[Apply Now] Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2023 Writing Competition

The prize is free to enter and open to any citizen of a Commonwealth country who is aged 18 and over. It is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words). The prize is only open to short fiction, but it can be in any fiction genre science-fiction, speculative fiction, historical fiction, crime, romance, literary fiction –and you may write about any subject you wish.

Entries are initially assessed by a team of readers and a longlist of 200 entries is put before the international judging panel, comprising a chair and five judges, one from each of the Commonwealth regions –Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. All judges read entries from all regions.

Organizer: Commonwealth  Writers
Category: Competition
Eligible Country: Commonwealth Countries
Application Closing Date: 1 November 2022

Eligibility Criteria

• Entrants must be citizens of a Commonwealth country – please see Section 5 for the list of Commonwealth countries – or stateless persons currently residing in a Commonwealth country.
• For regional purposes, entries will be judged by country of citizenship. Where the writer has dual citizenship (of two Commonwealth countries), the entry will be judged in the region where the writer is permanently resident.
  
• There is no requirement for the writer to have current residence in a Commonwealth country, providing that they are a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
  
• Entrants must be aged 18 years or over on 1 November 2022.
  
• All entries will be accepted at the discretion of the Commonwealth Foundation which will exercise its judgment, in consultation with the prize chair, in ruling on questions of eligibility. The ruling of the chair on questions of eligibility is final, and no further correspondence will be entered into.
  
• Entries from previous overall winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are not eligible. Entries from previous regional winners are eligible.
  
• Entries from current members of staff at the Commonwealth Foundation are not eligible.
  
• Entries must be unpublished and remain unpublished in any language until 1 May 2023

Programme Benefits

• Regional winners each receive £2,500 and the opportunity to be published online by Granta magazine, and the overall winner receives £5,000.

Application Process

Interested applicants are to check the official website for the proper Application procedures. Visit the official announcement page for more details. To start your application, Click the apply now button below.