The AKO Caine Prize Award for African Writers

The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is a registered charity whose aim is to bring African writing to a wider audience using our annual literary award. In addition to administering the Prize, we work to connect readers with African writers through a series of public events, as well as helping emerging writers in Africa to enter the world of mainstream publishing through the annual Caine Prize writers’ workshop which takes place in a different African country each year.

It is named after the late Sir Michael Caine, former Chairman of Booker plc, who was Chairman of the ‘Africa 95’ arts festival in Europe and Africa in 1995 and for nearly 25 years Chairman of the Booker Prize management committee. After his death, friends and colleagues decided to establish a prize of £10,000 to be awarded annually in his memory.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

• The story must have been published in the five years preceding the submissions deadline. For 2023 eligibility, the judges will only consider work published between 1st February 2018 and 25th January 2023.
• Entries must be more than 3,000 words or less than 10,000 words.
• Entries must be submitted by a publisher. This includes publishers of physical and digital books, literary journals, magazines, and literary arts oriented websites.
• Writers must be over 18 years of age at the time of submission
• Self-published and unpublished works are not eligible.
• Publishers are encouraged to submit multiple short stories as long as they do not submit more than one story by the same author.
• Stories may only be entered for consideration for the AKO Caine Prize once. Unfortunately this means that you may not re-submit a story for consideration, even if it was not selected for the shortlist.
• Genres not eligible for entry include: stories for children, factual writing, academnic essays, plays, poetry and autobiography/biography.
• Submissions must specify which African country the author comes from and the short story word count.
• Publishers are required to upload a ‘publisher’s letter’ with each submission. See below for more information:
  • What should the publisher’s letter include? Publishers are required to provide:
    • Name of the writer(s).
    • Title of the story or stories being submitted.
    • Word count of each submitted story.
    • The qualifying nationality of the writer(s)
    •  The date of publication of the story or stories. 
    • Confirmation of consent from the writer(s) whose stories are being submitted for the Prize.

Submissions that do not meet the above criterias will not be eligible for the prize. If you have any questions or query regarding our eligibility criteria, please email: info@caineprize.com we will be happy to assist!

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT ENTRIES

HOW TO SUBMIT SHORT STORIES FOR THE AKO CAINE PRIZE FOR AFRICAN WRITING:

• Each story must be submitted by the publisher via the entry form
• The submission form will become available via our submission portal when the submissions window opens on Thursday 24th November 2022

If you have any queries regarding the above, please contact us via email at info@caineprize.com. 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS):

Who is an ‘African writer’?

• ‘An African writer’ is taken to mean someone who is a national of an African country, or who has a parent who is African by birth or nationality

How do I apply?

• Submit your entry via our online submission portal – details of which will be released during our submissions period

When should I apply?

• Submissions for the 2023 AKO Caine Prize award open on Thursday 24th November 2022 (00:01 GMT) and close on Thursday 26th January 2023 (12:00 GMT).

Who can submit stories for the Prize? 

• Entries must be submitted by the publisher or a third party institution that is independent of the author.
• Publishers of physical and digital literary journals, magazines or literature-oriented websites may submit entries for the Prize.
• Self-published and unpublished works are not eligible for the Prize.
• Short stories submitted by the author(s) will not be eligible for the Prize.

Can I submit unpublished or self-published work?

• Unpublished works are not eligible for the Prize.
• For avoidance of doubt, stories self-published on mass self-publishing platforms – (WattPad, author-me.com, Lulu and Amazon Kindle) – are not eligible for the prize. 

Are works published in online journals eligible?

• The Prize accepts work published by journals in print and online, as well as work published in short story collections and anthologies. If you have any doubt whether your work is eligible, please send an email to info@caineprize.com, and we will be happy to assist you

Do you accept e-books or digital versions of entries?

• We accept digital submissions – including literary journals, magazines and Arts-oriented websites.

What if my story is not in English?

• Works translated into English from other languages are eligible, provided they have been published in English translation are eligible.
• Should such a work win, the prize is split between the translator and the original language author along the following lines: 70% of the prize to the author, and 30% to the translator.
• Where the original work is by a non-living author the prize is split in equal halves between the translator and the author’s estate. 

Does my story have to be fictional?

• Yes. Only fictional short stories are eligible for AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. 
• Works not eligible for entry include: for children, factual writing, academnic essays, plays, poetry and autobiography/biography.
• Short stores shorter than 3,000 words or longer than 10,000 words are not eligible for the Prize.

How long should my story be?

• Minimum length of each submitted short story is 3000 and the maximum length is 10,000 words

Can I submit more than one story?

• Publishers are encouraged to submit multiple short stories as long as they do not submit more than one story by the same author as the judges will only consider one work per writer in any given year.
• On the occasion where separate publishers have submitted different stories by the same author, we will contact the writer with an opportunity to choose which story they wish to put forward to the judges.
  
  If my story was submitted for a previous Prize but was not selected for the shortlist, can I enter it again?
• Stories may only be entered for consideration in the Caine Prize once. Unfortunately this means that you may not re-submit a story for consideration, even if it was not selected for the shortlist. You are of course encouraged to submit a different story, as long as it meets to our eligibility criteria.

Permissions

• The publisher and author agrees by submitting an entry to the AKO Caine Prize that if the story is shortlisted, a non-exclusive, non-commercial permission in perpetuity is given with the consent of the author to reproduce the story in the Caine Prize anthologies in digital, print and audio format.

Shortlisting and Expectations

• The winner and shortlisted writers will be invited to participate in events in Africa, London and elsewhere should resources and circumstances permit. In these cases, there will be travel award granted to each of the shortlisted candidates
• By submitting an entry to the AKO Caine Prize, the publisher and author gives a non-exclusive, non-commercial permission in perpetuity for the Prize to reproduce the story in the AKO Caine Prize anthology in print, digital and audio format should the story be shortlisted.
• By consenting to their stories being submitted for the Prize, the shortlisted writers agree to take part in AKO Caine Prize events, including but not limited to in-person and online panel discussions, interviews, readings, podcast recordings and the final award ceremony. 

The Prize will provide a separate letter detailing terms of agreement to the shortlisted writers.