The Caine Prize organisers have upheld the $13,000 award conferred on Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza after finding no evidence of artificial intelligence in his winning story, The Blue Fighter.

“From our detailed investigation, we feel the evidence is clear: The Blue Fighter was human-written,” Ellah Wakatama, chair of the Caine Prize’s board of trustees, said in a video message.

The Atlantic reporter Vauhini Vara wrote an article, ‘Yet Another Literary Prizewinner Seems To Be AI’, alleging the entire story was AI-generated after running the text through Pangram, an AI-detection software.

According to the publication, only the epigraph was not AI-generated. Ms Vara relied solely on the software to make her claim.

But the Caine Prize took a human-centred approach, reviewing the story through the lens of the 2026 judging panel and analysing four separate drafts before it was submitted for publication.

“We chose to take a human-centred approach to the investigation. Our review included interviews with the author, the 2026 judging panel, and the Shallow Tales Review, where the story was first published,” Ms Wakatama said. “It also included independent and expert-led metadata analysis of drafts written by the author.”

The Caine Prize investigation showed that 27 hours of writing and editing went into the story, which had four separate drafts before the final draft was submitted for publishing.

“Separate word documents were created as drafts before final submission took place, which constituted up to 27 hours of writing/editing,” findings by the award organisers showed.

“The review found no evidence that the story was produced using generative AI,” Caine Prize said in a statement on Wednesday. “AI detection tools alone are not a reliable basis for determining authorship.”

“Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza remains the winner of the 2026 Caine Prize,” the board of trustees said. “The board considers the matter closed.”

The board said it will ensure future award applicants sign declaration forms disavowing use of generative AI in their story submissions.