An ageing war veteran, living alone in the Australian outback, tries to spruce himself up for a rare, and nerve-wracking, family reunion…
A mother watches an intimate scene from a much-loved musical with her young daughter, the way she once watched it with her own mother…
After reporting a disturbance at home, a boy hides and waits for the police to arrive, not knowing if they’ll come in time…
The stories shortlisted for the 2026 BBC National Short Story Award are packed with small, intricate moments that unexpectedly reveal whole lifetimes of searching and struggle. A woman finds an injured slow worm in her lawn and watches as its mate returns to comfort it. A coastal rower climbs out of her boat, endangering herself and her crew, just to hear the sound of a minke whale singing beneath them. For all their attempts to define themselves as solitary and self-reliant, modern and cynical, each of these characters gets caught off guard by a sudden chance to reconnect, a chance to start again from scratch.
Established in 2005, the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University was originally established to highlight a literary genre regarded as undervalued and under threat. Its aim was to recognise and celebrate the very best writers of short fiction who had no prize equivalent to major literary awards like the Man Booker Prize.
Listen: to all shortlisted stories, BBC Sounds