Entries open for 2026 Woordfees Short Story Competition – you might win R30 000

It is time for the eleventh competition of the Stellenbosch Woordfees Short Story Anthology.

This collection has become a literary institution and “serves as a kind of yearbook with which Afrikaans writers reflect something of the spirit of the times with each harvest of short stories,” says Saartjie Botha, director of the Stellenbosch Woordfees.

Previous winners include the award-winning Lynthia Julius, as well as writers Michèle Meyer, Clari Niemand, and Hendie Grobbelaar, whose winning stories have each been adapted into Silwerskermfees short films. Tarina Jordaan won the 2025 competition.

“Since our tenth anthology was published in October, we are, in a sense, beginning a new cycle with the 2026 Woordfees Anthology Competition. Over the past decade, we have evaluated 2 829 stories, of which 239 were published. We have seen the anthology go from strength to strength with entries of outstanding quality. With this competition, we want to encourage all writers anew to share your wonderful stories with us,” says Suzette Myburgh, convener of the judging panel.”

The author of the winning story will receive a prize of R30 000. The rest of the writers included in the anthology will each receive R5 000.

Writers whose stories are selected for the anthology will be announced in the media during July 2026. The winning story will only be announced during the launch of the book at the 26th Stellenbosch Woordfees in 2026.

The anthology will, as usual, have the year’s festival theme as its title, but the festival theme will only be announced in 2026. However, writers participating in the competition do not need to consider the festival theme at all and can write about whatever they want.

Competition rules and guidelines for submissions:

Only short stories in Afrikaans will be taken into consideration.
The competition is open to all writers. Prize money is payable in ZAR only, and copies will only be sent domestically by courier.
Employees and family members of the Stellenbosch Woordfees are not allowed to participate.
Only one entry per writer is allowed. The story must be a minimum of 1 500 words long, with a maximum of 3 000 words.
Stories must be newly written and the writer’s own original work, not the product of an AI programme like ChatGPT. They must also not have been previously published on any platform.
The copyright of the stories remains with the authors, but the copyright of the collection is held by the Stellenbosch Woordfees. If stories that appear in the collection are later published elsewhere, this must be done with written notification to the Stellenbosch Woordfees as well as full acknowledgment upon publication.
Judging is done anonymously. The name of the writer as well as contact details must be completed on the online application form. Only the title of the story must appear on the top of the story, not the name of the author, to ensure anonymous selection.
Stories must be presented in MS Word format and each page must be numbered and clearly display the title of the story. Use ONLY the title of the story as the title of the document. Please note: No PDFs will be accepted.
If the story contains any blatantly obvious references to the writer which will enable the reader to identify the writer, the story will be disqualified.
Stories will be edited before publication, with agreement of the writer.
There is no prescribed theme for the stories – writers are free to choose any theme they wish.
A maximum of 25 stories will be selected for the collection.

Closing date

The closing date for entries is at 17:00 on 1 April 2026. (And no, it’s not an April Fool’s joke.)

Entries received after 17:00 on 1 April 2026, will not be considered. Entries will be acknowledged upon receipt, but please note: only after 2 February 2026.

Click here for the online entry form and all the necessary information.