BBC International Short Story Award judging panel announced

We're pleased to announce the full judging panel for this year's BBC International Short Story Award. The judges have also told us what they're looking for in the entries this year. You still have 10 days to send in your story, so maybe this will influence what you end up submitting!

The full judging panel is:

• Award-winning presenter and comedy writer Clive Anderson who will chair this year's judging panel
• Author Anjali Joseph, whose first novel, Saraswati Park, won a Betty Trask Award and the Desmond Elliott Prize
• Author Ross Raisin, whose first novel, God's Own Country, won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award in 2009 and a Betty Trask Award
• Author and short story writer Michèle Roberts, whose most recent collection is Mud - Stories of Love and Sex
• Di Speirs, Editor of the BBC London Readings Unit

And what are the judges looking for this year?

• Clive Anderson: A great short story that combines the structure of a good joke with the impact of a miniature masterpiece. I shall enjoy trying to choose between what I expect to be a competitive and entertaining field.
• Anjali Joseph: I'm interested in writing that shows shape, discretion, and a sense of delight in language.
• Ross Raisin: I will be looking for the delicate suggestion of a world which, while minutely captured, feels whole enough, and moving enough, to continue in my mind long after I have finished the story.
• Michèle Roberts: I am looking for excellent writing at a sentence-by-sentence level.
• Di Speirs: Subtlety, originality, delight; beautifully crafted stories that not only engage us immediately and linger long afterwards, but which reveal layer on layer on re-reading. A little humour occasionally would be nice too!

The final day for submitting your stories is 27 February 2012 so get writing!

Details on how to enter as well as full bios of the judges are here