Costa has announced the launch of the Costa Short Story Award, a brand new award for a single short story
Today Costa announced its new Short Story Award for a single, previously unpublished short story of up to 4,000 words by an author aged 18 years or over and written in English. The author’s primary residence must have been the UK or Ireland for the past three years.
Entry opens on Monday 16th July and closes at 4pm on Friday 7th September. Entries must be submitted online via a dedicated page atwww.costabookawards.com. Entrants need not have been previously published but publishers and agents may submit entries on behalf of authors.
All entries will be judged anonymously, without the identity of the author being available to the judges. A panel of five judges will select a shortlist of six entries which will be revealed in November. The public will then be invited to vote online for their favourite story from the six finalists.
The winner will be announced at the Costa Book Awards ceremony on 29th January 2013 and will receive £3,500; two runners-up will each receive £750.
The judges for the 2012 Costa Short Story Award are:
Richard Beard: Director of the National Academy of Writing
Fanny Blake: Novelist and Journalist; Books Editor of Woman & Home
Victoria Hislop: Writer
Gary Kemp: Songwriter and guitarist for Spandau Ballet; Actor and Writer
Simon Trewin: Agent, William Morris Endeavor
Marketing Director of Costa UK Kevin Hydes said: “What’s really exciting about our new Short Story Award is that it’s open to absolutely everyone. For the first time, we’re able to extend the reach of the Book Awards in ways we never have before. You don’t need a publisher or an agent to enter this competition, just an idea and writing talent and we’re encouraging anyone who has ever considered writing creatively, and those who write already, professionally or otherwise, to enter.”
The Costa Book Awards recognise the most enjoyable books of the last year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. Originally established by Whitbread PLC in 1971, Costa announced its takeover of the sponsorship of the UK’s prestigious and popular book prize in 2006.
Andrew Miller won the Costa Book of the Year last year for his novel Pure.
This article was written by 16/07/2012 by Stacey Bartlett on welovethisbook.com