The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual award for unpublished short fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. The prize covers the Commonwealth regions of Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, Caribbean and Pacific.
Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Prize Winning Benefits
An international judging panel will select a shortlist of around twenty-five stories, from which five regional winners are chosen. One of the regional winners is then selected as the overall winner, who receives £5,000. The regional winners will receive £2,500. All five regional winning stories will be published on Granta.
Requirements for Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Prize Winning
The prize is free to enter and open to any citizen of a Commonwealth country aged 18 and over.
It is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words).
There is no requirement for the writer to have current residence in a Commonwealth country, providing that they are a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
Entries from previous overall winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are not eligible. Entrants who have won the regional prize three times are also not eligible to submit to the prize.
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Entries must be unpublished and remain unpublished in any language until 1 May 2026.
If your entry has been shortlisted or won a prize in other competitions, provided it has not been published, it is eligible.
Selection Process
Entry rules
Entries, including those in translation, must be made by the original author.
Entries will only be accepted via the online entry form.
The deadline for receipt of entries is 1 November 2025 (11.59pm GMT).
Only one entry per writer each year may be submitted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
The story must be the entrant’s own work.
The story must be original work and should not have been published anywhere, in full or in part, in any language, before 1 May 2026. Published work is taken to mean published in any printed, publicly accessible form, e.g. anthology, magazine, newspaper. It is also taken to mean published online, except for personal blogs, personal websites and personal Facebook pages.
Entries previously submitted to the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are not eligible.
Simultaneous submissions are eligible as long as the entrant informs the organisers (via [email protected]) immediately should the story be accepted for publication elsewhere or be selected for a prize.
Entries must be 2,000 words minimum, 5,000 words maximum (not including title).
Entries should be uploaded in a PDF document. Please save your document as a PDF and use the title of the story as the file name. Please note that the story must not be saved as ‘Commonwealth Story’, ‘Short Story’ or any other generic title. If it is not possible to save the entry as a PDF document, it may be uploaded as a Microsoft Word document, with the file name in the same format as above. The first page should include the name of the story and the number of words.
The author’s details should be included on the entry form. They must not be given anywhere on the uploaded document. All entries are judged anonymously.
Entries in English should be submitted in Arial 12-point font and double line spacing. For entries in other languages, the appropriate font should be used. All pages should be numbered.
There are no restrictions on setting, genre or theme.
The story should be adult fiction and must not have been written for children alone
Entrants agree as a condition of entry that the prize organisers may publicise the factthat a story has been entered or shortlisted for the Prize.
Worldwide copyright of each story remains with the writer. The Commonwealth Foundation will have the unrestricted right to publish the winning stories (the overall winning story and the four regional winning stories) online, in an anthology, or for promotional purposes where appropriate.
The shortlisted writers, the regional winners, and the overall winner will be expected to take part in publicity activities including social media where possible.
The overall and regional winners may be expected to undertake a mutually acceptable programme of regional outreach activities to develop and promote the Commonwealth Foundation.
Application Deadline
November 1, 2025
How to Apply
Interested and qualified? Go to CommonWealth on commonwealthfoundation.com to apply
If you’ve written and edited your story and read the eligibility requirements and the entry rules, enter it now by filling in the submission form.
Contact details for any questions about eligibility or rules, please contact [email protected]
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