The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2026

Since 1732, The London Magazine has published short stories by some of the most well-regarded writers in English, from Jean Rhys and Raymond Carver to Virginia Woolf and V. S. Pritchett. Our annual Short Story Prize seeks out new voices to join this distinguished literary history.

Established to support and celebrate emerging literary talent, the prize offers writers from around the world an opportunity for publication and recognition. We are looking for previously unpublished stories of no more than 4,000 words.

We are delighted to announce that The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2026 will be judged by Camilla Grudova, Tim MacGabhann and Ayşegül Savaş.

The winning stories will be published in future issues of The London Magazine. Winners will also receive cash prizes and be celebrated at a prize-giving ceremony at the end of the year.

---

Information

Entry fee: £12 per story

Subsequent entries: £6 per story

Student/Low-income entry: £6 per story

Membership entry: One free entry (subsequent entries £6)

Note: There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit, but please only submit one story per entry. Entries with multiple stories will not be considered or notified. It is necessary to read the competition rules before submitting. 

Opening date: 28th July 2026
Closing date: 18th October 2026

First Prize: £1000 
Second Prize: £600
Third Prize: £400

Enter The London Magazine Short Story Prize

.

In order to familiarise yourself with the kind of fiction we publish, we recommend getting your hands on a copy of our latest issue, which can be purchased here from our shop, or subscribing to the magazine.

---

Judges

.

Camilla Grudova is the author of The Doll’s Alphabet, Children of Paradise and The Coiled Serpent. In 2023 she was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists.

‘Please send wacky and diabolical stories that make me see the world anew, that are sensitive rather than sentimental (to quote Nabokov); paragraphs that are simplistically beautiful and allow me to be a spectator, instead of grandiose and garbled paragraphs that lock me out. Stories filled with the stench of life in the way only a human can do.’

.

Tim MacGabhann is the author of the novels Call Him Mine and How to Be Nowhere, the memoir The Black Pool, the short story collection Saints and the poetry collection Found in a Context of Destruction. 

Tim loves ‘stories that feel like someone who needs two or three drinks trying to tell you this worst, most uncomfortable, most embarrassing thing that has just happened to them – we all know those voice-notes. I also love stories that feel like proper tales, all immersion, intrigue, pricklings of danger, smooth clean propulsive prose. And lastly I love stories that feel like the author had to cut through tendon and sinew with a blunt knife just to articulate them. But those are three very different things. I’m not looking for anything in particular. I’m just looking forward to reading people’s best work, and I feel sure I will.’

.

Ayşegül Savaş is the author of the novels Walking on the Ceiling, White on White and The Anthropologists, as well as the non-fiction work The Wilderness and the story collection Long Distance. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages. Originally from Istanbul, she lives in Paris.  

‘The stories I love most expand a small emotional landscape far beyond the contours of the narrative; they often work with two different currents that meet at unexpected moments; they are precise and generous with language.’