Congratulations to Maureen Cullen on her debut novel!

Kitten HeelsWe’d like to give a big shout-out and hearty congratulations to Maureen Cullen on not one but two exciting literary achievements!

Maureen’s debut novel Kitten Heels was published by Ringwood Publishing in October 2024. From the publisher’s website, “Kitten Heels is a moving coming-of-age story, set in 1960’s working class Clydeside and told from thirteen-year-old Kathleen’s perspective.”

Keep your eyes on the bookshelves because Maureen’s short story collection, Havoc Shore, will also be published by Ringwood Publishing this June.

Maureen was shortlisted for the 2018 Bristol Short Story Prize, with her story, Havoc Shore, which is published in our Volume 11 anthology. We wish her all the best with her debut novel and forthcoming short story collection.

BSSP Reopening for Submissions for One Day Only!

Due to technical issues on 31 January, we are reopening for submissions for one day only!

On Wednesday 5 February our payment portal will reopen from 00:00 to 23:59 BST.

 

Once you have paid for entry, you will need to upload your story via Step 3 on our entry page. Our submission portal will remain open for uploads until 17:00 BST on Friday 7 of February. Entries received after this time will not be considered for the prize.

Best of luck with the competition!

Congratulations to Kasia Jaronczyk on her new novel

Congratulations to Kasia Jaronczyk whose new novel, Voices in the Air, will be published next month by Palimpsest Press. 

From the publisher’s website, “On April 30, 1982, two women and their families hijack a Polish passenger plane flying from Breslau to Warsaw in a bold attempt to escape Martial Law in Communist Poland and find safety in West Berlin […] Voices in the Air follows the main characters’ lives before and after the hijacking, and through real-life events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the fight for women’s rights in modern Poland, the Covid pandemic and the refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarus border. A must-read novel exploring ambiguous moral choice, censorship, emigration, fate and regret.”

We wish Kasia every success with the book and hope that it reaches many new readers.

Kasia’s short story, Lemons, was shortlisted for the 2016 Bristol Short Story Prize and is published in our Volume 9 anthology by Tangent Books.

Two Weeks Left!

Don’t miss out on the Bristol Short Story Prize! 

Only two weeks remain before our submission portal closes. Get your entries in by 23:59 (BST) 31 January 2025.

Submissions must be in English, not exceed 4,000 words, and meet all entry requirements. All genres, themes, and subjects are welcome!

Enter now for a chance to win £1,000 and publication in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology!

Please note: all free entries for this year’s prize have been claimed. 

 

Enter the Bristol Short Story Prize!

Don’t miss out on your chance to win £1,000 and publication in the Bristol Short Story Prize anthology!

We accept entries of up to 4,000 words from any genre and from published and unpublished authors alike.

All shortlisted entries will receive £50, be published in our print anthology and receive a free copy.

1st Prize: £1000

2nd Prize: £500

3rd Prize: £250

Enter by Friday 31 January midnight (BST) for the chance to win!

Prize Rules and Entry Requirements

Enter the Bristol Short Story Prize 2025