The Umeå Short Story Award was started 2007 as part of Umeå's candidacy for European Capital of Culture. Since then, the annual competition has acquired national status in Sweden, the number of entries has increased each year and a cooperation with Umeå's international literary festival, Littfest, has begun. A jury awards SEK 100 000 in prize money each year. The winners in the past few years have shared SEK 60 000, four second-prize winners have received SEK 10 000 each. The five best short stories are published each year in an anthology.
The competition is intended for those who write in Swedish and the entries cannot have been published previously. The short stories are submitted anonymously and the names of the authors are unknown to the jury until the winners are selected.
