2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Writing Contest for unpublished short fiction

Outstanding writers from member states of the Commonwealth of Nations are invited to submit their unpublished short fiction for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Writing Contest worth about £15,000 in cash prize. The stories need to be in English language, but can be translated from other languages.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize Writing Contest is an annual award for the best piece of unpublished short fiction between 2,000 to 5,000 words. The contest is open to citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations who are at least 18 years of age at the time of application. The Foundation was established in 2012 to inspire, develop and connect writers and storytellers across the Commonwealth. The Foundation usually awards the overall winner the sum of £5,000 and the regional winner the sum of £2,500.

Eligibility for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Writing Contest for unpublished short fiction:

Applicants must be citizens of a Commonwealth country.
The Commonwealth Foundation will request verification of citizenship status before winners are selected. Entries from citizens of non-Commonwealth countries are not eligible to apply.
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.
Applicants must be at least 18 years of age at the time of application.
All entries will be accepted at the discretion of the Commonwealth Foundation which will exercise its judgement, 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.
Applicants from previous overall winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are not eligible.
Applicants from previous regional winners are eligible.
Applicants from current members of staff at the Commonwealth Foundation are not eligible.
Applicants must be unpublished and remain unpublished in any language until 1 May 2023.

Prize for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Writing Contest for unpublished short fiction:

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

Entry rules for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Writing Contest for unpublished short fiction:

Interested applicants must take the following steps below to participate in the contest

Entries, including those in translation, must be made by the original author.
Entries are to be submitted via the online entry form.
Only one entry per writer each year may be submitted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
The story must be the entrant’s original work
The story must be original work and should not have been published anywhere, in full or in part, in any language, before 1 May 2023. Published work is taken to mean published in any printed, publicly accessible form, e.g. anthology, magazine, newspaper. It is also taken to mean published online, except for personal blogs, personal websites and personal Facebook pages.
Entries previously submitted to the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are not eligible.
Entries should be submitted in English, with the following exceptions: entries from Commonwealth citizens who write in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, French, Greek, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Tamil and Turkish and who do not have an English translation of their story,
Applicants may submit their stories in the original language. English translations of short stories written in other languages are eligible if submitted by the writer (not the translator) and provided that the translator is also a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
Simultaneous submissions are eligible as long as the entrant informs the organizers via writers@commonwealth.int immediately should the story be accepted for publication elsewhere or be selected for a prize.
Entries must be 2,000 words minimum, 5,000 words maximum, title not included.

Application Deadline: November 1, 2022.

Kindly visit the official website for more information

2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Writing Contest for unpublished short fiction