The Guardian and 4th Estate 4thWrite Prize is a short story competition open to Black, Asian and minority ethnic writers living in the UK or Ireland who are 18 and above. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Prize.
Each submission must contain a full short story of no more than 6,000 words.
The winner will receive £1,000, a one-day publishing workshop at 4th Estate and publication of their story on the Guardian website. After the winner is announced, the full shortlist will be published on 4thestate.co.uk.
This year's judges are: Kamila Shamsie, multiple award-winning and bestselling author; Chanté Joseph, award-winning writer, journalist and digital content producer; Sanam Mahloudji, Women’s Prize-shortlisted author; Emma Paterson, literary agent at Aitken Alexander Associates; Kishani Widyaratna, Publishing Director at 4th Estate; and Ella Creamer, Commissioning Editor at The Guardian. Plus special guest judge for this year as we celebrate the Prize’s 10th anniversary: author and 4thWrite Prize alum Gurnaik Johal.
Find out more
here
Deadline: 19th June 2026