James Murua (Writing Africa) posted about a recent win by Trinidadian author Celeste Mohammed. Mohammed’s short story “Plenty Time” was declared the winner of the Hope Prize on Sunday, March 29, 2026. Bocas Lit Fest also announced that her story, along with the prize’s shortlisted stories will be published in a globally available anthology by Simon & Schuster Australia and 100% of the royalties will go to CAMFED – Campaign for Female Education. Mohammed will lead an upcoming Bocas–Jacaranda Short Story Intensive and a Writers First writer-development seminar entitled “Listening In” at the Bocas Lit Festival in May. Here are excerpts from Writing Africa.

The Hope Prize was established in Australia in 2016 and expanded into an international literary prize in 2023. The initiative presents both a literary award and an anthology drawn from previous entries.

In 2025, the prize received 2,501 submissions from writers in over 90 countries. The secretariat longlisted 81 stories, after which a team at @readingsbooks — an independent Australian bookseller — reviewed the longlist and selected a shortlist of 16. Those 16 stories were then submitted to a jury comprising Dame Quentin Bryce AC CVO, former Governor-General of Australia; Julia Gillard, Australia’s first female Prime Minister; Vee Kativhu, British-Zimbabwean education activist and author; Kathy Lette, celebrated novelist; Jane Curry, Managing Director of Simon & Schuster Australia; and Mark Rubbo OAM, founder of Readings.

The top three finishers were:

1. Plenty Time by Celeste Mohammed (Trinidad and Tobago) – AUD$10,000
2. Snow by Johann de Wall (South Africa) – AUD$2,000
3. Eleven Days and One Hour by Cate Kennedy (Australia) – AUD$1,000

Celeste Mohammed said on her win, “My cup, it overflows.”

These shortlisted stories will be available in a globally available anthology published by Simon and Schuster Australia.

For original post, see https://www.writingafrica.com/celeste-mohammed-wins-the-hope-prize-2025/

Also see https://www.bocaslitfest.com/