Deadline:
November 01, 2025
Location(s)
Online
Overview
The search for some of the Commonwealth’s best short stories has begun again. Commonwealth citizens aged 18 and over can enter a short story of 2,000-5,000 words for a chance to win £5,000.
Details
The 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize is open for entries until 1 November 2025!
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 It is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words).
Submissions should be made via the online entry form, which is available via the link above. The eligibility requirements and entry rules can be found here.
Writers have until 11.59pm GMT on 1 November 2025 to enter their story. Click here to find out what time the prize closes in your timezone.
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.
Scroll down to find out more about the 2026 judging panel, read answers to frequently asked questions about the prize, including who can enter, how stories are judged and what languages we accept.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
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Entrants must be citizens of a Commonwealth country – please see Section 5 for the list of Commonwealth countries – 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.
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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.
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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.
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Entrants must be aged 18 years or over on 1 November 2020.
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All entries will be accepted at the discretion of the Commonwealth Foundation which will exercise its judgement, in consultation with the prize chair, in ruling on questions of eligibility. The ruling of the chair on questions of eligibility is final, and no further correspondence will be entered into.
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Entries from previous overall winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are not eligible. Entries from previous regional winners are eligible.
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Entries from current members of staff at the Commonwealth Foundation are not eligible.
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Entries must be unpublished and remain unpublished in any language until 1 May 2026.
Dates
Deadline: November 01, 2025
Cost/funding for participants
The regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives a total of £5,000. The winning stories are published online by Granta and in a special print collection by Paper + Ink. The shortlisted stories are published in adda, the online literary magazine of the Commonwealth Foundation.
If the winning short story is a translation into English, the translator will receive an additional prize of £750.
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