2017 COMMONWEALTH SHORT STORY PRIZE

The Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words) in English written by a citizen of a Commonwealth country. All stories submitted must be unpublished, but both unpublished and published writers are eligible to apply. The competition is free to enter.

The international judging panel comprises one judge from each of the five regions – Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Please note that while the entries will be judged regionally, all judges will read and deliberate on entries from all regions. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £5,000.

Scholarship Description

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual award for unpublished short fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. Short stories translated into English from other languages, and some selected writers without English translations, are also eligible.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is part of the work of the Commonwealth Writers (CW) - the cultural initiative from the Commonwealth Foundation. CW develop the craft of individual writers and build communities of emerging voices which can influence the decision-making processes affecting their lives.

Regional and Overall winners who emerge receive prizes. The Prize aims to identify talented writers who will go on to inspire their local communities. 

See Detailed Video Here

Eligibility

The story must be original and should not have been previously published anywhere in full or in part. 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, with the exception of personal blogs and personal websites.

 Entrants must be aged 18 years or over

Fields of study
Writing of short fiction. The story must be the entrant’s own work

Number of awards
There will be five winners, one from each region. One regional winner will be selected as the overall winner.

Scholarship benefits
The overall winner receives £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: £2,000 for the overall winning story and £1,000 for a regional winning story.

Worldwide copyright of each story remains with the writer. The Commonwealth Foundation will have the unrestricted right to publish the winning stories (the overall winning story and the four regional winning stories) in an anthology and for promotional purposes.

Method of Application
Please note the following rules while submitting your entry:

• Entries previously submitted to the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are not eligible.

• Entries must be 2,000 words minimum, 5,000 words maximum.
• Entries should be uploaded in a PDF document. Please save your document as a PDF and use the title of the story as the file name. Please note the story must not be saved as ‘Commonwealth Story’, ‘Short Story’ or any other generic title. If it is not possible to save the entry as a PDF document, it may be uploaded as a Microsoft Word document, with the file name in the same format as above. The first page should include the name of the story and the number of words (and details of the translator if it is a story written in a language other than English).
• The author’s details should be included in the entry form. They must not be given anywhere on the uploaded document. All entries are judged anonymously.
• All entries should be submitted in Arial 12 point font and double line spacing.
• There are no restrictions on setting, genre or theme.
• The story should be adult fiction and must not have been written for children alone.

It is important to visit the official website (link to it is below) for the COMPLETE list of ENTRY RULES, and to submit your entry for the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

DEADLINES:
Entries open 1st September 2016, and close 1 November 2016 (12 noon GMT). No entries will be considered if submitted after this date.