V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize

The author of the winning entry will be awarded a prize of £1,000 and have their story published in Prospect online and in the RSL Review. The V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize is administered by the Royal Society of Literature in association with Prospect magazine.

Terms and Conditions

Eligibility
Entrants must be resident in the UK, Republic of Ireland or Commonwealth and likely to be available for a prize-giving event in October 2019
Stories entered for the competition must not have been published previously or broadcast in any other medium
Multiple entries to this competition are permitted but must be submitted and paid for individually (the fee is £7.50 per entry to cover administration costs)
Entrants must be over 18 at the time of submission.

Entry Instructions

Stories MUST:
be written in English
be between 2,000 and 4,000 words
be submitted as Microsoft Word or PDF documents with the author name (surname, first name) and short story title in the file name e.g. Wilde, Oscar – The Happy Prince
use Arial, 12pt, black font and use double-line spacing
have page numbers at the bottom right-hand side of each page
have the title of the story and word count at the top of the first page.

Stories MUST NOT:
include the name of the entrant, their address or any identifying mark anywhere in the document
include photos or illustrations.

The Royal Society of Literature cannot undertake to make corrections or additions to submissions. You must request that your submission is opened for editing if you wish to make changes. Submission of an entry implies acceptance of these conditions and entry fees are non-refundable. The shortlist will be contacted in autumn. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Due to the volume of submissions received, we are not able to provide individual feedback.

Please note that any entries that do not meet the requirements outlined above will not be accepted and the fee will not be refunded. No correspondence will be entered into regarding incorrect submissions.

See here for further information and to submit.

Entries for low-income writers

The RSL is committed to increasing accessibility and supporting writers of all incomes. As such, we are offering 50 free entries to low-income writers based in the UK.

To apply for a free entry to this year’s prize please e-mail patricia.chidavarume@rsliterature.org using the subject ‘Free VSP Entry Application’ and in the body of the email include your name, postcode and up to 200 words on why you are eligible for a free entry, along with supporting documentation as proof of financial eligibility such as: Jobseeker’s Allowance, Disability Benefit, Income Support; Working Tax Credit; proof of being a full-time student; Housing Benefit; proof of being a full-time carer. All details will be kept in the strictest confidence and have no bearing on your Prize entry. Applications with no supporting evidence will not be accepted.

Eligible writers have until the 28 May to apply for a free entry. However, we recommend applying earlier as these entries are offered on a first come, first served basis. You will be informed by email as to whether you have been accepted and then given instructions on how to enter. Please do not send your story to us prior to this. Successful applicants will have until midnight on Friday 28 June (the same as the general entry deadline) to submit their story to the competition.

Please note, if successful you can only submit one free entry into the competition. Additional stories will need to submitted via the general submission portal at the bottom of this page (£7.50 per entry).

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