The Sunday Times has launched a prestigious new annual literary prize:
The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.

Entrants must have been previously published in the UK or Ireland. The winner will receive £25,000, making this competition the largest prize for an individual short story in the world, according to the promoters.
There are prizes of £500 each for the five runners up. Entries must be to a maximum length of 7,000 words. The author must include a list of his or her most recently published work including the publisher, date of publication and ISBN or ISSN.

The winner will be announced at a special event at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival in March next year.
The Sunday Times has been running a series of commissioned short stories in its magazine supplement for some time.

Closing date for entries is November 30, 2009.
Full details at The Times.