Commonwealth short story prize competition 2026 (How to apply)

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an award given to gifted authors who inspire their communities. By promoting the greatest new work from throughout the Commonwealth, it fosters global literary ties.

Additionally, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize is given to the best unpublished short story (between 2000 and 5000 words). Translated fiction is welcome. For 2026, Commonwealth Short Story Prize entries that have already been submitted are not eligible.

Eligibility for Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2026

• Only citizens of a Commonwealth country – or stateless persons currently residing in a Commonwealth country can apply. The Commonwealth Foundation will request verification of citizenship status before winners are selected.
•  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.
•  More so, anyone who applied must be aged 18 years or over on 1 November 2025.
•  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• Entries must be unpublished and remain unpublished in any language until 1 May 2026
• The form will be open by the 1st of September, and the deadline is 1 November 2025 (11.59pm in any time zone).
• Only one entry per writer each year may be submitted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

About the Prize
a. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual award for unpublished
short fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.
b. 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).
c. The international judging panel comprises one judge from each of the five regions. Please
note that while the entries will be judged regionally, all judges read and deliberate on
entries from all regions.
d. 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 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.
e. The final selection will be judged by an international judging panel; experienced readers will
Assist the named judges in selecting the longlist.

Submission details

• Entries, including those in translation, must be made by the original author.
• Entries will only be accepted via the online entry form.
• 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 2025. Published work is taken to mean published in any printed, publicly accessible form, e.g., anthology, magazine, or newspaper. It is also taken to mean published online, except for personal blogs, personal websites and personal Facebook pages
• In addition, entries should be submitted in English, with the following exceptions: entries from
• Simultaneous submissions are eligible as long as the entrant informs the organisers (via writers@commonwealth.int) immediately should the story be accepted for publication elsewhere or be selected for a prize.
• Entries must be 2,000 words minimum and 5,000 words maximum (not including the 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. 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.
• All 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.

Other guidelines for the essay writing competition

More Guidelines For Submission to the Commonwealth Prize 2026 

• 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 organizers may publicise the fact that a story has been entered or shortlisted for the Prize.
• Where applicable, the translator’s details should be included on the entry form.
• Commonwealth citizens who write in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, French, Greek, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Tamil and Turkish and who do not have an English translation of their story, may submit their stories in the original language. English translations of short stories written in other languages are eligible if submitted by the writer (not the translator) and provided that the translator is also a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
• 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 Commonwealth Writers.

How to apply

1. follow the eligibity criteria
2. write your essay without the use of AI.
3. Submit before the deadline
4. Click on the link below to apply