NOW OPEN: The Frazzled Lit Short Story Award 2026
Judged by twice-Booker-longlisted Irish author Donal Ryan!
Here at Frazz HQ, the tea and coffee are brewing, and we are all revved-up for the arrival of the your stories in the Frazzled Lit Short Story Award 2026!
Here’s a quick recap of the details:
We are now open, and will remain open until midnight GMT on June 30th.
The competition is open to all writers, from anywhere in the world.
Stories must be between 750 and 2,000 words.
Prizes are as follows:
1st prize: € 1,000
2nd prize: € 500
3rd prize: € 300
Frazzled Lit Short Story Award 2026 - Full Rules and Terms & Conditions
Our judge, Donal Ryan, has published seven number-one bestsellers, plus a short story collection. He has won many awards for his work, including the European Union Prize for Literature, the Guardian First Book Award and six Irish Book Awards, and has been shortlisted for many more, including the Costa Book Award and the Dublin International Literary Award.
He was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2013 for his debut novel, The Spinning Heart, and in 2018, for his fourth novel, From A Low and Quiet Sea. The Spinning Heart was voted Irish Book of the Decade in 2016.
In 2021 Donal became the first Irish writer to be awarded the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature. His most recent novel, Heart Be at Peace, won both Novel of the Year and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, and was shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Nero Book Awards. His work has been adapted for stage and screen and translated into over twenty languages.
Donal is an Associate Professor in the Creative Writing programme at the University of Limerick.
We can’t wait to see what you have for us!
A great opportunity. It's a privilege to have work judged by the great Donal Ryan. He is so lauded for his novels but 'A Slanting of The Sun' is a stunning short story collection. One of my favourite.
The word limit is frustrating. So basically flash fiction only.