The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize was established in 1987, as a successor to the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. Each year, prizes for Best Book (1987–2011) and Best First Book (1989–2011) were awarded in four regions: Africa, Caribbean and Canada, South Asia and Europe and South East Asia and Pacific. Eight regional winners then competed for the pan-Commonwealth Best Book and Best First Book prizes, awarded at a public programme held in a different Commonwealth country each year.
The award was discontinued in 2011, when the Commonwealth Foundation launched a new cultural programme, Commonwealth Writers, which offered the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
