I’ve been musing recently on writing competitions. I’ve entered a selection over the years, and been lucky enough to be short-listed, long-listed, and even to win prizes. I’d recommend anyone getting serious about their writing to enter their work. Sticking to a word count is a great goal, as is the need to edit rigorously and to meet a competition deadline. The bonus? Many short story competitions not only raise your profile, should you be listed, but also publish great-looking anthologies. Having your work read, judged and taken seriously, particularly if the final judges are literary agents or published writers, is a real confidence booster. And if you don’t succeed? There are many competitions out there, so try, try and try again …
3rd Prize Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize 2019
The Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize 2019 anthology available to buy @ £8 from the bookshop
I was thrilled to be awarded 3rd Prize for the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize 2019, awarded at the launch of the anthology on 21st November 2019. Most of the 12 long listed short story writers were present, as well as the writer, bookseller and project manager of the prize, Kate Ellis, and the bookshop owner, Denise Jones. We were joined by two of the judges: literary agent Emma Paterson of Aitken Alexander Associates and Kit Caless of Influx Press. The third judge was the writer Zoe Gilbert. Many congratulations to 1st Prize winner James Mitchell and 2nd Prize winner Rosanna Hildyard! It was really great to hear so many writers read an extract from their short stories. The other writers included in the anthology are: Holly Barratt, Emily Bullock, Ellen Hardy, Kerry Hood, Isha Karki, Melody Razak, T. Schroeder, Toby Wallis, and Sylvia Warren.
From left: Kate Ellis, Judith Wilson, James Mitchell, Rosanna Hildyard and Denise Jones
My short story, ‘Hot Butter on Repeat’, was inspired by the landscape of 1970s Liverpool, where I grew up. I’m often drawn back to Liverpool in my short stories. And the track that features in it - ‘Popcorn’ by Hot Butter, released in 1972 - is most definitely worth a listen!
‘Hot Butter on Repeat’ was inspired by 1970s Liverpool
The Brick Lane Bookshop at 166 Brick Lane London E1 6RU www.bricklanebookshop.org
This was the inaugural Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize 2019, and - with 463 entries - I felt very lucky to have my story included in the anthology (and it’s a very beautiful anthology). So thanks again to the organisers and judges, congratulations to the other writers - and now - please buy the book to discover 12 new writers! You can order it for £8 here …
1st Prize Winning Story Published in Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts
I was thrilled last August 2017, when I received an email from the American writer, Lorian Hemingway, telling me that I'd won the American Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition 2017. My story, Welcome to Legoland, had been picked from over 600 international entries and to hear this was such a wonderful boost. As well as winning the prize, an additional bonus was that Welcome to Legoland would be published in Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts. Cutthroat is an internationally recognised literary journal published in the USA: its Editor-in-Chief is Pamela Uschuk. The Spring 2018 issue is now out - and after winging its way across the Atlantic (thank you, Lorian, for taking the time and trouble) - I have received several copies and here it is!
Welcome to Legoland is a story dear to my heart, because it is set in Liverpool in the 1970s, the place and time where I grew up. I wanted to capture the raw industrial mood of the city, as it was then, contrasted with the mature, mellow environs of Liverpool University, where my father taught. I hope I've succeeded. Narrated by a university student about the stranger teenage boy she meets on the avant-garde Southgate Housing Estate in Runcorn New Town, the story explores grief and architecture and a brief encounter between two lost individuals. It was created as a side-step from the novel I'm completing, which is also set in Liverpool. As writers, to take a breather, we're often encouraged to meet our characters in a different place, outside the timeline of the novel, and this is what I did one day. Adrian, the stranger, was the result.
So, a big thank you both to Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, and to Lorian Hemingway, who is such a generous and encouraging author, for giving my story a chance to meet the world. And if you get to read Welcome to Legoland - I hope you enjoy it.