The Cambridge Prize for 2026 is now closed and the shortlisted writers for both the short story and the flash fiction categories can be found below.
You’ll also find details of the winners and shortlists of 2025 and 2024 – as well as links to their work – further down the page.
Cambridge Short Story Prize Shortlist 2026
Awake, Morpheus! – Eliza Mood
Blood Bay – Liesl Jobson
In the Spring – Hooman Qavidel
Shuttlec*ck – Ruth Guthrie
The Long Way Home – Sharon Marie Hier
The POWs – Marc Levy
The Continental Divide – Jeff Markowski
We Go Round and Round – Jessie Taussig
Cambridge Flash Fiction Prize Shortlist 2026
Bird was in the Title – Clancy Kauf
End of the Line – Lyn Harrison.
Fruit – Nicola Clements
Kerry – Amanda O’Callaghan
South Leinster Gothic – James Heaney
The Child in the Back Seat – Muiread O’Hanlon
Unlearning You – Jaime Gill
Where Memory Softens – Sharon Hier
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The Cambridge Short Story Prize 2025
First: Astley, Tom – King of the Maudlin Seam
Second: Watson, Stuart – Broke, Broken, Broker
Third: Beard, Alan – What Days Are Like
The Cambridge Flash Fiction Prize 2025
First: O’Dwyer, David – Pick
Second: Griffo, Megan – The River
Third: Redgate, Jamie – Normal Person
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Shortlist for the Cambridge Short Story Prize 2025
Astley, Tom – King of the Maudlin Seam
Beard, Alan – What Days Are Like
Booth, Robin – To Visit My Mother, One Last Time
Gardner, Frankie – A Certain Place
Kelleher, Damian – Liberty Leading the People
Love, Tim – Ending It All
Ludmerer, Nancy – An Anniversary Visit
Macdonald, Emily – Black and White in the Hurunui
Parr, Marilyn – Tiny Fears
Watson, Stuart – Broke, Broken, Broker
Shortlist for the Cambridge Flash Fiction Prize 2025
Cottom, Chris – Sunday Dad
Griffo, Megan – The River
Kaul, Ash – The Death of a Jokebook
Morris, Sherry – The Hunger Moon
O’Dwyer, David – Pick
O’Halloran, Gill – The Puffin
Redgate, Jamie – Normal Person
Shannon, Sandra – Uprising
Toland, D. Spencer – A Piece of Tofu
Turner, Sherri – This Time Last Year
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The Cambridge Short Story Prize 2024
First: A Particulalry Subjective Experience – Brian R. Quinn
Second: Quarry – C J Garrow
Third: The Vale Cemetery – Ahana Banerji
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The Cambridge Flash Fiction Prize 2024
First: Next Exit – Emily Rinkema
Second: Words and Sayings I’ve Actually Heard Spoken Out Loud During my Sixty-years on this Planet Arranged so as to Illustrate the Toxic / Lethal / Invisible Continuum they Help Perpetuate – Jan Kaneen
Third: Pretty Ghosts – Frances Gapper
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Shortlist for the Cambridge Short Story Prize 2024
The Vale Cemetery – Ahana Banerji
Ebb – Robin Booth
Maud Cross, Augur – T. Eleanor Fuller
Circling – Joanna Garbutt
Quarry – C J Garrow
When We Were Young – Malcolm Heyhoe
A Particularly Subjective Experience – Brian Quinn
In Enemy Territory – Caitlin A. Quinn
Waterford Crystal – Dave Wakely
Todd – Emma Williams
Shortlist for the Cambridge Flash Fiction Prize 2024
Confetti Letter – Chris Cottom
A Cheater’s Guide to Falling in Love – Rachel Fung
Pretty Ghosts – Frances Gapper
Recital: Repeat from Memory – Linda Grierson-Irish
Words and Sayings I’ve Actually Heard Spoken Out Loud During my Sixty-years on this Planet Arranged so as to Illustrate the Toxic / Lethal / Invisible Continuum they Help Perpetuate – Jan Kaneen
Under a Night Sky in January – David Mathews
Drunks – Emma Neale
Primitive – Jo Withers
Next Exit – Emily Rinkema
Tangible and Touchable (between the inside and the outside) – Malin Stahl
Terms and Conditions 2026 (closed)
Please read the rules for submission below before entering the Cambridge Prizes.
- The competition is open from 1st July 2026 00:00 BST to 31st August 2026 24:00 BST.
- Short Stories must be in English and be between 1,001 and 2,500 words in total.
- Flash Fiction must be in English and be between 100 and 1,000 words in total.
- Entries should be the sole work of the author. We do not accept translation.
- Entries should be 12pt, a regular font, and at least 1.5 spaced.
- Please put the title and word count on the first page. Please number the pages.
- Your work must not have been previously published online (incl. blogs, journals, websites) or in print (incl. magazines, books, journals).
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- Please submit as a Word Doc or DocX. We do not accept PDF files.
- We do not accept work submitted with links. Please do NOT send work this way.
- Please save the name of your work as the document name. Please don’t add things like ‘TSS’ or ‘short story’ or ‘final’ – this makes our admin more time-consuming.
- Please only submit ONE short story and / or Flash Fiction.
- The decision of the judge is final. We do not enter into correspondence about decisions.
- We do not wish to see stories that are gratuitously violent, sexual, or prejudiced.
- Entrants must be aged 21 years or over.
- Winners will be notified by email by the end of September. Please sign up to the newsletter to keep up to date with news.
- Sending us your work is an acknowledgement that you have read, understood, and accept the Terms and Conditions.