Afritondo Short Story Prize 2026: Win 1000 Dollars for Powerful African and Black Fiction on Transition

If you are a Black or African fiction writer with a story sitting in your drafts and a theme gnawing at you, this prize should be squarely on your radar.

The Afritondo Short Story Prize 2026 is offering 1000 dollars to the winning story and 100 dollars to each of four shortlisted writers, but the money is really only half the story. This is one of the few international prizes that deliberately centers Black and African voices and treats them not as a side category, but as the entire point.

Every year, Afritondo picks a theme and invites writers to wrestle with it in complex, surprising ways. For 2026, the theme is “transition” – and that single word opens an enormous door. Think migration, gender, political upheaval, grief, technology, climate, aging, diaspora, spiritual shifts, the slow death of an old order, the messy birth of a new self. Transition is the plot twist baked into human life.

This prize wants stories that sit in that in-between space. Not just “things changed” but how and what it did to people. They want you to stretch your imagination, take risks with language, and write something that lingers in the reader’s head days later.

If you are Black or African, write fiction in English, and can craft a 3000 to 5000 word short story, this competition is absolutely worth your time.

Afritondo Short Story Prize 2026 at a Glance

What This Short Story Prize Actually Offers

Yes, there is cash:

• 1000 dollars for the winning story.
• 100 dollars for each of the four shortlisted writers.

For many writers on the continent or in the diaspora, those amounts are not trivial. That could be rent, a laptop upgrade, months of mobile data, or time carved out of a brutal schedule to write the next thing.

But the real value of Afritondo runs deeper than the prize money.

First, there is visibility. Shortlisted stories from Afritondo competitions are read by editors, festival curators, agents, and other writers keeping an eye on emerging voices. If you publish mostly in local magazines or small platforms, being shortlisted here can push your work into much wider circulation.

Second, this is prestige within a very specific community. This isn’t a prize where one token African name appears in a sea of Western writers. Here, the entire shortlist is Black and African. That means your work is read beside peers dealing with similar geographies, histories, dialects, and contradictions. You’re not being compared to people playing a completely different game.

Third, the theme-based approach helps you focus. Writing “any story” is vague and overwhelming. Writing a story about transition forces you to get deliberate: what is changing, who is resisting, who is thriving, and what gets broken in the process?

Finally, there’s the creative challenge itself. Afritondo is explicit: they want stories that surprise them, stylistically and emotionally. This is a space to try things – voice shifts, non-linear structure, hybrid forms, dialogue-heavy pieces, or quiet stories that creep up on the reader. If you’ve been itching to write something risky that a traditional magazine might hesitate over, this is an ideal home for it.

Who Should Apply (and Who This Prize Really Suits)

If you identify as Black or African, regardless of where you currently live, you are in the target group. You could be:

• A Ghanaian engineer in Accra moonlighting as a fiction writer.
• A Nigerian-British nurse in London who writes in the fog of night shifts.
• A Haitian student in Montreal thinking in three languages but writing in English.
• A South African writer drafting stories in taxis and coffee shops.

As long as you meet the identity requirement and can submit a story in English, you’re eligible.

This prize is particularly suited to:

1. Emerging writers building their first publication record
You may not yet have a book out or a long list of journal credits. Afritondo isn’t limited to “established” writers. Their previous shortlists have included people at very early stages in their careers, and a prize shortlisting can be that crucial line on your bio that starts opening doors.

2. Mid-career writers wanting a themed challenge
If you’ve written widely already, a tight theme like transition can push you out of your comfort zone. It is broad enough to cover almost anything, but specific enough to demand intention.

3. Diaspora writers grappling with movement and identity
Few themes fit diaspora life as perfectly as transition. You can write about moving countries, code-switching, or the quieter transitions—like visiting “home” and realizing it no longer fits, or growing into a different person from the one your family thinks you are.

4. Writers who love the 3000–5000 word range
This is a decent length for serious character work. You have enough space to build a world without writing a novella. If your natural mode is layered, slow-burn storytelling, this prize format is ideal.

You’re a good fit if you’re willing to:

• Engage seriously with transition rather than slapping the word into a sentence.
• Take some risks with language, structure, or perspective.
• Polish your work down to the line level, because short story prizes are incredibly competitive and every sentence counts.

Writing to the Theme Transition without Being Obvious

A lot of writers will go for predictable interpretations of transition: puberty, moving house, starting university. There’s nothing wrong with those, but you’ll need a fresh angle.

Think about transition at different scales:

• Personal: a marriage that is quietly dying; someone leaving a religion; a body recovering after illness; a gender transition handled with nuance rather than cliché.
• Family: a matriarch losing power, a blended family trying to work out new hierarchies, a child watching their parents age in real time.
• Societal: an election shifting a country from dictatorship to uneasy democracy; a mining town shifting to tourism; a village adjusting to the arrival of the internet.
• Technological or environmental: a rural community dealing with drought, a city sinking as sea levels rise, a worker replaced by automation.
• Spiritual or psychological: someone in therapy trying to unlearn what they were raised with; a character slowly accepting a painful truth.

The editors are not asking for abstracts about “change.” They want stories, grounded in believable people, specific places, and strong scenes. Ask yourself:

• What exactly is changing?
• Who benefits?
• Who loses something?
• What does the character misunderstand about the transition at the start?
• By the end, what have they learned—or refused to learn?

If a stranger can summarize your story as “he went to university and matured,” you haven’t gone far enough. Push deeper.

Insider Tips for a Winning Afritondo Application

This is a competitive prize. Expect hundreds of entries. Here are concrete ways to lift your story above the middle of the pile.

1. Start with a striking opening, not a slow warmup

Your first paragraph is not an introduction; it’s a handshake and a promise. Avoid opening with weather, routine, or an info dump. Instead, drop us into an image, a line of dialogue, or a small crisis that hints at the bigger transition.

For example, compare:

• “John woke up early on Monday, as he always did.”
  versus
• “By the time John remembered his old name, the immigration officer had already stamped the wrong one.”

Same character, wildly different energy.

2. Make the theme integral, not decorative

Judges can spot stories where the theme was sprinkled on at the end. You should be able to answer, clearly: if I remove the idea of transition, does this story collapse? If the answer is no, the theme isn’t central enough.

Let the transition drive the tension. A job loss, a coup, a breakup, a birth—whatever it is, it should shape decisions, relationships, and stakes.

3. Go beyond English that sounds “neutral”

English carries power and history, especially for Black and African writers. Don’t feel pressured to mimic some bland, “international” style if your characters would never speak or think like that.

Use rhythm, idiom, and code-switching where it feels natural. Just make sure the reader can follow. You can communicate context through action and reaction instead of long explanations.

4. Keep your cast lean and your focus sharp

At 3000–5000 words, you don’t have space for a full village and their cousins. Limit yourself to a few key characters and stay close to them. Often, sticking to one main point of view creates a cleaner, more emotionally satisfying story.

5. Edit like the prize depends on it (because it does)

Once your draft is done, you’re only halfway there. Print it or change the font to trick your brain into seeing it fresh. Cut adverbs. Remove sentences that repeat information. Check dialogue tags. Make sure every scene either moves the plot or deepens character. If it does neither, it’s dead weight.

Get at least one trusted reader to critique it. Not someone who will just say “I love it,” but someone who will say, “I got confused here,” or “the ending feels rushed.”

6. Nail the ending without preaching

Afritondo’s description mentions wanting stories that leave them thinking for days. That doesn’t mean you need a twist. It means the final moments should feel earned.

Avoid explaining your theme in the last paragraph. End on an image, a small decision, or a line that resonates because of everything that came before. The reader will feel the weight of the transition without you spelling it out.

Application Timeline: Working Backward from December 23, 2025

Here’s a realistic schedule if you want to submit something you’re proud of, not a rushed draft.

By end of August – Early September 2025
Come up with 2–3 story ideas about transition. Free-write a page on each without judging. Pick the one that feels alive, even if it scares you.

September – October 2025
Write your first full draft. Don’t worry about word count perfection or polish yet—just get from beginning to end. Aim for 3500–5500 words; you can trim later.

Early November 2025
Let the draft sit for at least a week, then revise. Focus on structure: does the story start in the right place? Is there a clear change by the end? Is the theme central?

Mid to Late November 2025
Share the revised draft with one or two trusted readers—ideally people who read short fiction regularly. Ask them:

• Were you ever bored or confused?
• What stuck with you after reading?
• Did the ending satisfy you?

Revise again based on this feedback.

Early December 2025
Do a final pass focused on language and formatting: line edits, grammar, word choice, and making sure you’re within the 3000–5000 word limit. Format according to Afritondo’s requirements.

By December 18–20, 2025
Submit your story. Don’t dance with the deadline. Technical issues happen, and you don’t want to be the person locked out at the last minute.

Required Materials and How to Prepare Them

The beauty of this prize is its simplicity. You mostly need one thing: an excellent short story. But you must present it correctly.

Your submission file should:

• Be in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).
• Use double spacing for easier reading.
• Use 12-point Times New Roman or Calibri font.
• Have the story title at the top of the first page, followed immediately by the word count.
• Not include your name or any personal details inside the document (they usually want blind reading).
• Have page numbers on every page.

A clean, professional file tells the judges you respect their time. Don’t sabotage a strong story with sloppy formatting.

You’ll likely also need to:

• Provide your name, contact details, and a short bio in the submission form (not in the story file).
• Confirm you are eligible (Black or African, original work, not previously published, etc.).

Double-check the official page for any extra requirements like entry fees, simultaneous submission rules, or rights after publication. These can change from year to year.

What Makes an Afritondo Application Stand Out

Judges won’t publish a scorecard, but based on how fiction prizes typically work (and from Afritondo’s own description), your story will likely be informally assessed on:

1. Engagement with the theme
Does your story genuinely wrestle with transition, or could the plot exist with almost no adjustment if the theme were something else? Strong entries make transition the backbone of the story, not a decorative scarf.

2. Originality of idea and approach
Are you giving the judges a story they haven’t already read ten times in one sitting? That doesn’t mean you must invent a new genre. It means you bring a fresh voice, setting, or angle—even to familiar scenarios.

3. Emotional impact
Does the story make the reader feel something real: dread, tenderness, anger, recognition, surprise? Flat stories, even stylish ones, rarely win.

4. Control of craft
Is the pacing confident? Is the point of view consistent? Is the dialogue believable? Are scenes vivid without being bloated with description? Judges respect stories that show clear command of the form.

5. Language and style
Afritondo specifically says they want stories that take risks with language. That doesn’t mean you must be experimental, but your prose should feel alive. Avoid generic phrasing. Aim for sentences that carry rhythm and precision, not just functionality.

If your story scores well on those five fronts, you’re in serious contention.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Plenty of decent stories never make it past the first round because of avoidable errors. Don’t be that story.

1. Ignoring the word limit
3000–5000 words means exactly that. A 2500-word fragment or a 7000-word novella will probably be disqualified or read with irritation. Trim or expand until you’re comfortably in range.

2. Vague connection to the theme
A story where you toss in “it was a time of great transition” in one paragraph won’t cut it. Judges are reading with the theme front of mind. Make sure your narrative rises naturally from a change or transformation.

3. Over-explaining or moralizing
Trust your reader. If you spend the last page lecturing about the meaning of change, you’ll kill the magic. Let the story show the cost and impact of transition through action and consequence.

4. Flat, generic settings
If your story is set in Lagos, Kingston, Nairobi, Johannesburg, or Atlanta, let it feel like those places. You don’t need paragraphs of description, but a few specific details—a bus stop, a street snack, a way of greeting—can root the story firmly.

5. Rushing the ending
Many writers invest all their attention into the opening, then slam the door shut when they hit the word limit. Give your ending time. You don’t need a neatly tied bow, but you do need a sense of completion or deliberate incompletion.

6. Submitting a first draft
You can always tell. Typos, inconsistencies, scenes that contradict earlier information—these are bright red flags. Build in time for at least two rounds of revision.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I have to live in Africa to apply?
No. As long as you are Black or African, you can live anywhere: on the continent, in the Caribbean, in Europe, the Americas, Asia—wherever. This is about identity and heritage, not location.

2. Can I submit more than one story?
The call text here doesn’t say, but most short story prizes allow one entry per writer. Check the official page to confirm. Even if multiple entries were allowed, you’re better off sending one exceptional story than two mediocre ones.

3. Can my story be co-written with someone else?
Most fiction prizes focus on single authorship. If you have a co-written piece, read the official rules carefully. If they don’t mention collaborative entries, assume one writer per story is the safest bet.

4. Can I submit a story that has been previously published on my blog or Wattpad?
Many prizes require unpublished work, and they often count online posts as publication. Unless Afritondo explicitly says reprints are allowed, you should submit a new, unpublished story.

5. May I send a story that is also under consideration elsewhere?
This is the classic “simultaneous submission” question. Some prizes forbid it, others don’t mind as long as you withdraw if the story is accepted elsewhere. Check Afritondo’s guidelines carefully. If simultaneous submissions are banned, respect that.

6. What exactly does “Black and African writers” mean?
Afritondo uses inclusive language. Typically, this would cover:

• People of African descent living anywhere in the world.
• Black people from the Caribbean, the Americas, Europe, etc.
  If you’re unsure whether you qualify, look for clarification on their site or contact them. But don’t overcomplicate it: if you identify as Black or African, this prize is likely designed for you.

7. Will I get feedback on my story?
Most prizes do not offer individual feedback because of the volume of entries. Assume the answer is no unless they clearly promise otherwise. Your consolation prize for not winning will be having a polished story you can submit to magazines and journals.

8. What happens to my rights if I win or get shortlisted?
Usually, a prize will ask for rights to publish your story in an anthology or on their site, sometimes with non-exclusive rights afterward. Always read the rights clause on the official page. Understand where and how your work can be reprinted later.

How to Apply

Ready to put your story about transition into the world? Here’s how to move from intention to submission.

1. Write and revise your story
   Make sure it:

• Runs 3000–5000 words.
• Engages deeply with transition.
• Is written in English.
• Has been thoroughly edited for clarity, structure, and style.

2. Format it correctly
   Open your document and:

• Set font to Times New Roman or Calibri, 12 pt.
• Make the document double-spaced.
• Put your title at the top of the first page, followed immediately by the word count.
• Number every page.
• Remove your name and any identifying information from the document itself.

3. Prepare your details
   You’ll likely need to provide a short bio, email address, and maybe confirm your identity category (Black/African). Have those ready.

4. Submit via the official portal
   Head to the Afritondo submission page here:

Ready to apply? Visit the official opportunity page:
https://app.dapplehq.com/submit/cmg5l4r480020la04hioy1sal

Follow the instructions on the site carefully, upload your Word document, and complete any required fields.

5. Confirm and keep records
   After submitting, check for a confirmation email or on-screen message. Save your final story file and any confirmation details—it helps later if there are questions.

Bottom line: If you are a Black or African writer with something urgent to say about change—personal, political, spiritual, or otherwise—the Afritondo Short Story Prize 2026 is one of the most interesting, writer-respecting competitions you can enter this year.

Give your story the time, seriousness, and polish it deserves, and send it in before December 23, 2025. The worst that can happen is you come out with a strong story ready for other venues. The best? Your work joins a growing constellation of Black and African voices read around the world—and you get paid for it.