Commonwealth Short Story Prize

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual literary award recognising outstanding unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words) from citizens of Commonwealth countries. It is administered by the Commonwealth Foundation and aims to uncover and promote new voices from regions with limited publishing infrastructure.

What’s Offered

• Five regional winners (Africa; Asia; Canada & Europe; Caribbean; Pacific) each receive a cash prize of £2,500.

• One overall winner receives £5,000.

• Winning stories are published online and often featured in print anthologies, offering international exposure.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must be citizens of a Commonwealth country or stateless persons residing in one.

• Entrants must be aged 18 years or older at the time of the deadline.

• Submissions must be unpublished in any form at the time of entry (in any language) and may be written in or translated into English.

• One entry per writer per year; prior overall winners are not eligible to submit again.

Process & Structure

• Short-listed entries are selected from a much larger field representing all five Commonwealth regions.

• A regional winner is chosen from each region, and from those the overall winner is selected.

• Judges evaluate entries from all regions; the panel includes one judge representing each region.

Deadline
For the current cycle, submissions opened on 1 September and close at 11:59 pm GMT on 1 November.