Welcome to The Short Story competition!
The Short Story 2020 competition is postponed temporarily. Watch this space for more updates as and when life returns to a semblance of normal. Stay safe and well, one and all.
2019 Winners
I would like to say a huge thank you to all the contributors to The Short Story competition in 2019, and congratulations to the winners and honourable mentions. I would also like to thank my lovely readers, Ed Dadswell, Katherine Haw and Mila Steele, for their astute comments and for guiding me so well on all the longlisted stories. As with most years, it was a tough call to narrow it down but we have two well-deserved winners.
FIRST PRIZE: The Wonder in the Water by Sophie Lay (UK)
SECOND PRIZE: The Return of Williams B Arrensberg by Jeremy Galgut (UK)
Honourable mentions:
- Phaedra – Hazel Atkinson (UK)
- The Diary – Mark Reece (UK)
- The Vietnamese Pot Belly – Stephen Wade (Ireland)
Below are the reasons why I chose this year’s winning stories.
Spoiler alert: read the stories first as I tend to give a few things away in my comments.
The Wonder in the Water – First Prize
This is a touching story of a sister conflicted and bitter about her non-binary sibling. It was probably a first for all of us to read a piece of fiction with they/them. This does change how a character is imagined, and although at first it seemed to make it more ambiguous, it did in fact feel sharper.
Aside from that excellent introduction to something new, there is so much to love in this story. Accurately observed little gestures and actions that bring the interactions to life: slicing ginger into coins, the butter the mother steals from the university canteen for the family picnic, unsnagging the line on a reel. And then the jewel bits of stepping into water. So incisive into sibling relationships and family dynamics.
The element of emotional conflict set against a countryside/city divide was well done too. It was plausible and engaging, and we really felt the emotions of all involved bar perhaps the visiting sibling quite deeply. That perhaps is intentional as they chose to be more of an outsider in this close-knit family.
It’s hard to finish with a happy ending without it seeming a bit saccharine, yet this story achieves it well. There’s no guarantee the playful moment in the water will last, but for a few seconds all the anguish of identity and family conflict are extinguished, and they are like children again.
The Return of Williams B Arrensberg – Second Prize
This is a slow-paced story of remembrance, with some beautiful writing. There is also much unanswered in this tale and yet it still strongly reflects loss both on the father’s side as well as the children’s who are shielded from any kind of truths about their mother and father. Keeping the father slightly at arm’s length enhances his mystery and allure.
The child’s observations are subtle, elegant and well told. Even though he sees David as someone who is always around but a stranger, he still notices ‘the slim paperback thrillers of which he had an endless supply’. There are other wonderfully subtle touches such as the small fatherly gestures (the father pouring lots of milk into his young son’s coffee or stroking his sister’s cheek), and yet both children have largely been abandoned by their parents. How it unfolds as the child observes and challenges what has happened was exceptionally well executed.
There is a cinematic feel to this story, making it incredibly atmospheric. We were gripped all the way through, eager to find out what would happen next.
The final line is heartbreaking.
Longlist 2019
- A Hard Case by David Butler (Ireland)
- At the Eleventh Hour by Stewart Lowe (UK)
- Do You Want To Do This Here? by Carrie Sanders (USA/Scotland)
- Miracle Man by Barbara Leahy (Ireland)
- Night Out by Dominic Howell (UK)
- Phaedra by Hazel Atkinson (UK)
- Somnambulist by Lew Passmore (UK)
- The Afterlife by Jonathan Page (UK)
- The Diary by Mark Reece (UK)
- The Gift by Don Taylor (UK)
- The Return of Williams B Arrensberg by Jeremy Galgut (UK)
- The Smell of Guilt is Vinegar by Vicky MacKenzie (UK)
- The Vietnamese Pot Belly by Stephen Wade (Ireland)
- The Wonder in the Water by Sophie Lay (UK)
- Upset and Tranquillity by Mark Taylor (UK)
About The Short Story competition
Set up in 2011, The Short Story competition showcases the best short stories from around the world including winners such as Angela Readman, Zoe Gilbert, Niamh MacCabe, C.G. Menon, among others.
Two cash prizes are usually awarded:
First prize: £500
Second prize: £100
Winning stories are freely available on the Past Winners page, and may be included in future anthologies. Here is a picture of the last two anthologies, published in 2014 and 2017, respectively.
Best of the Short Story: Volume 2 is available on Amazon for a fiver. Thank you!
