Vancouver writers Idrissa Simmonds and Jack Wang have made the shortlist for the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The award honours unpublished fiction by writers from the 53 Commonwealth countries. Simmonds and Wang are among five nominees on the Canada and Europe regional shortlist, along with U.K. writers Tracy Fells, Lucy Caldwell, and Luiza Sauma.

Wang, an associate professor of writing at Ithaca College in New York, is nominated for “The Night of Broken Glass.” Wang’s fiction has appeared in Joyland Magazine and, along with his twin brother, is the co-author of the children’s board book series Cozy Classics published by Simply Read Books.

Simmonds, a writer and educator, is nominated for “On The Other Side.” Simmonds is the 2013 winner of the Crab Creek Review Poetry Award. In 2005, she founded and co-edited We Have a Voice: An Anthology of African and Caribbean Student Writing.

Regional winners from Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific will be announced on May 14 and each receive £2,500. An overall winner, to be announced June 14 in Kampala, Uganda,will receive £5,000.