A couple recovering from a car accident struggle to learn how to live together in the country of their birth...

An outsider looking for an apartment in an authentic part of Jerusalem finds the bareness of a new flat suddenly overwhelming...

A Parks and Gardens employee adapts to the unwanted company of a teenage temp worker, while grappling with her own private failings...

The stories shortlisted for the 2025 BBC National Short Story Award all feature characters struggling to adjust to new lives, burdened by past relationships as well as by outgrown versions of oneself. Yet within these stories are also moments of hope, humour and defiance that remind us: our narratives are ours to write.

Established in 2005, the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University was originally established to highlight a literary genre regarded as undervalued and under threat. Its aim was to recognise and celebrate the very best writers of short fiction who had no prize equivalent to major literary awards like the Man Booker Prize. 19 years on, the short story is in robust health and the BBC National Short Story Award is recognised as the most prestigious for a single short story with the winning writer receiving £15,000 and the four shortlisted writers £600 each.