The 2023 Bristol Short Story Prize is currently open for short stories from writers worldwide.
The Bristol Short Story Prize is an international writing competition based in Bristol, UK, which aims to publish great short stories and promote the stories and writers as much as possible. Discovering previously unpublished writers is central to their aims and they are absolutely committed to celebrating the short story form and making it accessible and available to as wide an audience as they can.
The Bristol Short Story Prize is an international writing competition founded by the editors of the quarterly cultural magazine Bristol Review of Books in 2007.
Their Aims include:
- To publish a brilliant short story anthology every year full of fresh and original stories, and to get it stocked in as many bookshops as possible. This includes high street chains, independent shops and online booksellers.
- To inspire and encourage writers.
- To discover and promote previously unpublished writers.
- To provide an opportunity for writers to get published.
- To share our enthusiasm for short stories in as many ways and with as many people as possible.
- To establish Bristol as a short story centre.
- To raise the profile and support Bristol Review of Books magazine. (BROB magazine is not being published at the moment but they hope to be part of its return to publication at some stage in the future.)
Submission Guidelines for the 2023 Bristol Short Story Prize
- Entrants must specifically be over 16 years old on the closing date, April 26th 2023.
- The 2023 Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all published and unpublished writers.
- All entries must be in English.
- There are no specific formatting requirements: font type, font size, line spacing etc.
- 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 maximum length of submissions is 4,000 words (does not include title), there is no minimum length.
- There is an entry fee of £9 for each story submitted to the 2023 Bristol Short Story Prize. However, there are 250 free online entries available to those for whom the entry fee is a barrier.
- Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been previously published, in print or online (including self-published, ebook, magazines, journals, websites, blogs, social network sites), or broadcast or won a prize in another writing competition on or before October 14th 2023.
- Entries will be read by their readers. They will select a longlist of 40 stories for the judging panel, who then will select 20 for the shortlist. Therefore, ensure your story is properly written and edited.
- Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist.
- Submission can be made via post to: Bristol Short Story Prize, Unit 5.16, Paintworks, Bath Road Bristol BS4 3EH, and also on their website.
- Visit https://www.bristolprize.co.uk/rules to read more about their rules and submission process.
Prizes
Prizes for 2023 are: 1st prize-£1000, 2nd prize -£500, 3rd prize -£250. Each of the 17 remaining shortlisted writers will receive £100. An additional prize of £100, The Sansom Award, in recognition of the contribution to Bristol publishing of John and Angela Sansom, will be presented to the highest-placed story by a Bristol writer. Also, 20 stories that are shortlisted will be published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 16, in both print and ebook formats.
Deadline
The competition deadline is midnight (BST), 26 April 2023.