The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing takes African writing to a broader audience by organizing annual literally awards.
It is a registered charity aimed at taking African writing to the world at large.
Awards are won after the writing contest.
For any chosen published short story by an African writer, an award(£10,000) will be given to the authors followed by other goodies.
Apart from the award, the AKO Caine Prize Award 2023 will invite the five shortlisted writers to London for a series of events including public readings, interviews with media institutions, private events with agents, and an invitation to the 2023 award ceremony where the winner will be announced.
Requirements For the AKO Caine Prize Award 2023
- Your story must have been published five years prior to the submission deadline. Although for 2023 requirements, the judges will only consider work published between 1st February 2018 and 25th January 2023.
- Contents must be above 3,000 words or below 10,000 words.
- Contents must be submitted by a publisher; Both publishers of physical and digital books, literary journals, magazines, and literary arts-oriented websites.
- Participants must be over 18 years and above.
- Articles published or unpublished by oneself are prohibited.
- Publishers are free to submit more than one story, as long as stories of the same author are not submitted.
- Stories may only be entered for consideration for the AKO Caine Prize once. Unfortunately, this means that you may not re-submit a story for consideration, even if it was not selected in the shortlist.
- Publishers must specify in the submission the African country of the author and the word count of the content.
- The following genres are prohibited from the writing contest; Stories for children, factual writing, academic essays, plays, poetry, and autobiography/biography.
- A ‘publisher’s letter’ must accompany each submission.
The publisher’s letter should touch on the following;
- Name of the writer(s).
- Title of the story or stories being submitted.
- Word count of each submitted story.
- The qualifying nationality of the writer(s).
- The date of publication of the story or stories.
- Confirmation of consent from the writer(s) whose stories are being submitted for the Prize.
Application Deadline: January 26, 2023.
For more inquiries about the AKO Caine Prize Award 2023, contact their official site here.
