National Short Story Awards History of the Award

In 2005, the National Short Story Prize was launched at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to re-establish the importance of the British story after many years of neglect. Funded by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) and supported by BBC Radio 4 and Prospect magazine, the prize (£15,000 to the winner) became the largest award in the world for a single short story.

From 2008, the prize was renamed the BBC National Short Story Award to reflect the fact that the BBC is now the sponsor.

2011 BBC National Short Story Award

The winning story in 2011 was 'The Dead Roads, by DW Wilson, who said 'The BBC short story prize couldn't have come at a better time in my career; it was the push I needed to get my work noticed. More than that, though, it was the little things that tagged along that made the whole experience so rewarding: hearing my story read on radio, pats on the back from authors whose work I've read and admired; and that very rare and quintessential gift for a writer - reassurance that we might just be doing something right.'

Hear the announcement on Front Row

The BBC National Short Story Award is managed in partnership with Booktrust.

The 2011 Shortlist

DW Wilson (Winner of the BBC National Short Story Award 2011)

DW Wilson's first collection of short stories titled Once You Break a Knuckle is published this autumn by Penguin Canada. His fiction and essays have appeared in literary journals across Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In 2008, he won the silver award for fiction at the Canadian National Magazine Awards, and this year he has been shortlisted for the Writers' Trust of Canada Journey Prize.

• Hear an interview on Front Row
• A commercial download of this story is available from AudioGo
•  

Jon McGregor (Runner-up)

Jon McGregor is a novelist and short story writer. His first novel If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things was published in 2002 followed by So Many Ways To Begin (2006), and Even The Dogs (2010), which between them have garnered many awards. His story collection This Isn't The Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You, will be published in February 2012.

• Hear an interview on Front Row
• A commercial download of this story is available from AudioGo
•  

MJ Hyland

Former lawyer MJ Hyland's first novel How the Light Gets In was published in 2003. Her second, Carry Me Down (2006), won the Encore Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. This is How (2009), was longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her short fiction has also been published in Zoetrope: All Story, BlackBook Magazine (USA), Best Australian Short Stories and elsewhere.

1. Hear an interview on Front Row
2. A commercial download of this story is available from AudioGo
3.  

Alison MacLeod

Alison MacLeod's short fiction has been published in a wide range of magazines including Prospect, London Magazine, The Sunday Times online magazine and broadcast on the BBC. Her collection of stories Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction was published in 2007. Her next novel will be published by Penguin in September 2012 and is set in Brighton, where she now lives and lectures on a part-time basis at the University of Chichester.

1. Hear an interview on Front Row
2. A commercial download of this story is available from AudioGo
3.  

KJ Orr

KJ Orr was born in London. As an undergraduate, she won the Dan Hemingway Prize at the University of St Andrews. She has won awards for both short fiction and plays, and been shortlisted for the London Writers' Prize, the Asham Award and the Bridport Prize. She is a graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

• Hear an interview on Front Row
• A commercial download of this story is available from AudioGo
•  

2010 BBC National Short Story Award

David Constantine won the 2010 BBC National Short Story Award, with Jon McGregor, the runner-up.

The three other authors on the short list were Aminatta Forna, Sarah Hall and Helen Oyeyemi.

The judges for the 2010 Award were James Naughtie (Chair), Kamila Shamsie, Owen Sheers, Shena Mackay, and Di Speirs.

2009 BBC National Short Story Award

Kate Clanchy won the 2009 BBC National Short Story Award, with Sara Maitland, the runner-up.

The three other authors on the short list were Naomi Alderman, Jane Rogers and Lionel Shriver.

The judges for the 2009 Award were Tom Sutcliffe (Chair), Margaret Drabble (CBE and DBE), Helen Dunmore, Will Young, and Di Speirs.

2008 BBC National Short Story Award

Clare Wigfall won the 2008 BBC National Short Story Award, with Jane Gardam, the runner-up.

The three other authors on the short list were Richard Beard, Erin Soros and Adam Thorpe.

The judges for the 2008 Award were Martha Kearney (Chair), Naomi Alderman, Alex Linklater, Penelope Lively, and Di Speirs.

2007 National Short Story Prize

Julian Gough won the 2007 National Short Story Prize, for The Orphan and the Mob with David Almond named as runner-up for his story Slog´s Dad.

The three remaining authors on the shortlist were Jonathan Falla, Jackie Kay and Hanif Kureishi.

The judges for the 2007 prize were Mark Lawson (Chair), Monica Ali, AS Byatt, Di Speirs and Alex Linklater.

2006 National Short Story Prize

James Lasdun won the 2006 National Short Story Prize for his short story An Anxious Man. The runner-up was Michel Faber for his short story, The Safehouse.

The other short listed writers were, Rana Dasgupta, Rose Tremain and William Trevor.

The judges for the inaugural Prize were William Boyd, Lavinia Greenlaw, Alex Linklater, Di Speirs and Francine Stock.