Applications are now open for the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual award for unpublished short fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.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 1. Africa, 2. Asia, 3. Canada and Europe, 4. Caribbean and 5. Pacific. (See Section 5 for countries in each region).
WORTH
- There will be five winners, one from each region. One regional winner will be selected as the overall winner.
- 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
ELIGIBILITY
- 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- It is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words).
- Entrants must be citizens of a Commonwealth country or stateless persons currently residing in a Commonwealth country. The Commonwealth Foundation will request verification of citizenship status before winners are selected. Entries from citizens of non-Commonwealth countries are not eligible.
- For regional purposes, entries will be judged by country of citizenship. Where the writer has dual citizenship (of two Commonwealth countries), the entry will be judged in the region where the writer is permanently resident.
- 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.
- Entrants must be aged 18 years or over on 1 November 2025.
- 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.
DEADLINE: November 01, 2025
To apply and for more information, Visit here