The Bath Short Story Award

28/04/2026

The 2026 BSSA has now closed. We thank all those who entered. It’s now up to our reading team to chose the stories that will be sent to shortlist judge Gordon Wise of Curtis Brown. Further details about long/short list to follow in a few weeks.

26/04/2026

Good luck to all those running the London Marathon today! And good luck to all those embarking on a writing marathon to get stories to us by the closing date tomorrow, Monday , April 27th at 23:59. Reminder: stories can be of any genre but must not be over 2200 words (there is no minimum length). 1st prize is £1200 (out of a £1750 prize fund) and there is also a Local Prize as well as the Acorn Award for an Unpublished Writer of Fiction (winning one of those awards doesn’t bar you from winning one of the three big prizes). We’re delighted to welcome literary agent Gordon Wise from Curtis Brown as our shortlist judge. All shortlisted stories will be in our 2026 anthology. Full details on our website so pick up your quills and get writing! https://www.bathshortstoryaward.org/enter/

25/04/2026

Two more full days till we close on Monday 27th. No time for procrastination! £1200 1st prize out of a total £1750 prize fund. Our judge is literary agent Gordon Wise of Curtis Brown

£9.00 GBP per entry choose quantity at checkout Entry is made here online via PayPal and email. To make your entry, pay using the PayPal button. Once you have your PayPal receipt, simply ‘For…

20/04/2026

We’re in the final week! Just 7 days until we close on Monday, April 27th. 1st prize £1200 out of prize fund of £1750. Our judge is literary agent Gordon Wise of Curtis Brown. There’s no time to waste so get your entrie in now.

£9.00 GBP per entry choose quantity at checkout Entry is made here online via PayPal and email. To make your entry, pay using the PayPal button. Once you have your PayPal receipt, simply ‘For…

26/03/2026

Last night we held an online launch for our 2025 anthology and were thrilled that 13 of our authors were able to be with us to read extracts from their stories. In between the readings we held brief breakout groups so the authors could meet and chat about, among other things, how they worked and future projects. Authors present were: Cleo Haywood, Jay McKenzie, Zuzu Cole, Joanna Campbell, Steve Mellen, Gio Iozzi, Kathryn Inns, Lauren Collett, Rosaleen Lynch, Amy Stewart, Ella Plevin, Morwenna Lawson and, joining us from Brazil, Malina Douglas. Our 2026 award ends in 5 weeks on Monday, April 27th. We welcome stories from any genre and in any form/style of up to 2200 words. Prizes are £1200 (1st), £300 ( 2nd), £100 ( 3rd) with the Acorn Award for an Unpublished Writer of Fiction and a Local Prize sponsored by Mr B’s Emporium of Books. Our judge is literary agent Gordon Wise from Curtis Brown. Full details on our website. Time to get writing! https://www.bathshortstoryaward.org/enter/ Copies of the anthology are available from us (UK readers only) and from Amazon

09/03/2026

Only 7 weeks to go till the 2026 BSSA closes.

International Women’s Day (IWD) ,which celebrates the political, social, economic and cultural achievements of women, was 115 years old on March 8th, 2026. It began in the USA in 1909 as National …

29/07/2025

We’re very excited to announce the results of our 2025 award. Congratulations to all our long listed and shortlisted writers and m, of course, to our winners. Huge congratulations to Cleo Heywood who won 1st Prize. She said it was the first short story she’d written. What an achievement!

International Short Story Competition

28/03/2025

Only 3 writing, editing and tweaking days left till the 2025 BSSA closes on Monday 31st at midnight. It’s really time to get your entry in. Stories on any theme or genre - up to 2200 words are welcome. 1st prize £1200, 2nd prize £300, 3rd £100 plus a Local Prize and The Acorn Award for an Unpublished Writer. Our judges are literary agents Lucy Luck and Liv Bignold from C & W Agency. All shortlisted stories will be published in our 2025 anthology. So get your entries in now!

International Short Story Competition

24/03/2025

Bath Short Story Award is open for 2025 submissions! ✍️

Would you like to win up to £1,200 plus the Acorn Award for best story? ✨

Submit your story (max. 2,200 words) by 31st March for the chance to win. 📝

🔗All details and submissions on their website.

https://www.bathshortstoryaward.org

24/03/2025

Only 7 DAYS till the 2025 award closes.1st prize is £1200, out of a £1750 prize fund. This year’s judges are literary agents Lucy Luck and Liv Bignold from C&W Agency (Lucy also judged our award in 2014). Submit up to 2200 words on any theme or subject. In 2023 Patrick Holloway won the award with his brilliant story ‘The Language of Remembering’ and his debut novel with the same title has been published to critical acclaim. Read Jude’s post about Patrick and be inspired for your own writing journey.

Patrick Holloway won first prize with his wonderful short story,’The Language of Remembering’ in our 2023 Award, judged by Farhana Shaikh. We’re very excited to announce that his …

09/03/2025

Three weeks to go till we close on March 31st. 1st prize £1200. Read some writing tips from Jude

Our 2025 Award closes on 31st March. In FOUR weeks. Maybe if you are entering, you are at the stage where you are thinking about a title. Maybe you began your short story with a title in mind? Mayb…