Media specialist to host 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize awards  

When the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize goes live across 54 countries on the evening of June 30 it will be hosted by Stacy-Ann Smith, a Jamaican communications and media specialist.

The prize, run by the London-based Commonwealth Foundation, is an annual competition open to writers from across the Commonwealth of Nations. Smith, an award-winning writer and published author, is the second Jamaican in recent years to host the online ceremony.

“For me this is such an honour for multiple reasons. It’s a proud moment when you’re asked to step on a global platform, but it’s also a kind of full circle moment for me. I entered the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2022, and my story actually made it to the longlist – the top 200 stories from more than 6,000 writers who entered that year. I didn’t make it to the shortlist, but as far as I was concerned, I was already a winner. The Short Story Prize really boosted my confidence as a writer. It was validation. It was the push I needed to enter other competitions, where my work was also recognised,” said Smith, who published her memoir Time Does Not Heal in 2021.

Now, chief strategist and creative force behind her communications consultancy, Danrak Productions, Smith describes her collaboration with the Commonwealth Foundation as a dream realised.

“Imagine me, a little Jamaican girl from Maverley hosting an event that will be seen in more than 50 countries, celebrating brilliant writers in this amazing competition! It’s just remarkable. My one regret is that Daddy Carl isn’t here to see this,” she said, referring to her father, who died in 2019.

Now in its 14th year, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize continues to create opportunities for writers worldwide to showcase their craft. Designed for unpublished short fiction, it is open to citizens of Commonwealth member states aged 18 and over. Each year, results are released in stages: first a shortlist, then regional winners from Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, and finally the overall winner, announced during the awards ceremony. This year just over 7,800 submissions were received. Alongside global recognition and prize money, winners see their stories published.

“What’s amazing about this competition is just how very international it is. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize receives entries in more than 12 languages including Creole, Malay, Bengali, Tamil, Maltese and Swahili. They engage an army of readers and translators led by a very elite panel of judges, so when you make it to the longlist, the shortlist or emerge as a regional winner, you know that you’re among the best in the world,” Smith added.

Behind the scenes, the British organisation has again turned to Jamaican talent for production. Just Create, led by its chief executive officer, Damion Brown, handled video production for the online ceremony, its second such collaboration with the foundation in recent years. The company previously worked on the 2023 ceremony, hosted by award-winning journalist, attorney and podcaster Dionne Jackson-Miller, the same year Jamaican writer Kwame McPherson was named overall winner.