The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing 2021: (Deadline 31 January 2021)

Applications call for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing 2021.

The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is a literature prize awarded to an African writer of a short story published in English. The prize was launched in 2000 to encourage and highlight the richness and diversity of African writing by bringing it to a wider audience internationally. The focus on the short story reflects the contemporary development of the African story-telling tradition.

Prizes

• Winning and short-listed authors will be invited to participate in writers’ workshops in Africa, London, and elsewhere as resources permit.
• There is a cash prize of £10,000 for the winning author and a travel award for each of the short-listed candidates (up to five in all).
• The shortlisted candidates will also receive a Prize of £500.

Eligibility

To be eligible for AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, candidates must have the following qualifications

• Unpublished work is not eligible for the Caine Prize.
• Submissions should be made by publishers only.
• Only fictional work is eligible.
• Only one story per author will be considered in any one year.
• Submissions should specify which African country the author comes from and the word count.
• AKO requires 6 copies of the work in its originally published version.
• If the work is published in a book or journal.
  AKO would like to receive at least one copy of the book/journal and five photocopies, but particularly where several stories are submitted from one anthology we would like if possible to receive six copies of the book/journal itself.
• If the work is published online, the competition would like to receive six photocopies.

Application

• There is no application form for AKO Caine Prize for African Writing 2021. To apply please send six original published copies of the work for consideration to the Caine Prize office including a letter from the publisher.
• If the work is published in a book or journal, it would like to receive at least one copy of the book/journal and five photocopies; but particularly where several stories are submitted from one anthology we would like if possible to receive six copies of the book/journal itself.
• If published in a magazine or journal we will accept one original copy plus five photocopies but would prefer six original copies.
• If the work is published online, AKO would like to receive six printed copies.