Applications are now open for the 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. This is an annual award open for the citizens of a Commonwealth country who are at least 18 years or over of age as on 1 November 2018.
The prize is free to enter and is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction. There will be five winners, one from each region. The overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize will receive £5,000 and the remaining four regional winners £2,500.
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Who May Eligible:
To eligible, the candidates must be following all the eligibility criteria:
- Entrants must be aged 18 years or over on 1 November 2018.
- Entrants must be citizens of a Commonwealth country
- Africa: Botswana, Cameroon, eSwatini, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Overseas Territories: Saint Helena, Tristan Da Cunha, Ascension Island.
- Asia: Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka.
- Canada and Europe: Canada, Cyprus, Malta, United Kingdom. Overseas Territories: Gibraltar, Falkland Islands.
- Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad, and Tobago. Overseas Territories: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands.
- Pacific: Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu. Overseas Territory: Pitcairn.
How to Apply & Competitions Rules:
To participate, the applicants must submit an online application form through the given link: http://www.commonwealthwriters.org/our-projects/the-short-story/
Note: The online form will be available from the opening date, 1 September 2018.
Rules:
- There is no requirement for the writer to have a current residence in a Commonwealth country, providing they are a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
- Entries from previous overall winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 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- Entries must be unpublished and remain unpublished in any language until 1 May 2019
- Only one entry per writer may be submitted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
- Entries should be submitted in English, with the following exceptions: entries from Commonwealth citizens in Mozambique who write in Portuguese and Commonwealth citizens who write in Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Kiswahili, Malay, Samoan, Tamil, Turkish and who do not have an English translation of their story, may submit their stories in the original language.
- Entries must be 2,000 words minimum, 5,000 words maximum (not including title).
- Entries should be uploaded in a PDF document. Save your document as a PDF and use the title of the story as the file name.
- Note the story must not be saved as ‘Commonwealth Story’, ‘Short Story’ or any other generic title.
- The first page should include the name of the story and the number of words.
- 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 title of the story.
Benefits:
- The prize covers the Commonwealth regions of 1. Africa, 2. Asia, 3. Canada and Europe, 4. Caribbean and 5. Pacific.
- The overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize will receive £5,000 and the
- Remaining four regional winners £2,500.
- If the winning short story is a translation into English, the translator will receive additional prize money.
Application Deadline:
Submissions for the 2019 Prize will be open from September 1st, 2018 until November 1st, 2018.
