The third Guardian and 4th Estate BAME short story prize opens for entries today, offering writers a chance to win £1,000, an exclusive one‑day publishing workshop and a taste of online publication.

“To get some recognition as a new writer has made an unbelievable difference to me,” says last year’s winner, Lisa Smith, whose story Auld Lang Syne was published on the Guardian website. “Writing is exposing, so to have people from the literary world praise my work and reward it was a tremendous boost to my confidence.”

The prize is open to all black, Asian, minority ethnic writers aged 18 or over who are living in the UK or Ireland. My fellow judges are award-winning writer Reni Eddo-Lodge, journalist Sarah Shaffi, Mostly Lit podcast co-host Alex Reads, agent Elise Dillsworth and 4th Estate commissioning editor Anna Kelly. Entries of up to 6,000 words should be submitted by 1 June 2018 to 4thestate.co.uk/prize. The winner will be announced in September.