THE MOTH SHORT STORY PRIZE 2025 IS OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS

The Moth Short Story Prize is an international prize, open to anyone from anywhere in the world, as long as their story is original and previously unpublished. The winners are chosen by a single judge each year, who reads the stories anonymously. 

 

Previous judges include Ottessa Moshfegh, Kevin Barry, Mark Haddon, Ali Smith and Sarah Hall.

 

 

THE PRIZES

1st prize €3,000

2nd prize a week at Circle of Misse plus open travel stipend

3rd prize €1,000

THE 2025 JUDGE

Evie Wyld is the award-winning author of four novels and one graphic novel. She has won the Betty Trask Prize, Miles Franklin Literary Award, John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the European Union Prize for Literature. In 2013 she was named as one of Granta‘s Best of Young British Novelists. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and runs Review, an independent bookshop in Peckham, south London.

 

‘One of our most gifted young writers.’ Observer

  

TESTIMONIALS

‘The Moth Short Story Prize is hugely important to me. Short stories give writers and readers the opportunity to experiment with all kinds of approaches and effects that might not work over the sustained length of a novel, and sometimes to talk about things that we might not be able to approach in any other way. The Moth is a fantastic champion of that.’

Owen Booth

‘The sheer joy of knowing my lines have landed is such a source of light in the writing life, and never stops feeling like a miracle … I’m so intensely grateful to The Moth!’ Tracey Slaughter

 

‘This seal of approval is superglue for the sanity! I am mighty grateful.’ Caoilinn Hughes

‘A total pleasure judging this. This was an exceptional set of stories.’ Ali Smith

 

‘To see my story in a publication that has done as much for writers as The Moth is the most 

astounding and unexpected affirmation I could have imagined.’ Conor Crummey

 

HOW TO ENTER

The Prize is open to anyone over 16, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished.

There is a word limit of 3,000.

The entry fee is €15 per story. 

 

You can enter online or send your story along with a cheque or postal order made payable to ‘The Moth Magazine Ltd.’ with an entry form or a cover letter with your name and contact details and the title of your story (or stories) attached to: The Moth, Ardan Grange, Milltown, Belturbet, Co. Cavan, Ireland H14 K768. 

Please note: If you are at all concerned about the formatting of your story online, please send a copy of the story (or stories) in a word doc to enquiries@themothmagazine.com, along with your entry number. Please stipulate if you have not used the online system and send payment directly via PayPal to enquiries@themothmagazine.com. 

Please remember to read the rules of the competition before you enter.

 

If you would like to be notified of the results, please sign up to our newsletter here. 

 

CLOSING DATE 30 JUNE 2025

The winners will be announced in August 2025.

 

The winning story will be printed as part of the summer fiction series in the Irish Times, while the 2^nd and 3^rd-prize-winning stories will be published in the Irish Times online.