The Bridport Prize International Creative Writing Competition started in 1973 as a local project with minimal entry fees and nominal prizes, to raise funds for the development of Bridport Arts Centre. in 1980 the Bridport Prize became a regional competition with a first prize in each category of £100. Although coverage was intended to be only regional, right from the start the competition attracted entries from all parts of the UK and even some from overseas.

The competition grew in popularity very quickly; in the early days approximately 5000 entry forms each year were distributed but by 1999 the number had climbed to 250,000. The prize money and entry fees have risen over the years as well and from 2006 the first prize in each category is £5000, second prize £1000 and third prize £500. An additional 10 supplementary prizes (for each category) of £50 each are awarded. The entry fee is £6 per poem or story. The top four poems are entered for the Forward Prize for Poetry, an award not open to the general public. The short story winners will also be entered to The National Short Story Prize with a first prize of £15,000. The winning and longlist stories will be read by leading London literary agents with a view to representing writers.

There is no age limit (the competition is for adults) and the subject matter is entirely open.

Short stories must not exeed 5000 words and poems must not exeed 42 lines.

Fay Weldon is Patron of Bridport Prize and notable previous judges include Margaret Drabble, U.A. Fanthorpe, Rose Tremain, Maggie Gee and Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate.

In many cases a win in the Bridport Prize has led to further successes and helped to launch new writers. Kate Atkinson (a short story winner in 1990) said that it was very important, confirming that she had found her 'voice'. Her short story went on to become the first chapter of her novel, 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum', winner of the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year. She returned to judge the Short Story section in 2001.

Other noteworthy names include Helen Dunmore (also a 1990 winner) whose 'Spell of Winter' won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 1996; Tobias Hill, a winner in both categories (poetry 1994, short story 1996) and 2002's Short Story judge; and Tess Biddington, a winner in 2000, who made it onto the short list for The Forward Prize, and gained an agent for her forthcoming novel, plus many others.

All entries to the competition are judged anonymously. The judges make their evaluations on the quality of the work alone. Nobody wins beacause of who they are, who they know or what their name sounds like. All the poems and stories go into the same pile whether the writer is famous and very experienced or the writer is entering his/her first competition.