The 2022 edition of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize is now open for entries. The award, which is conferred annually, is one of the world’s most regarded literary honors for a short story, and recognizes the best piece of unpublished short fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words in English by a citizen of a Commonwealth country.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.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is a great platform for early-career writers. Previous winners of the prize’s Africa region category include Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Akwaeke Emezi, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Jekwu Anyaegbuna, Efua Traore, Mbozi Haimbe, Innocent Chizaram Ilo, and Remy Ngamije. They’ve all gone on to do great things.

It is easy to enter the competition. Authors can submit their work by themselves. They don’t need a publisher or an agent to do that. It is also free! No submissions fee charged. See some of the submissions guidelines below and follow the link below to find out more.

Deadline: November 1

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  • Entries must be unpublished in any form.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.

For the full list of guidelines and rules of eligibility, go here.