The Caine Prize 2024 is Currently Accepting Submissions/ How to Apply (Prize: £10,000)

The AKO Caine Prize 2024 for African Writing is currently open for submission of the published short stories for the award.

The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is a registered charity. It aims to bring African writing to a broader audience using their annual literary award for a published short story by an African Writer.

Additionally, they work to connect readers with African writers through a series of public events, thereby helping emerging writers in Africa to enter the world of mainstream publishing. This is done through the annual Caine Prize writers’ workshop, which takes place in a different African country each year.

More so, shortlisted stories of the Caine Prize 2024 will be published in the annual Caine Prize Anthology by Cassava Republic Press in the UK and publishers in African countries.

Eligibility for the Caine Prize 2024

• Writers must be 18 years of age as of 24th November 2024
• Each submitted story must have been published five years before the prize deadline. For 2024 eligibility, the judges will only consider work published between 1st April 2019 and 25th March 2024.
• In addition, every must be more than 3,000 words or less than 10,000 words.
• Furthermore, entries must be submitted by a publisher. This includes publishers of physical and digital books, literary journals, magazines or literature-oriented websites. Nevertheless, Publishers are encouraged to submit multiple short stories. As long as they do not submit more than one story by the same author.
• Self-published and unpublished works are not eligible.
• Stories may only be entered for consideration for the Caine Prize once, therefore you may not re-submit a story for consideration.
• Children’s stories, factual writing, academic essays, plays, poetry and autobiography/biography are not eligible for the prize.
• Submissions must specify which African country the author comes from and the short story’s word count.
• Publishers should not submit watermarked stories.

Submissions Guidelines for the Caine Prize 2024

• Publishers are required to upload a ‘publisher’s letter’ with each submission.
• In addition, this letter must include:
  • • Name of the writer(s).
    • Title of the story or stories being submitted.
    • Word count of each submitted story.
    • The qualifying nationality of the writer(s)
    •  The date of publication of the story or stories.
    • Confirmation of consent from the writer(s) whose stories are being submitted for the Prize.
• Also, each story must be submitted by the publisher via email (submissions@caineprize.com) as a PDF attachment or via a link to the story (if it has been published online).
• Furthermore, ensure  ‘The Caine Prize for African Writing Entry for 2024’ appears in the subject matter of your email.

Prize

• The winner is awarded a £10,000 prize.
• The five shortlisted writers are invited to London for a series of events, including public readings, interviews with media institutions, private event with agents. More so, this comes with an invitation to the 2024 award ceremony where the winner will be announced.

Deadline

The closing submission date for the Caine Prize 2023 is March 31, 2024.