2020 Commonwealth Short Story Competition: Innocent Chizaram Ilo Emerges Regional Winner for Africa.

Congratulations to Innocent Chizaram Ilo who emerged regional winner for Africa at the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. Ilo is not new to the literary scene as his works interrogate gender, class, memory, and sexuality and have been published in literary magazines across four continents. 

A finalist of the Gerald Kraak Award, Short Story Day Africa, and Wilbur Smith Author Of Tomorrow prizes. He also won the Africa YMCA and Oxford Festival of the Arts short story contests. His works have been published in Fireside Magazine, Overland, Strange Horizons, Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores, Cast Of Wonders, Transcendent 4: Best Of The Year Transgender Speculative Fiction Anthology, Short Story Day ID Anthology, and Heart Of The Matter: Gerald Kraak Award Anthology.

The Chair of the judges, Ghanaian writer and editor Nii Ayikwei Parkes had this to say about the 2020 entries.

 ‘I don’t believe there is a perfect story; there are great stories, but no perfect stories. What is amazing is what happens when a story encounters a ready reader or listener – that moment is magic. That connection is never the same for any two people or for any two moments and that’s why I love judging competitions: I get to talk about stories with other people who love stories, but it’s completely unpredictable. We now have a list of regional winning stories that are striking for their lateral leaps, their use of language, voice and subversion – and their sheer courage. I look forward to the discussions with my fellow judges to pick an overall winner. I guarantee that it will be a story that moves people, but I don’t know which one it will be.’

Asides Nii on the 2020 judging panel are: South African writer and musician Mohale Mashigo, Executive Director of the Singapore Books Council William Phuan, Canadian author Heather O’Neill, Trinidadian scholar and writer Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw and Australian writer and arts organiser Nic Low.

The five regional winners’ stories will be published online by Granta magazine upon the announcement of the overall winner on the 30th of June 2020.

If you would like to enter the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, it will open for submissions on 1 September and close for submissions on 1 November 2020.