11 January 2017
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Photo by Barker evans
The prestigious short story award, which has a first prize of £15,000, will open for entries on 26 January
The prestigious short story award, which has a first prize of £15,000, will open for entries on 26 January
The award, for short stories up to 8,000 words, is open to any writer with a history of publication in creative writing. Four runners up each win £600.
This year's chair of judges is Joanna Trollope. 'I am a huge fan of the short story as a genre,' she said. 'Not least because it manages to create such a peculiarly intimate relationship between writer and reader, and I believe that relationship to be immensely important to good writing. There is nothing like a short story, really, to humanise literature, from the greats of the past – Chekov, de Maupassant, William Trevor – to the greats of the present. It is wonderful to see the genre revivie as it has, in no small part thanks to awards like this one. And the revival has revealed many hitherto hidden talents in this far from easy, if rewarding, genre. I look forward so much to reading the entries for 2017 – who knows what we will discover?'
The other judges on this year's panel are Eimear McBride, Jon McGregor, Sunjeev Sahota and Di Speirs.
The BBC National Short Story Award opens for entries on 26 January – and in the meantime, WM writers, get your story ready to submit! The closing date is 6 March.
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