To celebrate our 30th anniversary, we're thrilled to launch our short story competition! 

Are you a frustrated fiction writer? Do you have a short story inside you waiting to burst out? Would you love to see your story in print and read by over 30,000 people across the county? Now’s your chance!

This competition is open to all residents of Devon. We want you to get creative and write an original short story of no more than 1,000 words.

The theme of the story should be 'Celebration', but everything else is up to you: perhaps a charming romance, a heart-racing thriller or an intriguing mystery. Your creation can be set in the present day, in decades past, or it might have a historical twist – the choice is yours. All we ask is that you make it appealing and entertaining to our wide audience of Helipad readers.

We are delighted that our short story competition will be judged by a panel that includes Sheila Norton, Devon Air Ambulance supporter, local resident and award-winning multi-published author, whose works including 25 books and well over 100 short stories.

For more information about Sheila and her work, please visit her website.

Submitting your story

Your story should be no longer than 1,000 words (excluding the title). Your story must be an original piece of work and not have been published previously.

You can email your story as a Word attachment (.doc or .docx) to [email protected] (please do not copy and paste your story into the body of your email).

Alternatively, post your story to: The Editor, Helipad, Short Story competition, Devon Air Ambulance Head Office, 5 Sandpiper Court, Harrington Lane, Exeter, EX4 8NS.

All entries must be received by email or post by 23:59pm (UK time) on Friday 30th September 2022. Maximum of one entry per person. Don’t forget to include your name, address and contact details (email and/or phone) on the first page of your Word document.

The Prize

Not only will our winning author see their story in print in our Winter 2022 issue of Helipad magazine, they will also receive a bag of Devon Air Ambulance goodies as well as copy of Sheila’s book ‘Winter at Cliff’s End Cottage’. Good luck … and happy writing!

Terms and Conditions

• The Devon Air Ambulance short story writing competition is open to Devon residents only.
• No employee of Devon Air Ambulance Trust or Devon Air Ambulance Trading Company Ltd is eligible to participate.
• All submissions must be sent as a Word document via email or by post.
• Only stories that have previously been unpublished will be considered.
• One story per person.
• All stories must be received via email or by post by 23.59pm on Friday 30 September, 2022 at the latest.
• The judging panel will consist of: Sheila Norton, Author, Ali Simpson, Helipad Editor, Ginette Gisborne, Communications Manager, Devon Air Ambulance.
• The judges’ decision is final and no further correspondence will be entered into.
• The writer of the winning story will be notified by email or telephone by Friday 14 October 2022.
• The author of the winning story agrees to its publication in Winter 2022 issue of Helipad magazine.
• The winner also agrees to their name and photograph being used for publicity purposes only.