Apply for the 2014 Bristol Short Story Prize

We are delighted to announce that the 2014 Bristol Short Story Prize is now open.

The Bristol Short Story Prize aims to publish great short stories and promote the stories and writers as much as possible.  Discovering  previously unpublished writers is central to our aims and we are absolutely committed to celebrating the short story genre and making it accessible and available to as wide an audience as we can.

The Bristol Short Story Prize was founded by the editors of the quarterly cultural magazine Bristol Review of Books in 2007 with the aim of publishing great short stories and raising funds for the magazine, enabling it to remain a free publication. The magazine specialises not only in book reviews but also publishes features and comment on a wide range of cultural events, history and arts.

We involve educational establishments in our work, offering students opportunities they might otherwise not receive. Our anthology cover designs are selected from submissions by final year Illustration students at University of the West of England. We, also, offer journalism students at Bath Spa University the opportunity to interview writers for our website.

Our Aims:

• To publish a brilliant short story anthology every year full of fresh and original stories, and to get it stocked in as many bookshops as possible. This includes high street chains, independent shops and online booksellers.
• To inspire and encourage writers.
• To discover and promote previously unpublished writers.
• To provide an opportunity for writers to get published.
• To share our enthusiasm for short stories in as many ways and with as many people as possible.
• To establish ShortStoryVille as a vibrant and exciting festival showcasing the diverse and dynamic world of short stories.
• To establish Bristol as a short story centre.
• To raise the profile, support and raise funds for Bristol Review of Books magazine.

How it would be judged

The 2014 judging panel will be chaired by writer and former BBC Radio 4 producer, Sara Davies. Sara will be joined on the panel by literary agent, Rowan Lawton, writer and TV presenter, Sanjida O’Connell, and author, performer and journalist, Nikesh Shukla. For more information on our fantastic judging panel, please click here.

20 stories will be shortlisted and published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Vol 7. The top three winning stories will be selected from the shortlist of 20. The anthology will be launched at the awards ceremony in October next year. For full details please click here.

The 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize has been won by Paul McMichael, a London-based writer, for his story The House in St John’s Avenue. Paul received his prize at our annual awards ceremony last weekend from the acclaimed writer, Vanessa Gebbie. Paul’s winning story, together with the other 19 shortlisted stories from the 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize, is available in our latest anthology. The anthology is also available in Kindle ebook format.

How to Submit Story

Stories can be entered online or by post.

Prizes to be Won
First prize is £1,000 plus a £150 Waterstones gift card, 2nd prize is £700 plus a £100 Waterstones gift card and 3rd prize is £400 plus a £100 Waterstones gift card. The 2014 Bristol Short Story Prize Awards Ceremony will be held in Bristol in October 2014.

Deadline for Submission: April 30 2014

Please read the rulesbefore entering.

Contact: enquiries@bristolprize.co.uk 

Funny Story

An old married couple were traveling by car. Being seniors, after almost eleven hours on the road, they were too tired to continue and decided to take a room at a hotel. But, they only planned to sleep for four hours and then get back on the road. When they checked out of the hotel four hours later, the desk clerk handed them a bill for $350. The man explodes and demands to know why the charge is so high. He told the clerk although it’s a nice hotel; the rooms certainly aren’t worth $350 for four hours. Then the clerk tells him that $350 is the ‘standard rate’. He insisted on speaking to the Manager.

The Manager appears, listens to him, and then explains that the hotel has an Olympic-sized pool and a huge conference centre that were available for us to use. “But we didn’t use them,” the husband said.
“Well, they are here, and you could have,” explained the Manager. The Manager went on to explain that the couple could also have taken in one of the shows for which the hotel is famous. “We have the best entertainers from New York ,
Hollywood , and Las Vegas perform here,” the Manager says.
“But we didn’t go to any of those shows,” the husband said.
“Well, we have them, and you could have,” the Manager replied.
No matter what amenity the Manager mentioned, the husband replied, “But we didn’t use it!”

The Manager is unmoved, and eventually the husband gave up and agreed to pay. As he didn’t have the check book, he asked his wife to write the check. She did and gave it to the Manager.
The Manager is surprised when he looks at the check. “But ma’am, this is made out for only $50.00.” “That’s correct. I charged you $300.00 for sleeping with me,” she replied. “But I didn’t!” exclaims the Manager.
“Well, too bad, I was here, and you could have.”
=))º°˚˚˚°ºнaĦaнaº°˚˚˚°º=)) : ː̗̀(̥̊=)))̥̊ː̖́hahahahahaː̗̀(̥­ ̊=D)̥̊ː̖́. Hehehehheehe. LMAO.
Have a lovely day ahead pals!
Abdussalam Amoo