip to Paris to compete at their international finals and an automatic offer of a summer internship or industrial placement. Registration for this year's competition closed on 15 March 2021.

Arts, design & creative

Arts Thread - includes arts, design and creative events and competitions and an opportunity to showcase work. Check website for competition deadlines.
D&AD: New Blood Awards - annual competition to cultivate new creative talent. Open to all students and recent graduates, the challenge is to answer a creative brief set by world famous brands. You can sign up to their free online course which walks you through the process and gives you hints and tips on how to win. Call for entries opened in January and closed on 23 March 2021.
Crafts Council: Opportunities - includes lists of awards and competitions.
ScreenSkills: Opportunities - includes competitions, mentoring, training opportunities and events
The House of Illustration - usually run the Book Illustration Competition, an annual international competition open to illustrators over the age of 18 who have not been previously published by The Folio Society. The winner receives a commission worth £5,000 to complete six illustrations and a binding design for the book, which is then published by The Folio Society. The competition is paused for this year.
The Alpine Fellowship - each year, writing, visual arts, and theatre prizes are awarded to the best works concerning the year's theme. Applications opened on 1 January 2021 and closed on 1 April 2021.
MacMillan Prize for Illustration - annual illustration competition, open to students from any discipline. The winner receives £1000 prize. Applications opened on 12 April 2021 and closed on 28 April 2021.
Penguin Student Design Award - annual design and illustration competition, offering the chance to win £1,000 in prize money as well as a work placement in the Penguin Random House Design Studios. Open to students of all disciplines. Applications opened on 2 December 2020 and closed on Tuesday 2 March 2021.
Arts Council: Developing your Creative Practice – the fund supports creative practitioners thinking of taking their practice to the next stage to research, have time to create new work, travel, training, develop ideas, network, or find mentoring. Applications open on 5 August 2021 and close at 12:00 on 2 September 2021.
Arts Council: Culture Recovery Fund: Emergency Resource Support – for organisations who were financially sustainable before Covid-19 but are now at imminent risk of failure and have exhausted all other options for increasing their resilience. Grant range: Between £25,000 and £3 million (£1 million for for-profit organisations). Applications open at 12:00 on 15 July 2021 and close at 12:00 on 14 October 2021. The latest permission to apply request is 12:00 on 30 September 2021.

Journalism, writing & publishing

Journo Resouces: Young and Student Journalism Awards - comprehensive list of awards and competitions by deadline.
The Poetry Society - list of competitions and prizes.
Amnesty International Media Awards - includes a student award for students who have had an article published (or a radio/TV piece broadcast) in a recognised student media outlet. This year's competition closed on 21 January 2021.
Northern Writers' Awards - annual competition, offering cash prizes, mentoring and support to talented writers based in the North of England. This year's competition closed on 18 February 2021.
British Guild of Agricultural Journalists/John Deere Journalism Training Award - training course and 3 days work experience in late June/early July for aspiring journalists and PR professionals in the agriculture sector. There's also a chance to win the John Deere trophy and £250. Last year's applications closed on 31 March 2020.
The Alpine Fellowship - each year, writing, visual arts, and theatre prizes are awarded to the best works concerning the year's theme. Applications opened on 1 January 2021 and closed on 1 April 2021.
Thousand Films - script-writing competition in partnership with BBC Studios ScriptWorks. Last year's competition opened on 24 November 2020 and closed on 18 December 2020.
BAFTA - range of talent support programmes, including their UK Scholarships Programme which awards scholarships of up to £10,000 to UK students in need of financial assistance to take a postgraduate course related to a career in film, television or game, and screenwriting competitions. Register your interest to be notified when 2021 applications open.
James Berry Poetry Prize - aims to help young and/or emerging poets of colour with mentoring to help them develop their work, followed by publication of their debut book-length collection with Bloodaxe Books. Opened on 1 April 2021 and closes on 1 July 2021.

Languages

Harvill Secker Young Translators' Prize - aims to recognise and celebrate the achievements of young translators at the start of their careers. The prize is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 34, with no restriction on country of residence. Usually opens around April and closes around July/August.

Media

Student Radio Awards - annual competition awarding the best in student radio across 12 categories.
BAFTA - range of talent support programmes, including their UK Scholarships Programme which awards scholarships of up to £10,000 to UK students in need of financial assistance to take a postgraduate course related to a career in film, television or game, and screenwriting competitions. Register your interest to be notified when 2021 applications open.
Edinburgh TV Festival: The Network - 4-day free entry-level scheme for anyone aged 18+ who wants to start a career in television. Applications opened in February and closed on 30 April 2021.
John Brabourne Awards - financial assistance for talented individuals with at least 2 years' related experience, wanting to break into TV or film. Usually has two deadlines per year: 31 January (opens in Nov) and 31 July (opens in May).
Shooting People - details of the latest film upload competitions. (subscription required)
ScreenSkills: Opportunities - includes competitions, mentoring, training opportunities and events
Grierson Trust - Best Student Documentary - awarded to a student director for a film made during a UK-based, full-time academic course. This year's entries opened on 1 April and closed on 28 May 2021.

Music & performing arts

World Federation of International Music Competitions - lists international classical music competitions.
Arts Council: Developing your Creative Practice – the fund supports creative practitioners thinking of taking their practice to the next stage to research, have time to create new work, travel, training, develop ideas, network, or find mentoring. Applications open on 5 August 2021 and close at 12:00 on 2 September 2021.
Arts Council: Culture Recovery Fund: Emergency Resource Support – for organisations who were financially sustainable before Covid-19 but are now at imminent risk of failure and have exhausted all other options for increasing their resilience. Grant range: Between £25,000 and £3 million (£1 million for for-profit organisations). Applications open at 12:00 on 15 July 2021 and close at 12:00 on 14 October 2021. The latest permission to apply request is 12:00 on 30 September 2021.