The Plaza Short Story Prize (8000 words max)

1st prize: £1000. 2nd prize: £300. 3rd prize: £100

8,000 words max.

Most literary competitions and magazines limit short stories to 5,000 words. 8,000 words allows more space for characterisation or to build a whole world, play with the limits of the form in a different way.

Our judge, Remy Ngamije, is a Rwandan-born Namibian writer, editor, publisher, and photographer. His debut novel The Eternal Audience Of One was first published in South Africa by Blackbird Books and is available worldwide from Scout Press (S&S); in 2022 it was honoured with a Special Mention at the African Union’s inaugural Grand Prix Panafricain De Litterature and won the first African Literary Award from the Museum of the African Diaspora in 2022.

He won the Africa Regional Prize of the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and was shortlisted for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing in 2021 and 2020.

Remy was long-listed and shortlisted for the 2020 and 2021 Afritondo Short Story Prizes respectively. In 2019, he was shortlisted for Best Original Fiction by Stack Magazines.

He has served as a judge for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, the 2021 Kendeka Prize for African Literature, and the 2020 Kalemba Short Story Prize. His work has appeared in The Johannesburg Review of Books, American Chordata, Lolwe, LitHub, Granta, One Story, and many other places.

He is also the founder, chairperson, and ‘artministrator’ of Doek, an independent arts organisation in Namibia supporting the literary arts. He is also the editor-in-chief of Doek! Literary Magazine, Namibia’s first and only literary magazine, and the founder of the Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards and the Doek Literary Festival.

The Prizes

First Prize: £1000

Second Prize: £300

Third Place: £100

Top 10

The 10 shortlisted entries will also be published in The Plaza Prizes Anthology 2, which will be launched at our awards ceremony, October 2024.

Terms and Conditions

Rules

Rules

Deadline: 30^th November 2023
Writers can enter any number of times. (£15.00. Subsequent entry: £7.50)
Short stories can be in any style or form, but must be in English, and written for adults.
Entries must be submitted online. No email submissions.
Enter the correct version of your work. If you make a mistake, entry fees will not be refunded. (You will have to enter again.)

Eligibility

Read the rules carefully before entering the competition. Entry implies acceptance of all the rules and failure to comply will result in disqualification.

All entries are judged anonymously. Please do not include your name, address, phone number, email, website, twitter handle etc on the document or in the file name or it will be disqualified.

Entries will be disqualified if they are over the word limit, and there will be no refund.

Entries must be entirely your own work.

Entries must NOT have been traditionally published in book or magazine form. Work that has been self-published or published on a website, blog, online forum, journal or webzine, is eligible for entry.

Entries must NOT have won in any other competition. If your entry was long-listed or shortlisted in other competitions it is eligible.

Simultaneous submissions are allowed but if an entry wins a prize elsewhere, is published or scheduled for future publication, prior to the date of prize giving, you must inform us to withdraw immediately. Entry fees will not be refunded.

Length

Maximum 8,000 words.

Fees

£15.00 per Short Story. (Subsequent entry: £7.50)

Entries must be submitted online via Submittable. No email submissions.

Format

Entries must be typed in Times New Roman 12 pt. font, double-spaced with numbered pages and the Short Story’s title on every page. Save as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF file with the title as the file name. Do not include your name in the file name as this will lead to disqualification.
Max 2MB file. Include the word count for the Short Story, top right, first page.
Do not add cover pages
No illustrated work

Judging

The judges’ decision is final. No individual correspondence can be entered into. Judges are unable to comment on individual entries. The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to change the judge without notice.

Copyright

Copyright remains with the author, but The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to publish extracts from any of the 10 shortlisted short stories for publicity purposes.

Results & Awards

The Short Story 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd prize-winners will be announced on the website and social media in March 2024. The 10 short-listed entries will be published in The Plaza Prizes Anthology 2, which will be launched at our second awards ceremony in October 2024.

Bursary Scheme

In 2023-2024, we will be offering 100 FREE ENTRY BURSARIES across all our competitions to writers on low incomes, and from underrepresented groups. You can apply for a bursary if low income, class, race, age, gender, sexuality, caring responsibilities, location, disability, or mental and physical health affects your writing. We want to encourage equality to discover quality new writing from diverse voices. Click here to apply for our Bursary Scheme.

Finally

The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to amend the rules where it deems necessary. Any changes to the rules will be posted on our website.

If you have a query about eligibility, please contact: hello@theplazaprizes.com

The Plaza Short Story Prize (8000 words max.)