The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature

The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is an annual award for literary books by Caribbean writers, first presented in 2011. Books are judged in three categories: poetry; fiction — both novels and collections of short stories; and literary nonfiction — including books of essays, biography and autobiography, history, current affairs, travel, and other genres, which demonstrate literary qualities and use literary techniques, regardless of subject matter.

There is a panel of three judges for each genre category, who determine category shortlists and winners.

The three category winners are then judged by a panel of four judges — consisting of the chairs of the category panels and the prize chair — who determine the overall winner.

The author of the book judged the overall winner will receive an award of US$10,000. The other category winners will receive US$3,000

To be eligible for entry for the 2025 prize, a book must:

1. Have been first published in the calendar year 2024 (1 January to 31 December);
2. Have been written by a single author who either holds Caribbean citizenship or was born in the Caribbean (this must be verified by the publisher), regardless of current place of residence;
3. Have been written by an author who is living on 31 December, 2024;
4. Have been written and first published in English originally (i.e. translations are not eligible);
5. Be a new work, previously unpublished in book form (though collections including poems, stories, essays, or other short pieces that have individually appeared in print in periodicals or anthologies are eligible).

 

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Enquiries about submissions should be directed to Bocas Lit Fest. Please always refer to their website for complete details and information. 

Please note, this call is run by Bocas Lit Fest, not the Commonwealth Foundation