BBC National Short Story Award 2026

About

An ageing war veteran, living alone in the Australian outback, tries to spruce himself up for a rare, and nerve-wracking, family reunion...

A mother watches an intimate scene from a much-loved musical with her young daughter, the way she once watched it with her own mother... 

After reporting a disturbance at home, a boy hides and waits for the police to arrive, not knowing if they’ll come in time...

The stories shortlisted for the 2026 BBC National Short Story Award are packed with small, intricate moments that unexpectedly reveal whole lifetimes  of searching and struggle. A woman finds an injured slow worm in her lawn and watches as its mate returns to comfort it. A coastal rower climbs out of her boat, endangering herself and her crew, just to hear the sound of a minke whale singing beneath them. For all their attempts to define themselves as solitary and self-reliant, modern and cynical, each of these characters gets caught off guard by a sudden chance to reconnect, a chance to start again from scratch.

Established in 2005, the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University was originally established to highlight a literary genre regarded as undervalued and under threat. Its aim was to recognise and celebrate the very best writers of short fiction who had no prize equivalent to major literary awards like the Man Booker Prize. 20 years on, the short story is in robust health and the BBC National Short Story Award is recognised as the most prestigious for a single short story with the winning writer receiving £15,000 and the four shortlisted writers £600 each.

Press

There will be readings and interviews on Radio 4 all this week. As follows:

Listen to the interview with Merryn Glover on Front Row last Thursday. (scroll to 21:45mins).

Monday 14 Sep, 3.30pm: Burning Bush by Merryn Glover
Interview with Lucy Caldwell on Front Row, 7.15pm.

Tuesday 15 Sep, 3.30pm: Little Lands by Lucy Caldwell
Interview with Cherise Saywell on Front Row, 7.15pm.

Wednesday 16 Sep, 3.30pm: Ditto by Cherise Saywell
Interview with Caoilinn Hughes on Front Row, 7.15pm.

Thursday 17 Sep, 3.30pm:A Second Opinion by Caoilinn Hughes
Interview with Laura Beatty on Front Row, 7.15pm.

Friday 18 Sep, 3.30pm: Two Minutes to Midnight by Laura Beatty

Prize announcement in The Bookseller: 

“ As the returning judge over two decades I've seen how the short story has grown and flexed, found ways to reflect new characters and communities and to speak to younger and broader audiences.”
- Di Speirs, Chair of Judges, BBC National Short Story Award 2026

‘Since 2010, all five stories shortlisted for the BBC National short story award have been published in book form by the wonderful Comma Press. It’s always a stellar shortlist, varied in all ways other than quality. As gifts go, the anthology is perfect: first-rate fiction, the stories as compact as the physical book itself (you can carry it in the deep pocket of a winter coat). And, best of all, next Christmas you can give it to the discerning reader all over again’ - Kamila Shamsie, 30 authors on the books they give to everyone, in The Guardian