The Edge Hill Prize is awarded annually by Edge Hill University for excellence in a published single authored short story collection.
The Edge Hill Prize was founded in 2006 by Professor Ailsa Cox (the world’s only Professor of Short Fiction) to recognise and celebrate the intricate craftsmanship of short story writing. The Prize remains unique as the only annually presented award that recognises excellence in a published, single-authored collection of short stories in the UK and Ireland.
“The great thing about a short story is that it doesn’t have to trawl through someone’s whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side.”
Emma Donoghue
The Prize has built a reputation for Edge Hill University as the home of the short story; an institution that understands and champions the value and importance of the arts and associated creative practices. As well as pinning the university onto the literary and cultural landscape, the prize also enables creative writing students at Edge Hill to get involved as Edge Hill Prize Interns. Students gain authentic and career-enhancing experiences liaising with writers, publishers and agents, and undertaking activities related to the running of the prize and the prize ceremony.
Previous years’ winners have been Colm Tóibín, Claire Keegan, Chris Beckett, Jeremy Dyson, Graham Mort, Sarah Hall, John Burnside, Kirsty Gunn, Jessie Greengrass, Daisy Johnson, David Szalay, Shelley Day, Kevin Barry, Saba Sams, Bernie McGill and this year’s winner (for the second time) Tessa Hadley.
‘Short stories can be more parable-like, they cut more sharply, they can be used to make an argument, upend a falsity.’
Tessa Hadley
Now in its 18th Year, the prize money currently stands at £10,000 and is judged by a selected panel of literary experts. This year, an additional prize of £1,000 will be awarded for Best Debut collection. This replaces the original ‘Reader’s Choice’ award. An additional category worth £500 acknowledges rising talent amongst the University’s Creative Writing cohort.