# List of BBC National Short Story Award winners

The BBC National Short Story Award (known as the National Short Story Award in 2006 and 2007) is an annual short story contest in the United Kingdom which is open to UK residents and nationals. It has been described as "one of the most prestigious [awards] for a single short story" and the richest prize in the world for a single short story. The award aims to increase interest in the short story genre, particularly British short stories. As of 2017, the winner receives £15,000 and four shortlisted writers receive £600 each.
It was founded in 2005 and announced at the Edinburgh International Book Festival the same year. The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) were the main sponsor with support from BBC Radio 4 and Prospect magazine. Originally, winners received £15,000 while runners up received £3,000 and shortlisted writers £500 each. In 2008, the BBC became the main sponsor and the award was renamed from the 'National Short Story Award' to the 'BBC National Short Story Award'.
In 2009, only women were featured on the shortlist. This happened for the second time in 2013 and the fifth time in 2018. In 2018, prize judge Di Speirs noted that the BBC National Short Story Award has never had an all-male shortlist. Short stories written by women typically account for between 50 and 70% of all submissions.
At 26 years old, Canadian writer D. W. Wilson became the youngest ever recipient of the award in 2011. In 2020, Sarah Hall, who won the award in 2013 and 2020, became the first writer to have won the award twice. In 2012, in honour of the 2012 Summer Olympics hosted in London, the competition was open to a global audience for one year only. Ten stories were shortlisted, instead of five, and Bulgarian writer Miroslav Penkov won.

## Winners and shortlisted writers
### 2000s

BBC National Short Story Award winners and finalists, 2006–2009 :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 2006 | James Lasdun | An Anxious Man | Winner |
| 2006 | Michel Faber | The Safehouse | Runner up |
| 2006 | Rose Tremain | The Ebony Hand | Shortlist |
| 2006 | William Trevor | Men of Ireland | Shortlist |
| 2006 | Rana Dasgupta | The Flyover | Shortlist |
| 2007 | Julian Gough | The Orphan and the Mob | Winner |
| 2007 | David Almond | Slog's Dad | Runner up |
| 2007 | Jonathan Falla | The Morena | Shortlist |
| 2007 | Jackie Kay | How to Get Away with Suicide | Shortlist |
| 2007 | Hanif Kureishi | Weddings and Beheadings | Shortlist |
| 2008 | Clare Wigfall | The Numbers | Winner |
| 2008 | Jane Gardam | The People on Priviledge Hill | Runner up |
| 2008 | Adam Thorpe | The Names | Shortlist |
| 2008 | Erin Soros | Surge | Shortlist |
| 2008 | Richard Beard | Guidelines for Measures to Cope with Disgraceful and Other Events | Shortlist |
| 2009 | Kate Clanchy | The Not-Dead and the Saved | Winner |
| 2009 | Sara Maitland | Moss Witch | Runner up |
| 2009 | Jane Rogers | Hitting Trees with Sticks | Shortlist |
| 2009 | Lionel Shriver | Exchange Rates | Shortlist |
| 2009 | Naomi Alderman | Other People's Gods | Shortlist |

### 2010s

BBC National Short Story Award winners and finalists, 2010–2019 :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 2010 | David Constantine | Tea at the Midland | Winner |
| 2010 | Jon McGregor | If It Keeps on Raining | Runner up |
| 2010 | Helen Oyeyemi | My Daughter the Racist | Shortlist |
| 2010 | Sarah Hall | Butcher's Perfume | Shortlist |
| 2010 | Aminatta Forna | Haywards Heath | Shortlist |
| 2011 | D.W. Wilson | The Dead Roads | Winner |
| 2011 | Jon McGregor | Wires | Runner up |
| 2011 | K.J. Orr | The Human Circadian Pacemaker | Shortlist |
| 2011 | M. J. Hyland | Rag Love | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Alison MacLeod | The Heart of Denis Noble | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Miroslav Penkov | East of the West | Winner |
| 2012 | Henrietta Rose-Innes | Sanctuary | Runner up |
| 2012 | Julian Gough | The iHole | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Carrie Tiffany | Before He Left the Family | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Chris Womersley | In the Basement | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Adam Ross | A Lovely and Terrible Thing | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Deborah Levy | Black Vodka | Shortlist |
| 2012 | M. J. Hyland | Even Pretty Eyes Commit Crimes | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Lucy Caldwell | The Goose Father | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Krys Lee | Escape Routes | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Sarah Hall | Mrs Fox | Winner |
| 2013 | Lucy Wood | Notes from the House Spirits | Runner up |
| 2013 | Lavinia Greenlaw | We Are Watching Something Terrible Happening | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Lionel Shriver | Prepositions | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Lisa Blower | Barmouth | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Lionel Shriver | Kilifi Creek | Winner |
| 2014 | Zadie Smith | Miss Adele Amidst the Corsets | Runner up |
| 2014 | Francesca Rhydderch | The Taxidermist's Daughter | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Rose Tremain | The American Lover | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Tessa Hadley | Bad Dreams | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Jonathan Buckley | Briar Road | Winner |
| 2015 | Mark Haddon | Bunny | Runner up |
| 2015 | Hilary Mantel | The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Jeremy Page | Do It Now, Jump the Table | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Frances Leviston | Broderie Anglaise | Shortlist |
| 2016 | K.J. Orr | Disappearances | Winner |
| 2016 | Claire-Louise Bennett | Morning, Noon & Night | Runner up |
| 2016 | Lavinia Greenlaw | The Darkest Place in England | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Tahmima Anam | Garments | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Hilary Mantel | In a Right State | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Cynan Jones | The Edge of the Shoal | Winner |
| 2017 | Jenni Fagan | The Waken | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Will Eaves | Murmur | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Helen Oyeyemi | If a Book Is Locked There's Probably a Good Reason for That, Don't You Think? | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Benjamin Markovits | The Collector | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Ingrid Persaud | The Sweet Sop | Winner |
| 2018 | Nell Stevens | The Minutes | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Kiare Ladner | Van Rensburg's Card | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Sarah Hall | Sudden Traveller | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Kerry Andrew | To Belong To | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Jo Lloyd | The Invisible | Winner |
| 2019 | Lynda Clark | Ghillie's Mum | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Tamsin Grey | My Beautiful Millennial | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Lucy Caldwell | The Children | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Jacqueline Crooks | Silver Fish in the Midnight Sea | Shortlist |

### 2020s

BBC National Short Story Award winners and finalists, 2020–2024 :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 2020 | Sarah Hall | The Grotesques | Winner |
| 2020 | Eley Williams | Scrimshaw | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Jack Houston | Come Down Heavy | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Jan Carson | In the Car With the Rain Coming Down | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Caleb Azumah Nelson | Pray | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Lucy Caldwell | All the People Were Mean and Bad | Winner |
| 2021 | Danny Rhodes | Toadstone | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Rory Gleeson | The Body Audit | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Georgina Harding | Night Train | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Richard Smyth | Maykopsky District, Adyghe Oblast | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Saba Sams | Blue 4eva | Winner |
| 2022 | Kerry Andrew | And the Moon Descends on the Temple That Was | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Jenn Ashworth | Flat 19 | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Vanessa Onwuemezi | Green Afternoon | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Anna Bailey | Long Way to Come for a Sip of Water | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Naomi Wood | Comorbidities | Winner |
| 2023 | Cherise Saywell | Guests | Shortlist |
| 2023 | K Patrick | It's Me | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Nick Mulgrew | The Storm | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Kamila Shamsie | Churail | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Ross Raisin | Ghost Kitchen | Winner |
| 2024 | Will Boast | The Barber of Erice | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Lucy Caldwell | Hamlet, a love story | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Manish Chauhan | Pieces | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Vee Walker | Nice Dog | Shortlist |