The 2023 BBC NSSA and YWA Awards – Submissions Open!

The BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) and BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University (YWA) open for submissions Thursday 12 January 2023 at 9am with BBC News journalist and presenter Reeta Chakrabarti chairing the judging panel for the BBC NSSA’s 18th year. Reeta Chakrabarti, Chair of the 2023 BBC National Short […]

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National Short Story Awards 2022 Winner Announced: Saba Sams

Saba Sams wins 17th BBC National Short Story Award for Debut Story Celebrating the Power and Agency of Youth Saba Sams has won the seventeenth BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) with ‘Blue 4eva’, a story about sexual identity, agency, power and class, taken from her debut collection, Send Nudes. Sams was […]

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BBC Young Writers’ Award Winner Announced: Elena Barham

‘Barnsley Bard’ Elena Barham wins BBC Young Writers’ Award 2022 Elena Barham, a 19-year-old University of Sheffield student from Barnsley, has won the BBC Young Writers’ Award 2022 with Cambridge University (YWA) for ‘Little Acorns’, a 1940s-set story which explores gender, familial relationships, loss and abuse. The news was announced live on BBC Radio 4 […]

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2022 National Short Story Award Shortlist Announced

Meet the Shortlist 2022 KERRY ANDREW Photo credit: Julia Hawkins Kerry Andrew is a composer, performer and author and the winner of four British Composer Awards. Kerry’s debut novel, Swansong, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2018, and a second novel, SKIN, was published in 2021. Kerry was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story […]

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National Short Story Award 2022 – Meet the Judges

Meet the Judges for 2022 Elizabeth Day (Chair of Judges) Elizabeth Day is an award-winning author and broadcaster. Her debut novel Scissors, Paper, Stone won a Betty Trask Award and her fifth novel, Magpie, published last September, became an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Her chart-topping podcast, How To Fail, a celebration of the things that haven’t gone right, has […]

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YWA Judges Announced

Meet the judges Katie Thistleton (Chair of Judges) (Pictured centre) Katie Thistleton is a TV and radio presenter, NCTJ qualified journalist and published author and is best known for her work on BBC Radio 1 and CBBC. Katie presented CBBC’s live continuity on CBBC HQ for over 6 years and also hosted the CBBC Book […]

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Winner of the BBC Young Writers’ Award 2021: Tabitha Rubens

Tabitha Rubens, 19, from London, has won the BBC Young Writers’ Award 2021 with Cambridge University (YWA) for ‘Super-Powder’, a story written after the winter lockdown when young people were struggling with their mental health and self-esteem. Exposing modern society’s exploitation of insecurities for profit, the story was praised by the judges for its ‘spirit […]

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BBC National Short Story Award Winner Announced: Lucy Caldwell

Three-time nominated Lucy Caldwell has won the sixteenth BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) with ‘All the People Were Mean and Bad’, a story taken from her 2021 collection, Intimacies. The news was announced live on BBC Front Row this evening (Tuesday 19 October) by 2021 Chair of Judges, James Runcie. Caldwell, […]

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