Application for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2023 is ongoing!
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize aims to identify talented writers who go on to inspire their communities. It unearths and promotes the best new writing across the Commonwealth, developing worldwide literary connections. Learn more about this 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize so that you too may be among the £2,500- £5,000 scholarship award winners.
The commonwealth short story competition is an annual award for unpublished short fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. Commonwealth Writers, the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation, run it. The prize covers the Commonwealth regions of 1. Africa, 2. Asia, 3. Canada and Europe, 4. Caribbean and 5. Pacific.
In this post, we will share all the information you need to help you apply for the 2023 commonwealth short story prize. You will learn about the criteria that make you eligible to apply, the worth of the scholarship, and how to apply.
Table of contents
About the Commonwealth Short Story Competition 2023
The Commonwealth Short Story Award awards the best unpublished short fiction (2000-5000 words). It is open for fiction translation. The overall winner receives an amount worth £5,000 and regional winners receive a total of £2,500. Translators will receive additional prizes.
The commonwealth short story prize is also an annual award for unpublished short fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £5,000. Commonwealth Writers, the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation, run this program.
The story should be adult fiction and must not have been written for children alone. There are no restrictions on setting, genre, or theme. Entries must be 2,000 words minimum, 5,000 words maximum.
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.
More About the Commonwealth Short Story Competition 2023
Entries should be submitted in English, with the following exceptions: entries from Commonwealth citizens who write in Bengali, Chinese, French, Greek, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Tamil, and Turkish and who do not have an English translation of their story, may submit their stories in the original language.
However, the international jury comprises a judge from each region. While entries will be assessed at the regional level, all judges will read and deliberate in all regions. An international jury will judge the final selection; Experienced readers will help the designated judges select the long list.
Eligibility Requirements
To apply for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, you must meet the following requirements:
- 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.
- The Commonwealth Foundation will request verification of citizenship status before winners are selected. Entries from citizens of non-Commonwealth countries are not eligible.
- 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.
- The writer is not required to have current residence in a Commonwealth country, providing they are citizens of a Commonwealth country.
- Entrants must be aged 18 years or over on 1 November 2023.
- 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 Commonwealth Short Story Prize winners 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.
Entry rules
- Entries, including those in translation, must be made by the original author.
- Entries will only be accepted via the online entry form.
- The deadline for receipt of entries is 1 November 2023 (11.59pm in any time zone).
- Only one entry per writer each year may be submitted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
- The story must be the entrant’s 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 on 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, who do not have an English translation, 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), provided the translator is also a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
- Simultaneous submissions are eligible as long as the entrant informs the Commonwealth Writers 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 (not including title).
- Entries should be uploaded in a PDF document. Please save your document as a PDF and use the story’s title as the file name. Please note that 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.
- The author’s details should be included on the entry form. They must not be given anywhere on the uploaded document. All entries are judged anonymously.
- The translator’s details should be included on the entry form where applicable.
- All entries should be submitted in Arial 12-point font and double line spacing. All pages should be numbered and include a header with the story’s title.
- There are no restrictions on setting, genre, or theme.
- The story should be adult fiction and must not have been written for children alone.
- Entrants agree as a condition of entry that the prize organizers may publicize the fact that a story has been entered or shortlisted for the Prize.
- Worldwide copyright of each story remains with the writer. Commonwealth Writers 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.
- The shortlisted writers, the regional winners, and the overall winner will be expected to take part in publicity activities including social media where possible.
- The overall and regional winners may be expected to undertake a mutually acceptable program of regional outreach activities to develop and promote Commonwealth Writers.
Eligibility and entry rules
Please read these eligibility and entry rules before beginning the online entry process. The online form is available at www.commonwealthwriters.org from the opening date: 1 September 2023.
Submission of an entry is taken as acceptance of the entry rules.
For any entry or eligibility queries not covered below, please email [email protected] for clarification before submitting an entry.
Commonwealth Short Story 2023 Deadline
The deadline for receipt of entries is 1 November (11.59pm in any time zone).
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