BBC National Short Story AwardLatest

The five short-listed stories have been announced:

BBC NATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARD 2009 SHORTLIST

You can hear a selection of the nation's finest acting talent reading each of the stories from Monday, 30th November to Friday, 4th December at 1530. Miriam Margolyes reads the comic opening tale, followed by Penelope Wilton, Hannah Gordon, Jason Isaacs, and ending with Julia McKenzie wrapping up this year's shortlist on Friday the 4th.

There is also a special podcast, so you can automatically receive each story as soon as it's available, and take it with you on the move to listen wherever and whenever you like.

INTRODUCTION

The BBC National Short Story Award celebrates the best of the contemporary British short story. Now in its fourth year, the Award continues to raise the profile of the short story. The inaugural Award went to James Lasdun for his short story An Anxious Man; in 2007 it was awarded to Julian Gough for his comic tale The Orphan and the Mob; and in 2008 the winner was Clare Wigfall for Numbers which appeared in her debut collection, The Loudest Sound and Nothing, published by Faber in 2007.

This year´s winning author will receive £15,000, the runner up £3,000, and the other three short listed stories will each be given £500. The Award is funded by the BBC and administered in partnership with the Booktrust.

The short story continues to hold its own on Radio 4, and is enjoying a resurgence in print. The Award aims to maintain the genre´s prestige across the literary world.

Last year the Award attracted over 600 submissions. The five shortlisted stories will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 each afternoon from Monday 30th November to Friday 4th December. In showcasing the Award BBC Radio 4 promises a week of outstanding storytelling, demonstrating the BBC´s continued commitment to the short story.

The 2009 BBC National Short Story Award was launched at Broadcasting House on Thursday, 26th March.

Broadcaster Tom Sutcliffe chairs the panel of judges for 2009, which also includes award winning writers, Margaret Drabble (CBE and DBE), writer Helen Dunmore, singer songwriter Will Young, and Di Speirs (BBC Radio 4).

Previous winners, shortlisted writers and their stories

2008

• Winner: Clare Wigfall - The Numbers
• Runner up: Jane Gardam - The People on Privilege Hill
• Shortlisted writers
• Richard Beard - Guidelines for Measure to Cope with Disgraceful and Other Events
• Erin Soros - Surge
• Adam Thorpe - The Names

2007

• Winner: Julian Gough – The Orphan and The Mob
• Runner up: David Almond – Slog's Dad
• Shortlisted writers
• Jonathan Falla – The Morena
• Jackie Kay – How to Get Away With Suicide
• Hanif Kureshi – Weddings and Beheadings

2006

• Winner: James Lasdun – An Anxious Man
• Runner up: Michel Faber – The Safehouse
• Shortlisted writers
• Rana Dasgupta – The Flyover
• Rose Tremain – The Ebony Hand
• William Trevor – Men of Ireland

Clare Wigfall, recipient of the 2008 Award

How can I measure the impact the BBC National Short Story Award has had on my life? Of course, most obvious might be the attention my work has since received - what a gift for a writer so early in their career, especially when you've chosen a literary form so often neglected! My collection, for example, was one of Faber's most-reviewed paperbacks last year, and I'm certain that without the award such success would have been almost impossible for a book of stories by a debut writer. But on a more personal level, the award also gave an incredible boost to my confidence as a writer. To be confronted with the knowledge that my story had moved others, that it had gripped them, given them an insight into another world and perhaps also made them think afresh about their own, well, that was undeniably something quite extraordinary. It's an honour to know that my stories have enriched the lives of others. It makes me want to write more, to reach more people. I owe everyone on the award committee and all those involved a huge thanks.

Julian Gough, winner in 2007

Winning the BBC National Short Story Award changed my life. A couple of years ago, I was unpublished, broke, recently evicted, and homeless. Then I won the Award, which not only saved my writing life, but also perhaps my actual life. It allowed me to pay off my back rent and other debts, and it banished the despair I had felt, as my work grew better, and the rewards worse.

As publishing grows ever more conservative, trying to write something different, something new, can be lonely, dispiriting, and financially disastrous. Being awarded such a prestigious prize, by such highly-regarded judges, changed the way my work was read, and created a new space for it. Work previously considered "brilliant but unpublishable" has since been published to great acclaim, translated, and shortlisted for other prizes.

This Prize makes a huge difference, and I´m very grateful to it. By shining a bright light on the short story, it ensures more writers will step onto that small but daunting stage, and that a great performance there will be properly rewarded.

James Lasdun, the 2006 inaugural winner

I was honoured and delighted to win the first ever National Short Story Prize. I think it´s fantastic that the award is finally helping to bring the short story the recognition it deserves in the UK.