The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is a registered charity whose aim is to bring African writing to a wider audience using our annual literary award.
In addition to administering the Prize, they work to connect readers with African writers through a series of public events, as well as helping emerging writers in Africa to enter the world of mainstream publishing through the annual Caine Prize writers’ workshop which takes place in a different African country each year.
The stories written at Caine Prize workshops are published annually alongside the Prize’s shortlisted stories in the annual Caine Prize Anthology by Cassava Republic Press in the UK and publishers in African countries including, Jacana Media (South Africa), Cassava Republic (Nigeria), FEMRITE (Uganda), Gadsen Publishers (Zambia), ‘amaBooks (Zimbabwe), Langaa (Cameroon), and Mkuku na Nyota (Tanzania).
Prize
The winner receives a cash prize of £10,000. Four shortlisted writers receive a cash prize of £500 each.
Shortlisted writers will be invited to London to participate in a series of public events. Selected writers from the judges’ longlist will be invited to an annual workshop in an African Country.
Eligibility
The story must have been published in the five years preceding the submission deadline. For 2024 eligibility, the judges will only consider work published between April 1, 2019, and March 25, 2024.
Entries must be more than 3,000 words or less than 10,000 words.
Entries must be submitted by a publisher. This includes publishers of physical and digital books, literary journals, magazines, and arts-oriented websites.
Writers must be over 18 years of age at the time of submission.
Self-published and unpublished short stories are not eligible.
Publishers are encouraged to submit multiple short stories as long as they do not submit more than one story by the same author.
Stories may only be entered for consideration for The Caine Prize for African Writing once. Unfortunately, this means that you may not re-submit a story for consideration, even if it was not selected for the shortlist.
Genres not eligible for entry include: novels, children’s stories, factual writing, academic essays, plays, poetry, autobiography/biography, and any work that does not constitute a fictional short story.
Submissions must specify which African country the author comes from and the short story word count.
Publishers are required to upload a ‘publisher’s letter’ with each submission. See below for more information:
What should the publisher’s letter include? Publishers are required to provide:
Name of the writer(s).
Title of the story or stories being submitted.
Word count of each submitted story.
The qualifying nationality of the writer(s).
The date of publication of the story or stories.
Confirmation of consent from the writer(s) whose stories are being submitted for the Prize.
Application Process
Each story must be submitted by the publisher via email ([email protected]) as a PDF attachment or via a link to the story (if it has been published online).
Ensure ‘The Caine Prize for African Writing Entry for 2024’ appears in the subject matter of your email.
