Short Fiction Journal aims to showcase the most carefully crafted, deeply considered, simply brilliant short stories from the UK and beyond.
The Short Fiction International Short Story Prize, judged by Yan Ge and Wendy Erskine, is open for entries from 15th January to 31st March 2024 - we look forward to reading your entries!
We are excited to reopen our internationally-renowned short story competition. The prize judges in 2024 are Yan Ge, author of Elsewhere, and Wendy Erskine, author of Sweet Home and Dance Move.
Rules:
1. Dates: The Prize is open for entries from 9am GMT on 15 January 2024. The deadline for receipt of entries is 23:59 GMT on 31 March 2024.
2. Language: All entries must be in English.
3. Geographical restrictions: There are no geographical restrictions on entry: while the Prize is UK-based, all writers – within and outside the UK – are welcome to enter.
4. Length: The maximum length of submissions is 5,000 words, not including the title. There is no minimum length.
5. Genre/theme: There are no restrictions on genre, style, theme, or subject, but entries should be prose fiction – not poetry or memoir.
6. Entry fee: There is an entry fee for each story submitted (though see 7. Free entries, below). To encourage early submissions, the fee for entries submitted in January and February will be £10 – the discounted fee will apply until 29 February 2024 (23:59 GMT). In the final month, March, the entry fee will be £12. Payment is made through the Submittable portal for the Prize. At the time of entry, writers can opt to pay a supplement of £1 to subsidise a free entry for a writer in more difficult financial circumstances.
7. Free entries: Forty (40) free entries are available to writers for whom the fee would be a barrier to entry. Twenty (20) of these are reserved for writers resident in the UK. To request one, please email shortfictionjournal@gmail.com (once the Prize opens) and let us know your country of residence. The free entries are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and you do not need to give us detailed information about your circumstances, though please let us know your general situation (whether you're on a low income, unwaged, or a student, for example). Free entries will be judged blind, the same as paid entries.
8. Blind judging: Entries will be read and judged anonymously; entrants’ names and contact details should only appear on the entry form and not anywhere on their stories/manuscripts. The stories/manuscripts must be free of all personal or identifying information about the author. This includes age and address.
9. Entry format: Entries should be in a standard 12pt font and double-spaced, unless the form of the story demands otherwise. Entry is online-only, via Submittable.
10. Multiple entries: Writers may enter as many stories as they like; each separate story requires a separate entry fee.
11. Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw your entry via Submittable as soon as possible if the story is accepted for publication elsewhere, in print or online (including self-published, e-book, magazines, journals, audio, websites, blogs, social network sites), or broadcast.
12. Age restriction: Entrants must be 18 years old or over on the closing date.
13. Corrections: No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry.
14. New work only: Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been previously published, in print or online (including self-published, e-book, magazines, journals, audio, websites, blogs, social network sites), or won a prize in another writing competition. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified.
15. Judging process: Each entry will be read by at least two members of a diverse panel of experienced short story readers from Short Fiction. A shortlist, announced in late April 2024, will then be forwarded to our judges, Yan Ge and Wendy Erskine, who will select the winner, runner-up and third place story for a final announcement in May 2024. The panel’s and judges’ decisions are final and no individual correspondence will be entered into.
16. Prizes: £1000 will be awarded to the main prize winner; the runner-up will receive £300, and the third place story will win £100.
17. Publication: The winning, runner-up and third place stories will be published online at Short Fiction journal. Acceptance of any prize implies agreement for the relevant story to be published online.
18. Results: Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist.
19. Rules acceptance: Entry implies an acceptance of these rules. Entries that fail to comply with the entry rules and requirements may be disqualified.
We look forward to reading your entries!
We are excited to reopen our internationally-renowned short story competition. The prize judges in 2024 are Yan Ge, author of Elsewhere, and Wendy Erskine, author of Sweet Home and Dance Move.
Rules:
1. Dates: The Prize is open for entries from 9am GMT on 15 January 2024. The deadline for receipt of entries is 23:59 GMT on 31 March 2024.
2. Language: All entries must be in English.
3. Geographical restrictions: There are no geographical restrictions on entry: while the Prize is UK-based, all writers – within and outside the UK – are welcome to enter.
4. Length: The maximum length of submissions is 5,000 words, not including the title. There is no minimum length.
5. Genre/theme: There are no restrictions on genre, style, theme, or subject, but entries should be prose fiction – not poetry or memoir.
6. Entry fee: There is an entry fee for each story submitted (though see 7. Free entries, below). To encourage early submissions, the fee for entries submitted in January and February will be £10 – the discounted fee will apply until 29 February 2024 (23:59 GMT). In the final month, March, the entry fee will be £12. Payment is made through the Submittable portal for the Prize. At the time of entry, writers can opt to pay a supplement of £1 to subsidise a free entry for a writer in more difficult financial circumstances.
7. Free entries: Forty (40) free entries are available to writers for whom the fee would be a barrier to entry. Twenty (20) of these are reserved for writers resident in the UK. To request one, please email shortfictionjournal@gmail.com (once the Prize opens) and let us know your country of residence. The free entries are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and you do not need to give us detailed information about your circumstances, though please let us know your general situation (whether you're on a low income, unwaged, or a student, for example). Free entries will be judged blind, the same as paid entries.
8. Blind judging: Entries will be read and judged anonymously; entrants’ names and contact details should only appear on the entry form and not anywhere on their stories/manuscripts. The stories/manuscripts must be free of all personal or identifying information about the author. This includes age and address.
9. Entry format: Entries should be in a standard 12pt font and double-spaced, unless the form of the story demands otherwise. Entry is online-only, via Submittable.
10. Multiple entries: Writers may enter as many stories as they like; each separate story requires a separate entry fee.
11. Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw your entry via Submittable as soon as possible if the story is accepted for publication elsewhere, in print or online (including self-published, e-book, magazines, journals, audio, websites, blogs, social network sites), or broadcast.
12. Age restriction: Entrants must be 18 years old or over on the closing date.
13. Corrections: No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry.
14. New work only: Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been previously published, in print or online (including self-published, e-book, magazines, journals, audio, websites, blogs, social network sites), or won a prize in another writing competition. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified.
15. Judging process: Each entry will be read by at least two members of a diverse panel of experienced short story readers from Short Fiction. A shortlist, announced in late April 2024, will then be forwarded to our judges, Yan Ge and Wendy Erskine, who will select the winner, runner-up and third place story for a final announcement in May 2024. The panel’s and judges’ decisions are final and no individual correspondence will be entered into.
16. Prizes: £1000 will be awarded to the main prize winner; the runner-up will receive £300, and the third place story will win £100.
17. Publication: The winning, runner-up and third place stories will be published online at Short Fiction journal. Acceptance of any prize implies agreement for the relevant story to be published online.
18. Results: Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist.
19. Rules acceptance: Entry implies an acceptance of these rules. Entries that fail to comply with the entry rules and requirements may be disqualified.
We look forward to reading your entries!