edinburgh short story award 2026
2024 marked ten years since we first launched the short story competition. With a £3,000 first prize (ten times higher than our first prize (now) 11 years ago) it has grown to become one of the UK’s leading short story competitions.
We are especially thrilled with the success of the Isobel Lodge Award, one of the specialist prizes in the competition, which every year brings new Scottish talent to the fore. The award is presented to the top story entered in the competition by an unpublished writer living in Scotland.
We welcome stories in all genres: literary, historic, crime, romance, gritty realism, contemporary, humour and more. The Write Mango Award is another specialist award within the competition that celebrates those bizarre, quirky stories that can sometimes leave us laughing out loud. The Write Mango winner receives £300 plus the fabulous mango award sculpture created by artist Fiona Maher.
The writers of at least twenty long-listed short stories are offered publication in our next anthology featuring a fabulous cover by Edinburgh-based artist Gordon Mitchell RSA. The top twenty includes the Isobel Lodge Award winner plus at least five of the top Write Mango stories.