Broadcasters Nikki Bedi and Katie Thistleton to chair BBC Short Story panels that include Booker shortlistee DAISY JOHNSON; award-winning children’s authors PATRICE LAWRENCE and KIRAN MILWOOD-HARGRAVE; previous BBC NSSA winner CYNAN JONES; and writer and beatboxer TESTAMENT.

The BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) today calls for submissions for the 14th year with broadcaster Nikki Bedi chairing the judging panel for 2019. Nikki is a television and radio broadcaster who writes and presents The Arts Hour on BBC World Service and BBC Radio London.

Nikki’s counterpart on the BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University (YWA) is BBC Radio 1 and CBBC’s Book Club presenter Katie Thistleton, who will chair the judging panel for the teenage award for the second time as it opens for submissions for the fifth year. Katie is the co-presenter of Radio 1’s Life Hacks and author of Dear Katie: Real Problems, Real Advice.

Nikki Bedi, Chair of the 2019 BBC National Short Story Award Judging Panel, says: “I’m honoured, delighted and excited to be chairing the BBC National Short Story Award. It is my favourite form of literature and there is nothing more delicious and perfect for me than devouring, digesting and loving a surprising and perfectly formed short story. From sneakily reading my parents’ copies of Roald Dahl’s dark works when I was far too young, and then discovering the joys of Carson McCullers, Graham Greene, Rohinton Mistry, Jhumpa Lahiri & Gauri Deshpande . . . I developed a taste for the form that has never left me. There are so many undiscovered voices and stories waiting to be told out there and we’ll be in the privileged position of receiving and reading them. I’m looking forward to works that transport me to new places, physically and culturally. Bring it on!”

Katie Thistleton, Chair of the 2019 BBC Young Writers’ Award Judging Panel, says: “I am so excited to be chairing the BBC Young Writers Award for the second year in a row. Last year I was blown away with the submissions, I think we found some of the best future writers whilst shortlisting and learnt a lot about what young people care about at the moment. I cannot wait to read the young people’s stories this year. As a keen writer myself, this is the sort of competition I would have jumped at the chance to enter.”

Bedi and Thistleton will be joined by an esteemed group of award-winning writers and artists on their respective panels. For the BBC National Short Story Award: novelist and writer of narrative non-fiction, Richard Beard; short story writer, novelist and youngest author to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Daisy Johnson; screenwriter, novelist and 2017 BBC National Short Story Award winner, Cynan Jones; and returning judge, Di Speirs, Books Editor at BBC Radio.

For the BBC Young Writers’ Award, Thistleton will lead former teacher and Betty Trask Award winner, Anthony Cartwright; Waterstones Prize and YA Bookseller Prize winning-YA writer, Patrice Lawrence; winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year children’s author, Kiran Milwood-Hargrave; and writer, rapper and world-record breaking human beatboxer, Testament.

Di Speirs, Editor of Books at BBC Radio and judge of the Award since its launch, says: “We are so delighted to be launching the fourteenth BBC National Short Story Award, incorporating the fifth BBC Young Writers’ Award and second Student Critics’ Award. All three reflect the BBC’s commitment to both the writing and the reading of short stories and our listeners’ continued love of the form. We have ten judges who are keen to start reading and I know from past experience we, and our listeners, are about to go on a terrific journey of discovery, finding delights from writers new and old.”

The BBC National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The stories are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in an anthology. Last year’s winner of the BBC National Short Story Award was Trinidadian writer Ingrid Persaud, who won for ‘The Sweet Sop’, her ‘tender and ebullient’ story about a father-son relationship. Previous alumni include Lionel Shriver, Zadie Smith, Hilary Mantel, Jon McGregor and William Trevor.

The writers shortlisted for the BBC Young Writers’ Award have their stories broadcast on a special Radio 1’s Life Hacks Podcast, and published in an anthology. The winner of the 2018 Young Writers’ Award was 17-year-old Davina Bacon for her ‘compassionate’ and ‘intelligent’ story ‘Under a Deep Blue Sky’. The previous winners are Brennig Davies for ‘Skinning’, Lizzie Freestone for ‘Ode to a Boy Musician’ and 2017 winner, Elizabeth Ryder for ‘The Roses’.

In addition, the BBC Student Critics’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University (SCA) launches today and calls for applications. 2018 saw 600 16 – 18-year-old students from 40 schools flex their critical muscles as they read, discussed and critiqued the five shortlisted NSSA stories. For 2019, this activity is being extended to encourage wider community link-ups between schools, colleges, libraries and bookshops around the UK.

William Fiennes, Co-Founder of First Story says: “At First Story, we believe passionately in the value of creative writing for young people. We know that writing can be a source not just of pleasure but also of power. We urge young people across the country to enter their short stories for the Young Writers’ Award 2019. And, on the basis that a writer is just a reader inside-out, we encourage young people to get involved in the Student Critics’ Award too, engaging with and reflecting on stories shortlisted for the National Short Story Award 2019. Parents, teachers and librarians, please help us reach as many young writers and readers as possible!”

James Gazzard, Director Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education, says: “Cambridge has produced great writers for many hundreds of years, and we look forward in eager anticipation to discovering the new and diverse writers these awards give a voice to in the forthcoming year. This collaboration with the BBC and First Story contributes to the University’s and our Vice-Chancellor’s commitment of opening up Cambridge to all, to nurturing talent in new ways, while drawing on the unique teaching and academic environment that the University famously provides. We were delighted with the numbers of writers who decided to take part last year and the success of First Story’s Young Writer’s Festival on our Sidgwick Site campus – as well as our own Short Story Festival at Madingley Hall – proved that the form is not only alive and well, but thriving.”

Full ‘Terms and Conditions’ for the NSSA and YWA are available with submissions accepted online from 9am (GMT) 13th December 2018. The ‘Terms and Conditions’ for the BBC Student Critics’ Award can be found here. The deadline for receipt of entries for the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University is 9am (GMT) Monday 11th March 2019. The deadline for receipt of entries for the BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University is 9am (GMT) Monday 25th March 2019. The deadline for receipt of applications for the BBC Student Critics’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University is 9am (GMT) Monday 1st April 2019.

The shortlist for the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University will be announced on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row at 7.15pm on Friday 6th September 2019. Readings of the shortlisted stories will broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from Monday 9th to Friday 13th September and interviews with the shortlisted writers will air from Friday 6th September 2019 on Front Row. The shortlist for the BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University will be announced on Radio 1’s Life Hacks from 4pm on Sunday 22nd September 2019.

The announcement of the winners of the BBC National Short Story Award and BBC Young Writers’ Award will be broadcast live from the Award ceremony in BBC Broadcasting House on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row from 7.15pm on Tuesday 1st October 2019.

KEY DATES

• Submissions for the 2019 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University, the 2019 BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University and the 2019 Student Critics’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University opened on Thursday 13th December 2018.
• The deadline for receipt of entries for the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University is 9am (GMT) Monday 11th March 2019. The deadline for receipt of entries for the BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University is 9am (GMT) Monday 25th March 2019. The deadline for applications for the BBC Student Critics’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University is 9am (GMT) Monday 1 April 2019.
• The shortlist for the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University will be announced on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row at 7.15pm on Friday 6th September 2019. The shortlist for the BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University will be announced on Radio 1’s Life Hacks from 4pm on Sunday 22nd September 2019.
• The stories shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University will run on BBC Radio 4 from Monday 9th to Friday 13th September 2019 from 3.30pm to 4pm. The announcement of the winners of the two awards will be broadcast live from the award ceremony at BBC Broadcasting House, central London, on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row from 7.15pm on Tuesday 1st October 2019.