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BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University returns for 20th year
The BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) is open for submissions, marking its 20th year.
Di Speirs is this year’s chair of judges, having been a judge since the prize’s inception, and will be joined by novelists William Boyd and Kamila Shamsie as well as prize-winners Lucy Caldwell (2021) and Ross Raisin (2024).
Speirs said: "I’m absolutely delighted to be chairing the 20th BBC National Short Story Award with a panel of unbelievably expert writers who know the form intimately. All of us have judged the award before and I’m looking forward to the perspectives that brings.
"As the returning judge over two decades, I’ve seen how the short story has grown and flexed, found ways to reflect new characters and communities and to speak to younger and broader audiences. It remains always a challenging form, easily underestimated, but a great short story has the power to penetrate the heart. As ever I know I will be surprised and excited as I look for stories written with originality and freshness, with the power to move me and to linger."
The prize is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000 and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The stories are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and available to listen to on "BBC Sounds". Additionally, they are published by Comma Press in an anthology.
The BBC Young Writers’ Award (YWA) is also now open. Now in its 11th year, the YWA was created to inspire the next generation of short story writers and is open to entrants between the age of 14 and 18 years. The shortlisted writers have their stories narrated by an actor and, like the NSSA shortlistees, recorded for "BBC Sounds" and published in an anthology.
BBC Radio 1 presenter and "Life Hacks" co-host Lauren Layfield is chair of the YWA. She is joined by poet and former Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho, novelist Jessica Moor, poet Matt Goodfellow and YWA 2020 winner Lottie Mills.
The NSSA and YWA with Cambridge University are now open for submissions. The deadline for NSSA is 9am Monday 17th March 2025 and the Young Writers’ prize deadline is 9am Monday 24th March 2025.
