If you’ve been looking for a sign to submit your writing somewhere, this is it. As scary as it might seem, there’s nothing quite like being able to send a finished product out into the world, and one of the best ways to do so is by submitting. Not sure where to do that? Here are two rather prestigious prizes that are currently open for submission.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Deadline: November 1st, 2023
Open to anyone over 18 who’s a citizen of a Commonwealth country (that includes Belize), the Commonwealth Foundation’s Short Story Prize is open from now until November 1st.
A total of twenty stories will be selected for the shortlist by a panel of international judges, after which five regional winners will be chosen. It might sound intimidating—and highly competitive—but winners walk away with £2,500, while the overall winner gets a prize of £5,000. Additionally, all five winning stories will be published in the online magazine Granta.
Stories should be between 2,000 and 5,000 words and all fiction genres are accepted. Also, submissions in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, English, French, Greek, Malay, Maltese, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil, and Turkish are all accepted, which is pretty amazing.
Learn more and submit here.
OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature
Deadline: November 8th
Bocas Lit Fest takes place every year in Trinidad. (It’s a festival I aspire to one day attend.) It features a host of readings, panel discussions, film screenings, performances, and more, and every year the organizers also host the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.
Accepting entries in poetry, fiction (novels and short story collections), and literary non-fiction, the OCM Bocas Prize is open to all Caribbean writers. The winner in each category receives US $3,000 and the overall prize winner gets an award of US$10,000. Submitting is a bit more complex than the Commonwealth Prize since submissions must be books published this year. According to Bocas Lit Fest, to be eligible for entry for the 2024 prize, a book must:
- Have been first published in the calendar year 2023 (1 January to 31 December);
- Have been written by a single author who either holds Caribbean citizenship or was born in the Caribbean (this must be verified by the publisher), regardless of current place of residence;
- Have been written by an author who is living on 31 December, 2023;
- Have been written and first published in English originally (i.e. translations are not eligible);
- Be a new work, previously unpublished in book form (though collections including poems, stories, essays, or other short pieces that have individually appeared in print in periodicals or anthologies are eligible).
Learn more about submitting here.
Submitting your writing to a competition or publication can be daunting, but it’s often just as rewarding as it is terrifying – if not more – even if you don’t win or get your work accepted. So, good luck, and happy writing!
Khaila A. Gentle 