The National Short Story Prize is a major annual award designed to honour Britain's finest short story writers and to re-establish the importance of the short story as a central literary form. It is part of a wider campaign to build the profile, prestige and presence of the short story in our culture after many years of neglect. The panel of judges includes authors Monica Ali and A S Byatt, Radio 4 commissioning editor Di Speirs, writer and broadcaster Mark Lawson, and Prospect commissioning editor Alexander Linklater, who also introduces the collection.