How to Enter

Please read the Eligibility and Entry rules carefully before submitting the on line entry form.

Alternatively, download the entry form at the bottom of this page and send it with three copies of each entry to the appropriate regional chairperson. In addition one copy of each book and a copy of the entry form must be sent to:

Jennifer Sobol
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Foundation
Marlborough House, Pall Mall
London
SW1Y 5HY
United Kingdom

Closing Dates

  • Entries published between 1 January 2008 and 15 November 2008: 15 November 2008
  • Late entries published between 15 November and 31 December: 31 December 2008
  • No entries will be considered if received after 31 December 2008
  1. The Prize
    1. The Commonwealth Writers' Prize is an annual award for fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation as part of its Culture Programme, with the support of the Macquarie Group Foundation across all four regions.
    2. The Prize covers the Commonwealth regions of Africa, the Caribbean and Canada, Europe and South Asia and South East Asia and the South Pacific (Refer to regions and contacts, section 4).
    3. The Prize is judged in two phases. Entries are first assessed by four regional panels of judges. In each of the four regions, two prizes of £1,000 are awarded: one for the Best Book and one for the Best First Book. These eight regional winners will be announced in March 2009.
    4. The eight winning books are sent to the Pan-Commonwealth panel of judges which will meet at the Prize final programme in May 2009 to choose the overall Best Book and Best First Book winner
    5. The overall Best Book winner is awarded £10,000 and the overall Best First Book winner is awarded £5,000. These winners will be announced in May 2009. The eight regional winners are invited to attend the final programme, and their publishers will be asked to encourage them to attend. The Foundation and other Prize funders cover all final programme costs.
  2. Eligibility
    1. For both Best Book and Best First Book awards, any work of prose fiction is eligible, i.e. a novel or collection of short stories, with the exception of any work written for children alone. Drama, poetry and graphic novels are not eligible. There is no restriction on setting, theme or mode.
    2. To be eligible for the Best First Book Prize, the entry must be the first work of fiction (i.e. a novel or collection of short stories) which the author has published with an adult readership in mind.
    3. The work must have been written by a citizen of a Commonwealth country and the publisher must verify the author's citizenship before entering the book. Authors from non-Commonwealth countries (e.g. the Republic of Ireland, Zimbabwe) are not eligible.
    4. The work must be of a reasonable length, it must be original, and it must have been first published between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2008. Books published in earlier years, including in other countries, are not eligible.
    5. Its author must be alive on the closing date for entries.
    6. The entry must be originally written in English. (We regret that works translated from other languages are not eligible.)
    7. For a collection of short stories to be eligible, at least half of the short stories in the collection must have been published after 1 January 2004.
  3. Entry rules
    1. Entries must be made by the publisher.
    2. Entries should be submitted to the region of the writer's Commonwealth citizenship. Three copies of each book must be sent to the appropriate regional chairperson (refer to regions and contacts, section 4). In addition, one copy of each book and a copy of the entry form must be sent to:

      Jennifer Sobol
      Commonwealth Writers' Prize
      Culture Programme
      Commonwealth Foundation
      Marlborough House
      Pall Mall
      London SW1Y 5HY
      United Kingdom

    3. It is highly recommended that publishers use a reliable courier service (such as DHL or FedEx) to send entries. If books have not been received by the chairpersons on the specified submission date, they will not be considered.
    4. Entries of all books published before 15 November 2008 must be received by the chairpersons by that date.
    5. Any books due to be published between 15 November and 31 December 2008 must be received by the chairpersons by 31 December 2008. The regional chairperson must be notified of late entries.
    6. The same book may not be entered in both the Best Book and Best First Book categories. Books will be judged only in the category in which they are entered. Publishers are strongly advised to enter first books in the Best First Book category.
    7. If a writer holds citizenship in more than one region, the publisher can decide which region the book should be entered in. Books should not be entered in more than one region.
    8. In all regions except Africa, publishers or their imprints will be restricted to two entries per category, per region. To encourage more submissions, publishers or their imprints may submit three books per category in the Africa region.
    9. For publishers with multiple imprints, each imprint may make two entries per category (three in the Africa region).
    10. Publishers must obtain the author's consent before submitting her/his book.
    11. Self-published books are accepted from some countries in the Asian and Africa regions. It is up to the discretion of the regional chairpersons whether they will accept these entries and they must be contacted before self-published entries are submitted. Self-published works will not be admitted in other regions.
    12. For any other entry or eligibility queries please email Jen Sobol, j.sobol@commonwealth.int, for clarification before submitting an entry.
    13. Entries that are ineligible for any reason will not be returned.

Continue to the online application form


Related Documents
2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize brochure 240 KB)
Commonwealth Writers' Prize Entry Form 190 KB)