The Still Point

Competitions · Summer 2026 Cycle

The Still Point Prize

A quarterly prize for a single unpublished work of fiction, poetry, or essay. Judging is blind from first read to final decision: no cover letters, no biographies, no names — only the work, and three people reading it closely.

£5,000 and publication

Closes 30 September 2026

The cycle

  1. Submissions open (current stage)

    1 July 2026

    The portal opens. Entries are anonymised on receipt.

  2. Submissions close (current stage)

    15 September 2026

    The portal closes at midnight, London time. No extensions.

  3. Longlist

    15 November 2026

    Twelve pieces, announced without commentary.

  4. Winner published

    December 2026

    The winning work appears in the winter issue. Names are restored only now.

Blind judging

Every entry is anonymised before a judge sees it. The panel reads the same pages you sent — nothing about you, attached to nothing you have done before. Judges recuse themselves from any piece they recognise, and the panel rotates each cycle; no judge serves twice in succession.

This is not a formality. Three of our past winners had never published a word. One had published fourteen books. The panel learned both facts, like everyone else, from the winter issue.

This cycle’s judges

The Dog
Only BarksThe Dog

The Dog

Barks heavily and annoys everybody

Portrait, through glass
NovelistPortrait, through glass

Nadia Kovač

Author of The Glass Season. Writes and reads in Zagreb, slowly, in that order.

Portrait, through glass
PoetPortrait, through glass

Rafael Iglesias

Two collections, both out of print by his own arrangement. Buenos Aires.

Past winners

  1. Summer 2026Short FictionThe Cartographer's DaughterIsolde Marchetti
  2. Winter 2023PoetryBreath, VisibleJune Okafor
  3. Spring 2024Short FictionForm BThomas Adeyemi

How to enter

  1. 01

    One piece per entrant, per cycle: fiction or essay to 8,000 words, or up to three poems.

  2. 02

    The work must be unpublished, in English or in English translation, and yours.

  3. 03

    Your name must not appear anywhere in the manuscript. Entries carrying names are anonymised by us, not disqualified.

  4. 04

    Entry is free. Simultaneous submission is permitted; withdraw promptly if placed elsewhere.

  5. 05

    All entries are considered for publication, whether or not they place.

Go to the submission portal