The White Review

2013 WINNER

'The Lady of the House' by Claire-Louise Bennett

SHORTLIST 

'Popular Mechanics' by Gareth Dickson

'The Story I'm Thinking of' by Jonathan Gibbs

'The Taxidermist' by Olivia Heal

'Towards White, 1975' by Scott Morris

'The Final Journals of Dr Peter Lurneman' by Luke Neima

'Fairy Tale Ending' by Stacy Patton

'How to be an Astronaut' by J. D. A. Winslow

The winner was announced at a prize-giving ceremony in London on 25 April 2013 by Tom McCarthy. Read his announcement speech on Félix Fénéon here. 

About The White Review Short Story Prize

The White Review Short Story Prize is an annual short story competition for emerging writers. Made possible by the generous support of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, the prize awards £2,500 to the best piece of short fiction by a writer resident in the UK and Ireland who has yet to secure a publishing deal.

The judges will be looking for short stories that explore and expand the possibilities of the form. We encourage submissions from all literary genres, and there are no restrictions on theme or subject matter. We would only emphasise that the prize was founded to reward ambitious, imaginative and innovative approaches to creative writing.

Award

Novelist Tom McCarthy, author of Men in Space, Remainder and the Man Booker-shortlisted C, will announce the winner at a prize-giving ceremony in London in April 2013.

In addition to the £2,500 prize, the winner will be published in a quarterly print issue of The White Review. Writers to have been published by The White Review include Joshua Cohen, César Aira, Deborah Levy, D. W. Wilson, Helen DeWitt, Federico Falco, K. J. Orr, Jesse Ball and many others.

The winner will have the chance to meet with jury member and literary agent Karolina Sutton to discuss their writing, plans for future work and possible routes to publication.

Shortlisted writers will have their work published online and receive feedback from the editors of The White Review.

Jury

We are delighted to have assembled a prestigious panel of judges to decide the award.

Deborah Levy writes fiction, plays and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and she is the author of highly praised novels including Beautiful Mutants, Swallowing Geography and Billy and Girl. Her latest novel Swimming Home was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize.

Alex Bowler is editorial director at Jonathan Cape. He has edited Tom McCarthy, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, Audrey Niffenegger, Kevin Barry and Grant Morrison.

Karolina Sutton is a senior agent at Curtis Brown. She notably represents Cormac McCarthy, Siri Hustvedt and Haruki Murakami. 

Dates

- The prize opened to submissions on 1 December 2012

- Submissions will close on 1 March 2013. No entries will be considered if submitted after 1 March 2013 (12 noon GMT).

- A shortlist will be announced on 1 April 2013.

- The winner will be announced at a prize-giving ceremony in London in April 2013.

Terms and Conditions

Please read these eligibility and entry rules carefully before beginning the online entry process. Submission of an entry is taken as acceptance of the entry rules. For any queries not covered below, please email editors@thewhitereview.org.

1) The competition is open to unpublished writers residing in Great Britain and Ireland only.

2) There is an entry fee of £15.00. All proceeds go to The White Review (Charity Number: 1148690), which ‘specialises in the publication of artistically or educationally meritorious works of new or emerging artists and writers’, and will help to ensure the future viability of the short story prize.

3) Entrants must pay the entry fee of £15 in order to be eligible.

4) Only submissions received and paid for by 12 noon March 1st (GMT) will be considered.

5) Entries that are not paid for, incomplete, are corrupted or submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

6) The entry must be the entrant’s own original creation and must not infringe upon the right or copyright of any person or entity.

7) Writers who have existing contracts, or who have previously held contracts, with publishers for works of fiction are not eligible to enter.

8) Writers who have published work in magazines and journals are eligible to enter.

9) Writers who have published books of non-fiction are eligible to enter.

10) Entries must be 2,000 words minimum, 7,000 words maximum.

11) Writers may submit one story only.

12) The story must be written in English (no translations).

13) Submissions must be made by the author of the short story.

14) There are no age restrictions.

15) When submitting, please include a short covering letter including your contact details, your name and the title of your story. The covering letter should be in the same document as your submission. 

16) Submissions from writers residing outside of Great Britain and Ireland will not be considered.

17) The first page should include the title of the story and the number of words. 

18) All submissions should include page numbers.

19) Entries will only be accepted via the online entry form. Submissions must be in one of the following formats: .pdf, .doc, .docx, .rtf, .txt. 

20) The story must be original and should not have been previously published anywhere in full or in part. Published work is taken to mean published in any printed, publicly accessible form, e.g. anthology, magazine, newspaper. It is also taken to mean published online, with the exception of personal blogs and personal websites.

21) Long-listed and short-listed entrants will be notified by email when they have made the list.

22) Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted.

23) No editorial feedback will be provided to unsuccessful entrants.

24) The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the judging process.

25) The White Review will have the exclusive right to publish the winning and shortlisted stories for six months from first publication in The White Review. After six months, the rights will revert to the authors, who may publish the stories elsewhere so long as they appropriately credit The White Review.

26) Submission to the short story prize is not a condition for publication in The White Review. Writers can still submit their work for consideration via the usual routes.

27) Submissions should in all cases where it is possible be submitted through the online registration process. If it necessary to submit a paper copy, please enclose proof of payment and contact details with your submission and send it to the editors at: 1 Knightsbridge Green, 8th Floor, London, SW1X 7QA. 

28) Only submissions which meet all Terms and Conditions will be considered.

29) By entering this competition, each entrant agrees to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.