Carnelian Heart Short Story Competition 2024

*Submission window: 2 – 31 January 2024*

Welcome to our first short story competition. The best stories will be included in an anthology of winning works, in addition to the following:

-      1^st prize -  £100 + publishing contract for full-length work + 2 copies of the anthology

-      2^nd prize - £50 + publishing contract for full-length work + 2 copies of the anthology

-      3^rd prize - publishing contract for full-length work + 2 copies of the anthology

-      Runner-ups - 2 copies of the anthology

-      Results announced in May 2024

-      Anthology published in October 2024

We are looking for works of fiction from African authors, including the African diaspora. There is no theme, so that you can tell the story you want, exactly how you want. We will, however, not accept work that we deem to be prejudiced in any way on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity or religion. We want works that are sharp and exciting, works that will make us laugh or cry, works that will linger in our minds and haunt our hearts long after we’ve read them. 

Submission Guidelines 

1.     Please send a maximum of one story for your submission. Works submitted should not have been published elsewhere. We recommend stories within the 1500 – 4000 word range but we are willing to be flexible if we feel your story is a gem. 

2.     Please send your submissions to CarnelianHeartSubmissions@outlook.com. The subject should be ‘SUBMISSION’ and you should add a short bio of no more than 100 words, which includes your social media handles, in the body of the email.

3.     Stories should be attached as Microsoft Word documents. We prefer you use a Times New Roman font size 12 with double spacing. 

4.     We do not accept simultaneous submissions.

5.     You retain the copyright to your work. However, we do require that you credit Carnelian Heart as the original publisher of the work. 

6.     Be advised that we might edit your work and/or change the title, and if we consider doing so, we will inform you.

7.     We might turn down your submission because of the following reasons: poor grammar, poor punctuation, poor use of tenses, plagiarism and failure to follow these guidelines.

8.     The submission deadline is 31 January 2024. 

9.     The winning works and up to 20 runner ups will be included in the anthology and the writers will receive two copies of the anthology.

10.  Once we receive 200 stories, we will automatically close our submission window.