'These darkly comic tales place the author snugly between Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Be sure: Chris Fielden is one funny feller.' Allen Ashley, British Fantasy Award winner.
Amazon: 5 starts.
Order a FREE taster PDF
BUY the Book

Follow me on Twitter.
Find me on Facebook.
My Facebook Business Page.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Subscribe to my mailing list

* indicates required

Short Story Collection Competitions

Quick links on this page:

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.

Once Upon A Time

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:

  • How often you will be running your competition (eg, annually, quarterly, one-off)
  • The name of your competition
  • A link to your website
  • The country you run the competition from (NOT where you accept entries from, where you are physically located please)
  • Closing date
  • The date you announce winners
  • Maximum word count of books / collections
  • Entry fee
  • Top prize
  • Any other details, including how winning writers' books might be published or publicised, and any guidelines on theme / style etc.

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 :-)

Elegant Literature Monthly Fiction Magazine and Contest

Please make sure that you read and fully understand the rules and the terms & conditions of each competition listed before entering.

Featured Short Story Collection Prizes

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.

back to top

Short Story Collection Writing Competitions

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.

Short Story Course

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
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

back to top

One-Off Short Fiction Book Competitions

This table lists one-off short story compilation prizes.

Daily Prompt

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...

back to top

How to Write a Short Story book ad

Other Short Story Award Lists

Below are links to other websites that provide lists of short story collection competitions.

  • The John Fox - awesome list with loads of publishing opportunities, mainly in USA
  • Writing Contests - archive for their 'Short Story Collection Contest' category listings

A History of Closed Short Story Collection Contests

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 :(

back to top

How to Write a Short Story by Christopher Fielden

Share

This page may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Leave your comments

Please use the form below to leave your comments. All comments will be reviewed so won't appear on the page instantly. I will not share your details with anyone else.

Your Details:

Please prove you're a human by entering the security code in the box below: 6749

Comments:

Your comments:

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 :)