The Commonwealth Foundation is still accepting submissions for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

The annual award, which has come to be regarded as one of the most prestigious honors for early career authors, is conferred on the best piece of unpublished short fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words in English by a citizen of a Commonwealth country.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.

Some recognizable African region winners of the prize over the years have included Jennifer Makumbi, Akwaeke Emezi, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Jekwu Anyaegbuna, Efua Traore, Mbozi Haimbe, Innocent Chizaram Ilo, and Remy Ngamije. Just last year, the Eswatini author Ntsika Kota became only the second African region winner to clinch the overall prize, following Uganda’s Jennifer Makumbi nearly a decade before.

Deadline: November 1.

See the guidelines below:

  • 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  • Entries must be unpublished in any form.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.