Beginning in 2012, Commonwealth Foundation discontinued its previous awards and created a new cultural initiative called Commonwealth Writers, which offered two new awards: the Commonwealth Book Prize for the best first book, in which regional winners received £2,500 and the overall winner received £10,000;[1] and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the best short stories, in which regional winners received £1,000 and the overall winner received £5,000.
The Short Story Prize remains the sole award from Commonwealth Writers.
Awarded for best first book, the Commonwealth Book Prize was established in 2012 for writers who were Commonwealth citizens aged 18 or over and who have had their first novel (full-length work of fiction) published in the year of entry.
[2] The Commonwealth Short Story Competition was an annual literary award.
Each year, prizes for Best Book (1987–2011) and Best First Book (1989–2011) were awarded in four regions: Africa, Caribbean and Canada, South Asia and Europe and South East Asia and Pacific.