Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa 2025: (Deadline 16 February, 2025)

Calling all African writers! Apply now for the Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa 2025. The Island Prize is your opportunity to breakthrough in the publishing world.

African writers are often faced with a double dose of challenges. Firstly, getting published within African countries can be incredibly difficult because local publishers are often constrained by finances. Secondly, for many writers getting published overseas is almost impossible because the rest of the world has certain ideas of what an African story should be. The Island Prize gives authors across the continent can gain the confidence to tell stories as they wish.

Prizes

• Winner receives £500 and comprehensive publishing support
• Two runners-up get £200 each and personalized manuscript feedback

Eligibility

The Island Prize is open to African writers aged 18 and over, regardless of place of residence.
For the purposes of the competition, they define “African writers” as writers born in or having citizenship of any African country.

• You must not be represented by a literary agent or currently under contract with a publisher. If you receive an offer of representation while your novel is under consideration, you must inform organisers immediately and withdraw.
• Non-fiction, poetry, and short story collections, as well as fiction for children are NOT eligible.
• There is no restriction as to specific genre – anything from literary fiction to crime thriller is welcome.
• The complete novel should be between 35,000 words and 100,000 words.
• Entrants must not have previously published a novel; this includes self-published or eBook-only editions. To clarify: authors may have previously published poetry collections, short story collections, and non-fiction, BUT NOT A NOVEL.
• Authors who are longlisted may be required to give evidence of their eligibility. Personal information will be kept confidential.
• Pseudonyms may be used, but longlisted authors will be asked to provide their given names. This will be kept confidential.
• Authors with manuscripts that they would like to see in full will be contacted by March 31, 2025 – though this date might have to be extended slightly, depending on the volume of entries received. Authors must be ready to submit the full manuscript to us within a couple of days of being contacted. They WILL NOT wait for authors to complete unfinished manuscripts, and their names will be removed from the longlist.
• The shortlisted authors will be announced in the first week of May 2025.
• The winner will be announced sometime in mid-May 2025.

Deadline: 16 February, 2025

Application

Send the following to [email protected]:

• The first three chapters or 10,000 words of the novel;
• A covering statement giving the word count, name and address of the author, the title, and a brief, two-sentence description of the main subjects and themes of the novel;
• A one-page synopsis setting out the basic story.

Format:

• Entries should be in a simple font, size 12 – Times New Roman, Garamond, Arial, Calibri are all fine.
• Ensure entries are double or 1.5 spaced.
• All entries should be in Word doc or docx.

For more information, visit Island Prize.