The Nero New Writers Prize, run in association with Brunel University of London, has opened submissions for its 2026 edition, and it’s a genuinely strong opportunity for emerging African writers based in, or living in, the UK and Ireland. The prize is designed to discover unpublished and aspiring writers before they’ve broken through, and this year’s call is open to previously unpublished short stories or narrative non-fiction pieces of up to 5,000 words, written for either children’s or adult audiences, across three categories: Fiction, Children’s Fiction, and Narrative Non-Fiction.

The overall winner takes home £3,000, a scholarship to study for an MA in Creative Writing at Brunel, and an introductory meeting with a literary agent facilitated by the university. Four shortlisted runners-up will each receive £1,000. There’s also a new Brunel Prize this year, reserved for current Brunel students or graduates from within the last two years, worth £1,000 plus the same MA scholarship.

Eligibility is worth reading closely for anyone in the diaspora: entrants don’t need to be UK or Irish nationals, only citizens of, or currently living in, the UK and Ireland, and must be at least 18 years old as of August 1, 2026. Entries are judged anonymously, must be entirely the author’s own original work, previously unpublished in any form, and not written with the aid of artificial intelligence. Submissions close at 5pm BST on Friday, September 11, 2026, with a shortlist of five to be announced October 22 and the overall winner named at an awards ceremony at Brunel on November 18.

For African writers who’ve made the UK or Ireland home, this is exactly the kind of prize worth carving out time for. Full submission guidelines and the entry form are available here.