The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing

Application Deadline: 31st January 2022 at midnight (GMT)

The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual short story award. The Prize is awarded for a short story by an African writer published in English, whether they reside in Africa or elsewhere.

The winner is awarded a cash prize of £10,000, and the other four shortlisted writers will receive £500 each.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

The story must have been published in the five years preceding the submissions deadline. For 2022 eligibility, the judges will only consider work published after 31st January 2017
Stories less than 3,000 words or exceeding 10,000 words are not eligible for the Prize.
Short stories must be submitted by a publisher – including publishers of physical and digital literary journals or magazines. Self-published and unpublished works are not eligible.
Publishers must obtain consent from the writer(s) before submitting their stories for the Prize.
Stories submitted for the Prize must have been published in English. Translated stories are eligible, provided that an English translation has been published.
Stories that have been previously submitted for the Caine Prize are not eligible.
Genres not eligible for entry include stories for children, factual writing, plays and autobiography/biography.
Submissions must specify which African country the author comes from and the word count.
Publishers are encouraged to submit multiple short stories as long as they do not submit more than one story by the same author.

Benefits

Money

Winner receives a cash prize of £10,000

Four shortlisted writers receive a cash prize of £500 each

Exposure

Opportunity to participate in interviews, panel discussions and readings with a global audience

Experience

Opportunity to participate in the Prize’s various programmes

Submission

Each story must be submitted by the publisher via the entry form on our website.
The submission form will become available here when the submissions window opens in December 2021

If you have any queries regarding the above, please contact via email at [email protected].

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the AKO Caine Prize 2022

Application Deadline: 31st January 2021.

The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is a literature prize awarded to an African writer of a short story published in English. The prize was launched in 2000 to encourage and highlight the richness and diversity of African writing by bringing it to a wider audience internationally. The focus on the short story reflects the contemporary development of the African story-telling tradition.

Eligibility

Unpublished work is not eligible for the Caine Prize.
Submissions should be made by publishers only.
Only fictional work is eligible.
Only one story per author will be considered in any one year.
Submissions should specify which African country the author comes from and the word count.
We require 6 copies of the work in its originally published version.
If the work is published in a book or journal, we would like to receive at least one copy of the book / journal and five photocopies; but particularly where several stories are submitted from one anthology we would like if possible to receive six copies of the book / journal itself.
If the work is published online, we would like to receive six photocopies.

Benefits

Travel

Winning and short-listed authors will be invited to participate in writers’ workshops in Africa, London and elsewhere as resources permit. There is a cash prize of £10,000 for the winning author and a travel award for each of the short-listed candidates (up to five in all). The shortlisted candidates will also receive a Prize of £500.

How to Apply:

There is no application form. To apply please send six original published copies of the work for consideration to the Caine Prize office including a letter from the publisher.

If the work is published in a book or journal, we would like to receive at least one copy of the book / journal and five photocopies; but particularly where several stories are submitted from one anthology we would like if possible to receive six copies of the book / journal itself.
If published in a magazine or journal we will accept one original copy plus five photocopies, but would prefer six original copies.
If the work is published online, we would like to receive six printed copies.
Address and post the eligible submission to:

The Caine Prize for African Writing
51 Southwark Street
London
SE1 1RU

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the AKO Caine Prize 2021

The AKO Caine Prize 2022 for African Writing (£10,000 Cash Prize)

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

Money

Exposure

Experience

The AKO Caine Prize 2021 for African Writing (£10,000 Cash Prize & Funded Workshop in London)