‘The short story, my father once wrote, is “exquisitely difficult”. For the author, that is. All the same, I hope that many, many people will enter this competition in his memory. And if they want encouragement and inspiration they may find it in one of his own short stories. There are so many to choose from, but I would particularly recommend “The Evils of Spain”, one of my favourites, from the very beginning of his amazingly long writing career, or the wonderful “Cocky Olly”, written more than half a century later.’
 — Oliver Pritchett

This prize for the best unpublished short story of the year was founded by the RSL at the beginning of the new millennium to commemorate the centenary of an author widely regarded as the finest English short-story writer of the 20th century, and to preserve a tradition encompassing Pritchett’s warmth of feeling and mastery of narrative.

There is a prize of £1,000, and the winning entry will be published in Prospect and the RSL Review. In addition to this, there will be an opportunity to appear at an RSL event with established short story writers.

Apply for the 2012 Prize

We are delighted to announce that we are now accepting entries for the thirteenth V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize.

This year's judges are Jane Gardam, Aamer Hussein and Penelope Lively.

The deadline for entries is 29 June 2012.

We are grateful to ALCS for making the prize-giving event possible, to Christopher and Jennie Bland for sponsoring the prize, and to Prospect magazine for publishing the winning entry.

The 2011 Prize

We are grateful to Christopher and Jennie Bland for sponsoring this prize.

Judges: Jane Gardam, Penelope Lively and Jacob Ross

2011 winner: Carys Davies wins the £1,000 award for The Redemption of Galen Pike, ‘an extraordinarily powerful story, with a classic air about it. It has economy and stood out for its confident structure, characterization and neat and startling end.’

Her story will be available in full in the 2012 RSL Review (published in February).

Past recipients