The Commonwealth Foundation is currently accepting submissions for the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The annual award recognizes the best piece of unpublished short fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words in English by a citizen of a Commonwealth country. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £5,000. The five winning stories will be published online by Granta.

Submission Guidelines.

  • Only one submission per entrant.
  • Entries must be unpublished in any form.
  • The story must be the author’s own work.
  • Simultaneous submissions are allowed.
  • Entries must be uploaded as PDF files using the title of the story as the file name.
  • Translated entries are eligible. If the winning story is in translation, the translator receives additional prize money.
  • Also eligible are entries in the following languages: Bengali,Chinese,French, Greek, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan,Tamil and Turkish.

(go here for the full guidelines and eligibility).

There is no entry fee. The deadline for submissions is 1 November 2020.

Previous winners of the prize’s Africa region category include Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Akwaeke Emezi, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Jekwu Anyaegbuna, Efua Traore, Mbozi Haimbe and Innocent Chizaram Ilo.