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Last updated 1st January 2024
Below are lists of competitions, contests, prizes and awards for short story collections and short fiction compilation books. I started this list for my own reference, as I was looking for competitions to enter my own short story collections into and found that these kinds of awards are rare. Given the growth in popularity of writing and reading short stories and flash fiction, I hope they will become more common in the future.
If you run a short story collection contest and would like me to add details of it to this resource, please contact me providing ALL of the following information:
I try and keep the lists up to date, but as I list over 500 publishing opportunities on my website now, it is hard to keep on top of it all. If you do spot any errors, please feel free to get in touch and let me know - any help like this is very much appreciated :-)
Please make sure that you read and fully understand the rules and the terms & conditions of each competition listed before entering.
If you would like your short story collection competition featured, with a full write-up, at the top of this page, please get in touch. Featured competitions are also mentioned in my email newsletters, which go out to over 4,500 short story writers on a regular basis.
Featured contests will be added here at some point soon.
This table lists details of short story collection / compilation awards. At the moment there are only two lists (this one and the one-off list). That is because there aren't many of these types of contests in operation, so it seems pointless to have annual, prestigious and regular lists like I do on the other directories on this website. That may change in the future, if more competitions are launched.
| Competition | Country | Closing Date | Winners Announced | Max Words | Entry Fee | Top Prize |
| Bath Novella in Flash Award | UK | January | April | min 6,000 / max 18,000 | £16 | £300 |
| Notes on Bath Award: Any style/genre - each individual flash in the Novella must be 1,000 or less - cash prizes for 2 runners up - all 3 prize winners published together in an anthology and receive 5 copies of the book each | ||||||
| Black Lawrence Press 'The Hudson Prize' | USA | March | ? | no max stated | $25 | $1,000 |
| Notes on The Hudson Prize: Any style/genre - for unpublished collections of short stories and poetry - winners book published by Black Lawrence Press and they receive 10 free copies - to find the competition page, look in their main menu | ||||||
| British Fantasy Awards | UK | March | October | no max stated | NONE | See notes |
| Notes on British Fantasy Awards: Fantasy - multiple categores, one of which is for a collection of work by a single author, published for the first time in the English language in any part of the world during the relevant year - you have to be nominated by BFS members to be considered - winners receive a trophy and lots of kudos as this is one of the most prestigious awards in the genre | ||||||
| Bridge House Publishing | UK | NA | NA | no max stated | NA | See notes |
| Notes on Bridge House Publishing: Any style/genre - this is not a competition, but they do accept submissions of single author short story collections from writers who have been published a few times in their anthologies, so check the website for more details | ||||||
| Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize | USA | September | November | no max stated | $25 | $2,500 |
| Notes on Dzanc Prize: Any style/genre - winner awarded a $2,500 advance and publication by Dzanc Books - when subs are closed, latest info can be found on their blog | ||||||
| Edge Hill University Short Story Prize | UK | Usually March or April | Varies | no max stated | FREE | £10,000 |
| Notes on Edge Hill Uni Prize: Any style/genre - self-published books are NOT eligible - winner also receives specially commissioned artwork - specifically for a short story collection written by a single author - prize is run annually | ||||||
| Eyelands Book Awards | Greece | October | ? | 8,000 min / no max stated | $35 | See notes |
| Notes on Eyelands Awards: Any style or genre - various categories, including single author short story collections - winners considered for publication by Strange Days Books and translation into Greek - winner receives a holiday in Athens | ||||||
| Florida Authors and Publishers Association (FAPA) President's Book Awards | USA | April | August | no min / max stated | $95 | See notes |
| Notes on FAPA Book Awards: Any style / genre - multiple categories, including one for single author short story, novella and flash fiction collections - no cash prize, but winners gain exposure, prestige and kudos | ||||||
| Leapfrog Press Fiction Contest | USA | May | ? | min 22,000 words / no max stated | $33 | $150 |
| Notes on Leapfrog Press Contest: For adult, young adult and middle grade novels, novellas, and short story collections that are previously unpublished - winner will also be offered a publishing contract with an advance | ||||||
| Letter Review Manuscript Prize | Australia | Bi-Monthly | Bi-Monthly | 5,000 | $25 | $333 |
| Notes on Letter Review Prize: Any style / genre, open to novels, short story collections, nonfiction, and poetry collections - there are three winners who each receive the $333 top prize - winners have a brief extract published at Letter Review and receive a letter of recommendation from the judges for publishers | ||||||
| Rubery Book Award | UK | March | July | no max stated | £39 | £2,000 |
| Notes on the Rubery Book Award: Any style or genre, including fiction and non-fiction - multiple categories, including single author short story collections - any book entered MUST be published, but this includes self-published books | ||||||
| Sabotage Reviews Saboteur Awards | UK | March | April | NA | NA | See notes |
| Notes on Saboteur Awards: Any style/genre - multiple categories, which include short story collections (by a single author) and short story anthologies (a collection of works by more than 1 author) - awards are decided by the number of nominations a work receives - winners receive a bottle of Sacred Gin | ||||||
| Self-Publishing Review Awards | USA | April | April | no min / max stated | $30 | See notes |
Notes on the Self-Publishing Review Awards: Any style or genre - winner receives loads of help with marketing from SPR - they accept ANY type of book but it has to be available in Kindle format on Amazon and has to be self-published or published by an indie publisher |
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| The Dylan Thomas Prize | UK | November | May | no max stated | FREE* | £20,000 |
| Notes on The Dylan Thomas Prize: Any style/genre - for authors aged between 18 and 39 only - for poetry, collections of fictional short stories, fictional novellas and novels, scripts and screenplays - see full terms and condition re costs, if you're shortlisted, there are costs associated with promotion - top prize has been £30K in the past, but last time I looked it was £20K | ||||||
| The Story Prize | USA | See notes | March | no max stated | $75 | $20,000 |
| Notes on The Story Prize: Any style/genre - only for books first published in the United States - 2 closing dates are July for books published between January and June, November for books published between July and December | ||||||
This table lists one-off short story compilation prizes.
| Competition | Country | Closing Date | Winners Announced | Max Words | Entry Fee | Top Prize |
| None to list at present, coming soon... | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Notes on TBC Competition: Notes on TBC coming soon... | ||||||
Below are links to other websites that provide lists of short story collection competitions.
For reference, a record of short story collection awards that have closed.
| Competition | Country | Closing Date | Winners Announced | Max Words | Entry Fee | Top Prize |
| Pen/Hemingway Award For Debut Fiction | USA | Varies | Varies | no max stated | $85 | $25,000 |
| Notes on Pen/Hemingway Award: Any style/genre - entries only accepted from publishers and literary agents - for a debut novel - for US residents only - NO LONGER MENTIONS SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS, just novels, so removed listing in 2021 update and added to novel comps list instead | ||||||
| Unthank Books | UK | See notes | See notes | max 80,000 words | FREE | See notes |
| Notes on Unthank Books: Any style/genre - UK authors only - this isn't a competition, so there are no deadlines - Unthank are a publisher, but they have a Short Fiction Editor, with a remit to commission single-author short story collections, so I thought it was worth listing here, as publishers like this are very hard to find - NO LONGER PUBLISHING BOOKS :( | ||||||
Liberty
U
I'm looking for a very funny, short, interesting comedy story, please.
Chris Fielden
Hi Liberty. The competition I run is for humorous stories.
If you want to read past entries, or enter yourself, you can find all the details on the To Hull And Back competition page.
Rahema
I am looking for award winning and famous short stories collection. please try to send me a pdf or link to my mail.
Chris Fielden
Hi Rahema. There are SO many... I'd recommend looking at Amazon or other online retailers and seeing which appeal to you.
If you want somewhere to start, try authors like Alice Munro, Angela Readman, Jon McGregor, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury and Roald Dahl.
I hope that helps :-)
Chaganti NR
My short story collection was published under the title "Heart for Hire & Love for Sale" by OmniScriptum Publishers, Riga, Latvia, Europe and is released in Europe and the USA. The American print was released recently. It consists of 25 short stories published in various leading English periodicals. Is this collection eligible for any of the competitions? If so, how do I submit it?
Thanking you for your kind and earliest reply with best regards.
Chris Fielden
Hi Chaganti. Congratulations on publishing your book - that's great news.
All the competitions have different rules and submission guidelines, so you'll have to do some research. The links on this page take you to the various competition websites so you can see which might be suitable for your book.
I wish you the best of luck with your submissions :-)
Sidney S
I swear I noted a short story collection contest, a prize of $3,000, maximum length 280 pages and a submission date in February. Now I can't find it. Can you help?
Chris Fielden
Hi Sidney. Thanks for your message. Sorry, that doesn't ring any bells...
The main one that opened in Feb is the Edgehill Prize, but that's for UK authors. You could try Book Pipeline. It's not specifically for short story collections, but they do accept them - worth a look.
Sorry I can't be of more help. If you find the comp, please let me know and I'll add it to the lists.
Tallie M
Unfortunately, nothing for me. I'm a self-published author without money and UK/USA citizenship. So I'll promote it a little bit here. It's called When I'm Lonely I Dream of You. 12 stories inspired by Asia and it's got sci-fi elements. Main theme is dreams and several stories literally based on dreams. I have a website where you can try to guess which ones.
Chris Fielden
Hi Tallie, thanks for your message.
Most of the competitions listed on this page are open to writers living anywhere in the world. I just list the country they are run from so writers know which global market they are submitting to. I wish you the very best of luck with your story collection :)
Tallie M
Thank you for your response. I'll try recheck list.
But still all those contests looks more like lottery. They take money from each and give it to one. Looks like no sponsors involved.
Chris Fielden
Hi Tallie. Thanks for your reply. Contest rules, prizes and terms and conditions vary quite a bit. There aren't many comps for short story collections. You may find something more suitable if you look at competitions for single short stories. There are far more of those, and some are free to enter. You can find details on my short story competitions list page. I hope that is helpful to you :)
Tallie M
Hi, Chris. I'm not sure that my stories are lone warriors but thanks for idea. I'll check them out.
Chris Fielden
No problem, Tallie - good luck :)
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