The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2012 is launched.

We are delighted to announce we are now accepting entries from publishers, agents and authors for the third Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award - the world’s richest short story prize.

The Award is open to authors with a previous record of publication in creative writing. Entries may be previously unpublished, or first published/scheduled for publication after 1 January 2011. All entries must be under 6,000 words and entirely original.

The judging panel for the 2012 Award will be announced on 25 September.

The winning author will receive £30,000 and the five runners-up £1,000 (an increase of £500 on last year’s Award). The longlist will be released on 19 February 2012, the shortlist will follow on 4 March and the winner will be announced at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on 30 March.

Last year’s winner was American author Anthony Doerr, for his story ‘The Deep’, which went on to be published in The Sunday Times Magazine and online (paywall)

Read more about this year's Award on the Sunday Times website

How to Enter

This year, for the first time, the Award is accepting electronic entries by email, as well as entries by post. For full details of eligibility and how to enter, please download the instructions, terms and conditions and entry form.

Download the 2012 instructions/terms and conditions (.pdf 84Kb) - right click/save as to your desktop

Download the 2012 entry form (.pdf 100Kb) - right click/save as to your desktop

The deadline for submissions is 10am on 28 October 2011.

If you have any queries, please contact hannah.davies@booktrust.org.uk or on 0208 516 2960.

About the Award

The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Award honours the finest writers of short stories in the UK and Ireland. Worth £30,000 to the winning author, it is open to anyone with a previous record of publication in creative writing. The inaugural Award was won in 2010 by New Zealand author C K Stead for his story ‘Last Season’s Man’ and 2011’s Award was taken by American writer Anthony Doerr for his story ‘The Deep’. The winner is announced at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival each spring.

The prize follows the success in The Sunday Times Magazine of a regular story slot which has attracted some of the most talented names in short-story writing.