The international Margery Allingham Short Mystery Prize is a competition open to all – both published and unpublished authors from all over the world – and is for short stories written in English of up to 3,500 words. All that we ask is that: the story was originally written in English; has not been previously published anywhere; has not been shortlisted for this competition; or won any other competition.
Please follow Margery’s definition of a mystery to be in with the best of chance of winning the prize.
“The Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it.”
The way a submitted story matches this definition is awarded greater weighting in the scoring than any other criteria.
Entries are submitted via our shop and cost £25.
