The Julia & Martin Wilson Short Story Prize 2026
Broadway Arts Festival launched a short story prize in order to encourage creativity during the lockdown. The prize is generously sponsored and judged by festival Benefactors Julia & Martin Wilson who read every entry received, from across the world. The competition now takes place every other year.
Entries need to be a maximum of 2,000 words with no theme to adhere to.
Prizes:
- Main prize (adults): £800
- Ages 11-16yrs: £100
- Age 10 and under: £100
Please Note:
- All entries must be in English
- Do not enter any previously submitted entries as they will not qualify for consideration.
- Entries will be assessed using a plagiarism and AI checker
- For those age 16 and under, a maximum of 2 stories per entrant permitted.
Winning stories will be published on the festival website for all to read & enjoy.
There is a fee of £12 per entry for the main prize of £800 for adults, but the competition is free to enter for those age 16 and under.
Adult entrants: please use spellcheck, grammar-check tools and proofread before submitting. English language only please.
Parents of u16 entrants: you are discouraged from influencing or perfecting your child’s entry. Enthusiasm and originality is encouraged.
Entry checklist:
- Include the story title, your name and the word count in the heading of the attached story file
- Under 16’s – please also include your age in the headin
- Submit your story as a word doc (.docx, .doc, ) using the filename ’StoryTitle-Name’
The deadline for entries was 6pm on 27th March 2026 (GMT) so the competition has now closed.
We received 537 entries in total from 35 countries! 342 entries were from writers aged under 16.
The prizewinners and those highly commended have now been announced.
Click the button below to read the prize winning stories, learn more about the authors and discover which writers were highly commended.
