Apply for the Caine Prize Award for African Writing ($10,000 cash award)

The Caine Prize Award for African Writing is an annual literary prize that recognizes outstanding published short stories by African writers. It is named in honor of the late Sir Michael Caine, who was a prominent figure in the literary world and played a significant role in promoting African arts and culture. To commemorate his legacy, a prize of £10,000 is awarded each year.

Benefits
In addition to the monetary reward, the winner and shortlisted writers are given the opportunity to participate in various events held in Africa, London, and other locations, subject to availability of resources and circumstances. Travel awards are also provided to the shortlisted candidates.

Eligibility

• To be eligible for the prize, the submitted story must have been published within the five years prior to the submissions deadline. For the 2024 eligibility, works published between April 1, 2019, and March 25, 2024, will be considered by the judges.
• The length of the story should be between 3,000 and 10,000 words.
• Entries must be submitted by a publisher, which includes publishers of physical and digital books, literary journals, magazines, and arts-oriented websites.
• The writer must be at least 18 years old at the time of submission. Self-published and unpublished short stories are not eligible for consideration.
• Publishers are encouraged to submit multiple short stories, as long as they are not by the same author. However, each story can only be entered once for consideration for The Caine Prize for African Writing.
• It is important to note that certain genres, such as novels, children’s stories, factual writing, academic essays, plays, poetry, autobiography/biography, and non-fictional works, are not eligible for entry.
• When submitting a story, publishers must specify the African country the author comes from and provide the word count of the short story.
• Publishers must include a ‘publisher’s letter’ with each submission. The publisher’s letter should contain the following information:
  1. Name(s) of the writer(s).
  2. Title of the story or stories being submitted.
  3. Word count of each submitted story.
  4. The qualifying nationality of the writer(s).
  5. The date of publication of the story or stories.
  6. Confirmation of consent from the writer(s) whose stories are being submitted for the Prize.

To submit each story, the publisher should send it via email to [email protected] as a PDF attachment or provide a link to the story if it has been published online. Please make sure to include ‘The Caine Prize for African Writing Entry for 2024’ in the subject line of your email.

Please note that submissions that do not meet the above criteria will not be eligible for the prize. If you have any questions or queries regarding our eligibility criteria, please feel free to email us at [email protected]. We will be happy to assist you.

For more information, please visit the Official Webpage of the Caine Prize Award 2024.