The 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize—Apply (Prizes: £17,500)

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize has opened for submissions. This prize will be awarded to the best unpublished piece of fiction written by writers from commonwealth countries. Translated stories will be considered for this award.

If you attended this free online creative writing course, you probably learned enough to help you win any international short story writing prize.  The application portal is open, so you can start submitting your stories. If you haven’t yet started writing, don’t worry, you still have about two months. Start gathering your thoughts though. If you’re battling writer’s block, our list of 10 inspirational story podcasts might give you all the ideas you need to write that award-winning story.

Who is Eligible?

• Writers must be from commonwealth countries
• Entries must be submitted via the online entry form by the 1st of November, 2018
• Entrants must be 18 years and above
• Only unpublished stories will be considered. Entries must remain unpublished until 1 May 2019

How To Apply

• Submit your story via the online form
• Ensure that your story is between 2000 – 5000 words
• Entries should be submitted in English, with the following exceptions: entries from Commonwealth citizens who write in Bengali, Chinese, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan and Tamil and who do not have an English translation of their story. Such writers may submit their stories in the original language. English translations of short stories written in other languages will be considered as long as the entry is submitted by the author and the translator is from a commonwealth country.
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Be sure to inform the organizers if your entry is accepted elsewhere.
• The author’s details should be included on the entry form. They must not be given anywhere on the uploaded document. All entries are judged anonymously.
• Remember to edit the title of the document before you upload your story. Your name must not appear anywhere on the document, not even in the title. Use your chosen story title when you want to save your doc. Don’t use “commonwealth” or “short story” or anything generic.
• Do your best to follow the writing rules.

Prizes/Awards:

• The overall winner will receive a cash prize of £5,000.
• Regional winners will be awarded £2,500 each.
• All winning entries will be published in the Granta

To apply, visit the Commonwealth Writers’ Website.

Good luck.