V. S. Pritchett Short Story Prize
This prize was founded by the RSL at the beginning of the new millennium to commemorate the centenary of an author widely regarded as the finest English short-story writer of the 20th century, and to preserve a tradition encompassing Pritchett’s mastery of narrative.
The annual prize of £1,000 goes to the best unpublished short story of the year. The winning entry is also published in Prospect magazine and the RSL Review.
We are grateful to the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) for their support of the Prize.
The 2022 Prize
We are now closed for entries. The winner will be announced on Thursday 30 March 2023.
This year’s judges are Jenn Ashworth, Cynan Jones and Emma Paterson.
Past recipients (click the links to read the story on Prospect Magazine)
2021 | Leeor Ohayon | ‘Gahnun on Shabbat‘ |
2020 | Kate Lockwood Jefford | ‘Picasso’s Face‘ |
2019 | Ursula Brunetti | ‘Beetleboy‘ |
2018 | Emily Ruth Ford | ‘Please Be Good to Me‘ |
2017 | Emily Ruth Ford | ‘The Hikers‘ |
2016 | Fiona Marshall | ‘The Street of Baths‘ |
2015 | Jonathan Tel | ‘The Seduction of a Provincial Accountant‘ |
2014 | Alice Jolly | ‘Ray the Rottweiler‘ |
2013 | Peter Adamson | ‘Sahel‘ |
2012 | Martina Devlin | ‘Singing Dumb‘ |
2011 | Carys Davies | ‘The Redemption of Galen Pike‘ |
2010 | Michael Newton | ‘The Premises‘ |
2009 | Kate Clanchy | ‘The Not-Dead and the Saved‘ |
2008 | Cynthia Rogerson | ‘A Dangerous Place’ |
2007 | Gabriela Blandy | ‘The Buck’ |
2006 | Henry Peplow | ‘Master Sunny’ |
2005 | Jonathan Haylett | ‘Bendera Beach’ |
2004 | Ed Siegle | ‘Nine Lives, One Life’ |
2003 | Cherise Saywell | ‘Beef Queen’ |
2001 | Simon Korner | ‘Falling’ |
2000 | Emma Barklamb | ‘No and Yes’ |
1999 | John Arden | ‘The Stealing Steps’ |