Deadline: January 31, 2022.

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.

ELIGIBILITY

• 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 Self-published and unpublished works are not eligible.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. 

PRIZE

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

APPLICATION

Each story must be submitted by the publisher via the entry form on their website.

OFFICIAL LINK