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First: Ring Pull by Hannah Persaud Second: Hand-Delivered by Julia Anderson Third: Momma by Rob McInroy Click on the titles to read the three winning stories Highly Commended: Needs Must by Anne Wilson
Judge’s Report for the first quarter’s competition 2019 from Kevlin Henney We live in an era of recommendation algorithms. Our viewing, culinary and literary preferences are satisfied by more of what we already like, or more of what other people who like the same things as us like. This is automated, comfortable and hits the spot. Mostly. What has been optimised away is serendipity, the luck of dipping beyond your comfort zone, beyond the expected and known. Writing competitions are, in this sense, anti-algorithmic. They zig where you might otherwise have zagged. They surprise you, showing you what else there is and might be. This has been one of the joys of judging this competition. The shortlisted entries have taken me on journeys through points of view, tenses, genres and storytelling formats, all within 500 words. Journeys into the heart, journeys out the other side, journeys into death and beyond. Intense. Exhausting. Exhilarating. And much as I want to share all of these journeys with you, even serendipity has constraints, and a selection must be made. Well done to everyone who made the shortlist, and congratulations to the winners.
1st: Ring Pull This story touches the third rail of a grinding and understated but very real experience, displaying it in sharper relief through a surreal frame.
2nd: Hand-Delivered The voice of this story is strong, perfectly revealing back story, humour and character with every self-deprecating paragraph.
3rd: Momma A story with an edge that starts in simple, plain-spoken sentiment but cuts progressively deeper with each sawing sentence.
Highly Commended: Needs Must A complete story told ingeniously and effectively through dialogue fragments, without ever hearing the voice of the protagonist, a kind of anti-first person narrative.
We regularly receive several hundred entries each quarter, so those making the long and short lists should feel very proud.
Short Listed Entries for the First Quarter 2019 — in alphabetical order
All in a Day’s Work by Cath Waterhouse An Angel in the Road by Gaynor Jones Elizabeth is Feeling… by Sandra Crook Email to all Staff by Lorna Stewart Grim Up North by Andy Walsh Half-life by Jamie D Stacey Hand-Delivered by Julia Anderson I Have News of Your Career Plan and Mine by Shannon Savvas Last, Best Hope in a Shade of Orange by Taria Karillion Liberty, Equality and Sisterhood by Diana Armstrong Momma by Rob McInroy Mother’s Day by Dreena Collins Needs Must by Anne Wilson New York, New York by Lucy Goldring Raging River by Sue Wise Ring Pull by Hannah Persaud Roget’s Meaning of Life by Sherri Turner Spine Stiffened by Sharon Boyle The Bridge on a Rainy Tuesday Night by Kathy Derrick The Devil's Handiwork by Tania Kremer-Yeatman The Extraordinary Coda of Rosemary Finn by Taria Karillion The Price Exacted by Otters by Barbara Young The Squirrel House is Not Full of Nuts by Sherry Morris Three Minutes Forty Eight Seconds by Leonie Harrison When I am Lost by Tin Stanton
Long Listed Entries for the First Quarter 2019 — in alphabetical order
A Tweet Too Far by Ann Dubaic All in a Day’s Work by Cath Waterhouse An Angel in the Road by Gaynor Jones An Open Invitation by Kathy Derrick Attonement by Julia Hartnett Captain Club Milk by Conor Montague Definitive Signs of a Couple in Love According to Andria’s copy of Modern Woman Magazine by Shannon Savvas Disposal by Chipper Jones Elizabeth is Feeling… by Sandra Crook Email to all Staff by Lorna Stewart Five Minutes More by Jane Broughton Grim Up North by Andy Walsh Half-life by Jamie D Stacey Hand-Delivered by Julia Anderson Heat by Taria Karillion I Have News of Your Career Plan and Mine by Shannon Savvas Joint Custody by Susan Eve Haar Last, Best Hope in a Shade of Orange by Taria Karillion Liberty, Equality and Sisterhood by Diana Armstrong Looking for Nefertiti by Pamela Gough Man by Jamie D Stacey Masculinities by Adam Lock Momma by Rob McInroy Mommy Teatime by Monica Jimenez Mother’s Day by Dreena Collins Needs Must by Anne Wilson New York, New York by Lucy Goldring On One Condition by Stephen Lorriman Orange World by PJ Stephenson Raging River by Sue Wise Ring Pull by Hannah Persaud Roget’s Meaning of Life by Sherri Turner She Looked at Me on the Tube Again Today by PJ Stephenson Spine Stiffened by Sharon Boyle TFW by Sherry Morris The Bridge on a Rainy Tuesday Night by Kathy Derrick The Devil's Handiwork by Tania Kremer-Yeatman The Extraordinary Coda of Rosemary Finn by Taria Karillion The Harvest by Joe Eurell The Price Exacted by Otters by Barbara Young The Squirrel House is Not Full of Nuts by Sherry Morris The Tribute by Edwina Jones There Ain't No Such Thing as Ghosts by R. V.Graves Three Minutes Forty Eight Seconds by Leonie Harrison When I am Lost by Tin Stanton
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