The Sunday Times is pleased to announce a prestigious new annual literary prize: The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. The winner will receive £25,000, making it the largest prize for an individual short story in the world.
The shortlist for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award was announced on Sunday 7 March 2010. Six writers are competing for the £25,000 prize for a single short story. The winner will be announced on 26 March 2010.
The shortlist
Six writers from four continents compete for £25,000 short story prize
The short list for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award was announced on Sunday 7 March 2010. Six writers are competing for the £25,000 prize for a single short story.
The shortlisted writers are from five countries in four continents: England, Wales, Zimbabwe, USA and New Zealand
The six writers and the titles of their short story are:
- Will Cohu 'Nothing but Grass'
- Joe Dunthorne 'Critical Responses to My Last Relationship'
- Petina Gappah 'An Elegy for Easterly'
- Adam Marek 'Fewer Things'
- CK Stead 'Last Season’s Man'
- David Vann 'It’s Not Yours'
Judge AS Byatt commented about the shortlist:
'It was quite a task for us to make the final selection from such a huge entry but that choice is a testament to the liveliness and new inventiveness of the form. We had wonderful examples of polished conventional stories and others written with new kinds of ideas.'
Click here to download the press release
Click here to read about the shortlisted authors
The longlist
The twenty longlisted writers and the titles of their short stories are:
• Richard Beard 'James Joyce, EFL Teacher'
• Nicholas Best 'The Souvenir'
• Sylvia Brownrigg 'Jocasta'
• John Burnside 'Slut's Hair'
• Will Cohu 'Nothing But Grass'
• Joe Dunthorne 'Critical Responses To My Last Relationship'
• Petina Gappah 'An Elegy for Easterly'
• Jackie Kay 'Reality, Reality'
• A.L. Kennedy 'Saturday Teatime'
• Adam Marek 'Fewer Things'
• Charles Mosley 'Constraint'
• Chris Paling 'The Red Car'
• Ron Rash - Burning Bright'
• Simon Robson 'Will There Be Lions?'
• Kay Sexton 'Anubis and the Volcano'
• Helen Simpson 'Diary of an Interesting Year'
• C.K. Stead 'Last Season's Man'
• Rose Tremain 'The Jester of Astapovo'
• Gerard Woodward 'Legoland'
• David Vann 'It's Not Yours'
Judge Hanif Kureishi commented about the longlist:
‘This has been a fascinating and stimulating exercise. I’ve learnt a lot about what people are thinking and writing about at the moment. That for me was the pleasure of reading the longlist. We applaud the Sunday Times and EFG Private Bank for their financial support of this venture’
The judges chose from 1,152 entries. The shortlist will be announced on Sunday, 7 March and the winner announced at The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on Friday 26 March.
Click here to download the press release (Word .doc 200Kb)
The Sunday Times is proud of its literary heritage, and of its support for the best modern fiction. Every week, The Sunday Times Magazine’s short-story section delivers exclusive work by the finest authors writing in English today – including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Julian Barnes, Zoë Heller, Hilary Mantel, Colm Toibin and William Trevor.
The award is open to writers published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The deadline for entries has now passed, and the winner will be announced at a special event at The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival in March 2010.
Click here to download the entry form for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Award 2010
Click here to download the terms and conditions for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Award 2010
The judges
Nick Hornby, writer The author of Fever Pitch, High Fidelity and About A Boy, Nick Hornby is one of the UK’s most popular novelists and short story writers. A prolific essayist on music and popular culture, his novels have been adapted for both stage and screen. His latest novel, Juliet, Naked, is published this September.
AS Byatt, writer Winner of the Booker Prize in 1990 for her novel Possession, A.S. Byatt is an internationally renowned poet, novelist and author of short stories. Her first novel, The Shadow of The Sun, was published in 1964 and her latest, The Children’s Book, is on the shortlist for the 2009 Booker Prize. She has previously been a judge for both The Booker Prize and Betty Trask Award.
Lynn Barber, writer Renowned interviewer Lynn Barber recently joined The Sunday Times Magazine. Her books include How to Improve Your Man in Bed and The Heyday of Natural History, and she sat on the judging panel for the 2006 Turner Prize. Her autobiography, An Education, will be released as a film October 2009.
Hanif Kureishi, writer Winner of the Whitbread Award in 1990 for his first novel, The Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi is a novelist, director, screenwriter and playwright. His 1985 screenplay for My Beautiful Laundrette earned him an Oscar nomination and in 2007 he was awarded a CBE for his services to literature.
Matthew Evans, EFG Private Bank Lord Evans CBE is currently Chairman of EFG Private Bank. Prior to joining EFG, Lord Evans was a government spokesperson, Chairman of Faber & Faber and governor of the British Film Institute.
Andrew Holgate, The Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate is Literary Editor of The Sunday Times. He has previously been a judge for the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the Betty Trask Award.
Director
Cathy Galvin, awards director The Sunday Times Magazine Deputy Editor Cathy Galvin introduced the short story section to the magazine in November 2008.
Prize administration
For prize information, please contact the prizes team on 020 8516 2973 or prizes@booktrust.org.uk
