List of BBC National Short Story Award winners

BBC National Short Story Award
Awarded for	Best short story by a UK national or resident
Sponsored by	BBC Radio 4 with Cambridge University
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	BBC (formerly National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts)
Formerly called	National Short Story Award (2006–2007)
First award	2006
Currently held by	Ghost Kitchen, Ross Raisin (2024)
Website	BBC National Short Story Award
Television/radio coverage
Network	BBC Radio 4

The BBC National Short Story Award (known as the National Short Story Award in 2006 and 2007) is an annual short story contest in the United Kingdom which is open to UK residents and nationals. ^{[1] [2]} It has been described as "one of the most prestigious [awards] for a single short story" ^[3] and the richest prize in the world for a single short story. ^[4] The award aims to increase interest in the short story genre, particularly British short stories. ^[2] As of 2017, the winner receives £15,000 and four shortlisted writers receive £600 each. ^{[5] [6]}

It was founded in 2005 and announced at the Edinburgh International Book Festival the same year. ^[7] The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) were the main sponsor with support from BBC Radio 4 and Prospect magazine. ^[1] Originally, winners received £15,000 while runners up received £3,000 and shortlisted writers £500 each. ^{[4] [7]} In 2008, the BBC became the main sponsor and the award was renamed from the 'National Short Story Award' to the 'BBC National Short Story Award'. ^[1]

In 2009, only women were featured on the shortlist. ^[8] This happened for the second time in 2013 and the fifth time in 2018. ^{[9] [10]} In 2018, prize judge Di Speirs noted that the BBC National Short Story Award has never had an all-male shortlist. ^[11] Short stories written by women typically account for between 50 and 70% of all submissions. ^[12]

At 26 years old, Canadian writer D. W. Wilson became the youngest ever recipient of the award in 2011. ^{[13] [14]} In 2020, Sarah Hall, who won the award in 2013 and 2020, became the first writer to have won the award twice. ^[15] In 2012, in honour of the 2012 Summer Olympics hosted in London, the competition was open to a global audience for one year only. ^[16] Ten stories were shortlisted, instead of five, and Bulgarian writer Miroslav Penkov won. ^[17]

Winners and shortlisted writers

2000s

BBC National Short Story Award winners and finalists, 2006–2009

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
2006	James Lasdun	An Anxious Man	Winner	[2]
	Michel Faber	The Safehouse	Runner up	[2]
	Rose Tremain	The Ebony Hand	Shortlist	[2]
	William Trevor	Men of Ireland	Shortlist	[2]
	Rana Dasgupta	The Flyover	Shortlist	[2]
2007	Julian Gough	The Orphan and the Mob	Winner	[1]
	David Almond	Slog's Dad	Runner up	[1]
	Jonathan Falla	The Morena	Shortlist	[1]
	Jackie Kay	How to Get Away with Suicide	Shortlist	[1]
	Hanif Kureishi	Weddings and Beheadings	Shortlist	[1]
2008	Clare Wigfall	The Numbers	Winner	[1] [4]
	Jane Gardam	The People on Priviledge Hill	Runner up	[1]
	Adam Thorpe	The Names	Shortlist	[1]
	Erin Soros	Surge	Shortlist	[1]
	Richard Beard	Guidelines for Measures to Cope with Disgraceful and Other Events	Shortlist	[1]
2009	Kate Clanchy	The Not-Dead and the Saved	Winner	[18]
	Sara Maitland	Moss Witch	Runner up	[18]
	Jane Rogers	Hitting Trees with Sticks	Shortlist	[18]
	Lionel Shriver	Exchange Rates	Shortlist	[18]
	Naomi Alderman	Other People's Gods	Shortlist	[18]

2010s

BBC National Short Story Award winners and finalists, 2010–2019

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
2010	David Constantine	Tea at the Midland	Winner	[1] [19]
	Jon McGregor	If It Keeps on Raining	Runner up	[1] [19]
	Helen Oyeyemi	My Daughter the Racist	Shortlist	[1]
	Sarah Hall	Butcher's Perfume	Shortlist	[1]
	Aminatta Forna	Haywards Heath	Shortlist	[1]
2011	D.W. Wilson [a]	The Dead Roads	Winner	[20] [21]
	Jon McGregor	Wires	Runner up	[21]
	K.J. Orr	The Human Circadian Pacemaker	Shortlist	[21]
	M. J. Hyland	Rag Love	Shortlist	[21]
	Alison MacLeod	The Heart of Denis Noble	Shortlist	[21]
2012	Miroslav Penkov	East of the West	Winner	[22] [23]
	Henrietta Rose-Innes	Sanctuary	Runner up	[22] [23]
	Julian Gough	The iHole	Shortlist	[23]
	Carrie Tiffany	Before He Left the Family	Shortlist	[23]
	Chris Womersley	In the Basement	Shortlist	[23]
	Adam Ross	A Lovely and Terrible Thing	Shortlist	[23]
	Deborah Levy	Black Vodka	Shortlist	[23]
	M. J. Hyland	Even Pretty Eyes Commit Crimes	Shortlist	[23]
	Lucy Caldwell	The Goose Father	Shortlist	[23]
	Krys Lee	Escape Routes	Shortlist	[23]
2013	Sarah Hall	Mrs Fox	Winner	[24] [25]
	Lucy Wood	Notes from the House Spirits	Runner up	[24] [25]
	Lavinia Greenlaw	We Are Watching Something Terrible Happening	Shortlist	[26]
	Lionel Shriver	Prepositions	Shortlist	[26]
	Lisa Blower	Barmouth	Shortlist	[26]
2014	Lionel Shriver	Kilifi Creek	Winner	[27] [28]
	Zadie Smith	Miss Adele Amidst the Corsets	Runner up	[27] [28]
	Francesca Rhydderch	The Taxidermist's Daughter	Shortlist	[28]
	Rose Tremain	The American Lover	Shortlist	[28]
	Tessa Hadley	Bad Dreams	Shortlist	[28]
2015	Jonathan Buckley	Briar Road	Winner	[1] [29]
	Mark Haddon	Bunny	Runner up	[1] [30]
	Hilary Mantel	The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher	Shortlist	[30]
	Jeremy Page	Do It Now, Jump the Table	Shortlist	[30]
	Frances Leviston	Broderie Anglaise	Shortlist	[30]
2016	K.J. Orr	Disappearances	Winner	[31] [32]
	Claire-Louise Bennett	Morning, Noon & Night	Runner up	[31] [32]
	Lavinia Greenlaw	The Darkest Place in England	Shortlist	[32]
	Tahmima Anam	Garments	Shortlist	[32]
	Hilary Mantel	In a Right State	Shortlist	[32]
2017	Cynan Jones	The Edge of the Shoal	Winner	[33] [5]
	Jenni Fagan	The Waken	Shortlist	[5]
	Will Eaves	Murmur	Shortlist	[5]
	Helen Oyeyemi	If a Book Is Locked There's Probably a Good Reason for That, Don't You Think?	Shortlist	[5]
	Benjamin Markovits	The Collector	Shortlist	[5]
2018	Ingrid Persaud	The Sweet Sop	Winner	[11] [34]
	Nell Stevens	The Minutes	Shortlist	[11]
	Kiare Ladner	Van Rensburg's Card	Shortlist	[11]
	Sarah Hall	Sudden Traveller	Shortlist	[11]
	Kerry Andrew	To Belong To	Shortlist	[11]
2019	Jo Lloyd	The Invisible	Winner	[35]
	Lynda Clark	Ghillie's Mum	Shortlist	[35]
	Tamsin Grey	My Beautiful Millennial	Shortlist	[35]
	Lucy Caldwell	The Children	Shortlist	[35]
	Jacqueline Crooks	Silver Fish in the Midnight Sea	Shortlist	[35]

2020s

BBC National Short Story Award winners and finalists, 2020–2024

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
2020	Sarah Hall [b]	The Grotesques	Winner	[36] [37]
	Eley Williams	Scrimshaw	Shortlist	[37]
	Jack Houston	Come Down Heavy	Shortlist	[37]
	Jan Carson	In the Car With the Rain Coming Down	Shortlist	[37]
	Caleb Azumah Nelson	Pray	Shortlist	[37]
2021	Lucy Caldwell	All the People Were Mean and Bad	Winner	[38] [39]
	Danny Rhodes	Toadstone	Shortlist	[39]
	Rory Gleeson	The Body Audit	Shortlist	[39]
	Georgina Harding	Night Train	Shortlist	[39]
	Richard Smyth	Maykopsky District, Adyghe Oblast	Shortlist	[39]
2022	Saba Sams	Blue 4eva	Winner	[40]
	Kerry Andrew	And the Moon Descends on the Temple That Was	Shortlist	[40]
	Jenn Ashworth	Flat 19	Shortlist	[40]
	Vanessa Onwuemezi	Green Afternoon	Shortlist	[40]
	Anna Bailey	Long Way to Come for a Sip of Water	Shortlist	[40]
2023	Naomi Wood	Comorbidities	Winner	[41]
	Cherise Saywell	Guests	Shortlist	[41]
	K Patrick	It's Me	Shortlist	[41]
	Nick Mulgrew	The Storm	Shortlist	[41]
	Kamila Shamsie	Churail	Shortlist	[41]
2024	Ross Raisin	Ghost Kitchen	Winner	[42] [43]
	Will Boast	The Barber of Erice	Shortlist	[42]
	Lucy Caldwell	Hamlet, a love story	Shortlist	[42]
	Manish Chauhan	Pieces	Shortlist	[42]
	Vee Walker	Nice Dog	Shortlist	[42]
2025	Emily Abdeni-Holman	Yair	Shortlist	[44]
	Colwill Brown	You Cannot Thread a Moving Needle	Shortlist	[44]
	Edward Hogan	Little Green Man	Shortlist	[44]
	Caoilinn Hughes	Two Hands	Shortlist	[44]
	Andrew Miller	Rain, a History	Shortlist	[44]

Notes

1. D. W. Wilson became the youngest ever recipient of the award in 2011. ^[13]
2. Sarah Hall is the only writer to have won the award twice. ^[15]

See also

• List of British literary awards
• List of years in literature

References

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33. Flood, Alison (3 October 2017). "BBC national short story award goes to Cynan Jones". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 30 December 2017.
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