Announcement schedule 2026
Here are the important dates for the Short Story Award 2026!
We’re nearly finished our initial reading of your submissions, and have been hugely impressed by the quality of the writing and the wide variety of themes and subjects that writers chose to work with. There are so many stories there that we wish we’d written ourselves, and we want you guys to know that we see and recognise your talent, no matter what stage of your career you’re at, and we value your contribution to the competition. Now we’re coming to the end game, and as much as we would like everyone to be a finalist, that honour must naturally fall to the very few. Just remember - no matter what way the results fall - to us, you are a winner. You wrote a story, submitted it, and participated in a major competition with a top judge. To me, that’s a success in itself!
So, here’s the schedule for the remainder of the competition:
August 1st: We will email initial responses to all entrants.
August 2nd: Longlist will be available on this site.
August 4th Announcement of Shortlisted and Highly Commended stories.
August 6th: Announcement of Finalists.
August 7th: We will forward the final six stories to our judge, Donal Ryan.
That’s it for now.
Keep an eye on your emails on August 1st!