The Sunday Times and Audible renew their successful union once again as the world’s richest short story prize enters its second decade 

Now accepting entries from publishers, agents and authors via www.shortstoryaward.co.uk

Audible, the leading provider of audio storytelling will once again sponsor The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award 2020, which now enters its eleventh year. 

Entries are now open to the world’s richest and most prestigious prize for an English-language single short story. In its first decade the Award has attracted some of the finest literary talent from around the world.

Andrew Holgate, literary editor of The Sunday Times comments: “The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award has taken significant strides with our new partner and sponsor Audible, with more eligible entries last year than ever before, a wonderful winner in Danielle McLaughlin, and - a first - an audio anthology of the shortlist produced by Audible available to millions of listeners around the world. We’re delighted to continue the prize’s expansion with them. Writers from 40 countries and six continents entered last year, and this year, our eleventh, we’re looking forward to cementing our position as the world’s premier short fiction award and taking it to another level.”

The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award is worth £30,000 to the winner, with the shortlisted authors receiving £1,000 each. The shortlisted stories are also showcased in an exclusive audiobook anthology, for which the authors will receive an additional £1,000 each.

The Award already boasts an impressive track record for attracting exceptional short fiction; it received over 1300 entries last year from writers from six continents and more than 40 countries across the world.

Previous winners of the award include three Pulitzer Prize-winning American authors - Junot Díaz, Anthony Doerr and Adam Johnson - as well as Chinese-American novelist Yiyun Li, CK Stead from New Zealand, Jonathan Tel from the UK, Bret Anthony Johnston and Courtney Zoffness from America, and Kevin Barry from Ireland. Shortlisted authors include Colum McCann, Petina Gappah, Hilary Mantel, Emma Donoghue, Elizabeth Strout, Ali Smith, David Vann, Gerard Woodward, Curtis Sittenfeld and Miranda July. The 2019 winner was Irish writer Danielle McLaughlin.

As well as its notable list of winners and shortlistees, one of the features of the prize has been its distinguished list of judges, who have included Sebastian Faulks, Tessa Hadley, Joanna Trollope, Richard Eyre, Lionel Shriver, AS Byatt, Nick Hornby, Hanif Kureishi, Mark Haddon, Will Self, David Baddiel, Sarah Hall, Rose Tremain, Sir Melvyn Bragg and John Carey.

The judges read the entries ‘blind’, without knowing the author’s identity. The success of past judging panels has seen the Award celebrate not only the work of literary giants, but allowed it to discover and promote new and emerging talent such as Jessie Greengrass, Sally Rooney, Roshi Fernando, Rebecca F John, Courtney Zoffness, and last year’s winner Danielle McLaughlin.

The judges this year will be looking for an outstanding English-language story of 6,000 words or under from a fiction author from anywhere in the world who has been published in the UK or Ireland. The deadline for entries is 6pm on Friday 13th December 2019. The winner will be announced on Thursday 2nd July  2020.

For full details of the Award visit: https://shortstoryaward.co.uk/

For any questions on the Terms and Conditions of Entry or other aspects of eligibility please email the administrators: shortstoryaward@sunday-times.co.uk

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