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Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2025 | £5,000 Award

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual writing contest offering a £5,000 award for unpublished short fiction, managed and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Continue reading to find the detailed process of application for Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2025 | £5,000 Award. Find more information about Commonwealth Foundation here.

Program Summary

Category $ Earn in Dollar, Awards & Prizes, Literary/Art Programs
Eligibility in
Sponsor Commonwealth Foundation
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The competition is free to enter and open to citizens of any Commonwealth country aged 18 and over. The prize is awarded for the best unpublished short story, ranging between 2,000 and 5,000 words.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual award for unpublished
short fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.

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The prize covers the Commonwealth regions of 1. Africa, 2. Asia, 3. Canada and
Europe, 4. Caribbean and 5. Pacific. (See Section 5 for countries in each region).

The international judging panel comprises one judge from each of the five regions. Please
note that while the entries will be judged regionally, all judges will read and deliberate on
entries from all regions.

The final selection will be judged by an international judging panel; experienced readers will
assist the named judges in selecting the longlist.

Eligibility Requirements for Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2025

To be considered for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2025, you must:

  • Be above the age of 18
  • Be a citizen of a Commonwealth country
  • 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.
  • We accept stories written in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, English, French, Greek, Malay, Maltese, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil, and Turkish.
  • Stories that have been translated into English from any language are also accepted and the translator of any winning story receives additional prize money.
  • Entries from previous overall winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are
    not eligible.
  • Entrants who have won the regional prize three times are also not eligible to submit to the prize.
  • 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 2024.
  • If your entry has been shortlisted or won a prize in other competitions, provided it has not been published, it is eligible.

Benefits of Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2025

  • There will be five winners, one from each region.
  • One regional winner will be selected as the overall winner.
  • The overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize will receive £5,000 and the remaining four regional winners £2,500.
  • If the winning short story is a translation into English, the translator will receive additional prize money.

Click here to submit their entries.

Deadline: November 2, 2024

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