Winners’ stories published

Each title that is available to download will be shown as a clickable link in the winners section of this page. Click on it to download the story as a pdf. Also available is a transcript of  judge Paula Williams’  talk at the prize-giving, click here to download it. If you haven’t got a pdf reader you can get one from Adobe (click on the Adobe logo).

 

Competition prize-giving event

Alison Clink introduced this crowded session in the library by announcing the record number of 555 entries to the Frome Festival Short Story contest this year.  One of the appeals of this competition is that the winning stories will be read by London literary agent Jane Judd, who adds her personal feedback and recommendations to the writer, and that those considered suitable will be submitted to women’s magazines for possible publication.  Alison gave an insight into her own criteria when making the initial selection:  Good writing with correct syntax is essential, as the stories will be posted on the website unedited, but after that the subject matter is wide open. “If it makes me laugh, or cry, it goes through.” Paula Williams, who judged the local shortlist, writes ‘cosy crime’ and commended the four winners: Catherine Weeks, Myfanwy

Morore, Diane Simmons, with first prize going to Jenny Gordon from Bristol.  She looks for ‘a bit of sparkle’ in a story, she explained, and likened her judging process to going round Marks & Spencers and telling her husband “I don’t know what I want but I’ll know it when I see it.”

Novelist Kate Harrison judged the open contest, and flew over from Barcelona to present the awards.  She spoke of her early years as a journalist in the southwest, chasing the dream of one day being a writer, and finding that entering contests like this helped enormously.  ‘All the winners should see this as not just something to celebrate today, but as a stepping stone to calling yourself A Writer’ – though these days, Kate acknowledged, this is a challenging career: “The shelf life of a new book is longer than milk but shorter than yoghurt – but hey, you can wear your negligee to work!” Kate found it interesting that although the contest is judged without any names, all the winners were women, and commented that women’s fiction is often underrated although it outsells every other genre. “It is as difficult to write an entertaining novel as a literary one,” she pointed out, “and it is legitimate to write about aspects of life that affect us all.”   Kate’s top tips for publishing trends were ‘fauxmance’ – stories with deeper elements, like the vampire themes of Twilight, but with ‘romance by stealth’ at heart -  and Young Adult, which is “the hottest genre right now, and fairies are super-hot.”
 The open competition winners were Fiona Allan from East Sussex, Rachel Crowther from Oxford, and Lexie Elliott from Putney who took first prize for her story Japanese Tourists.  All the winners were present to receive their cheques and applause, and the winning entry was read by local actor Laura Bowman.
 Prize-winners and their guests then enjoyed a buffet meal at the Black Swan provided by Divas, mingling with other authors, publishers, and agents at the conclusion of a brilliant event organised by Alison with support from the Library team.  

Full list of winners

MAIN COMPETION WINNERS
 
1st Prize – Japanese Tourists by Lexie Elliott of Putney, SW London.
 
2nd Prize – Watercress Makes a Meal by Rachel Crowther of Oxford.
 
3rd Prize – The Question by Fiona Allan of Horam, East Sussex.

The following stories were highly commended:
The Summer Son by Vicki Jarret of Edinburgh
Scent of Patchouli  by  Judy Darley of  Bristol 
The Market by Christine Jordan of Bristol
Lunch With Aunt Kitty by Emma Timpany of Falmouth, Cornwall
The Kid by Laurinda Luffman of Clapham, Beds.
The Turning Point by Francine Collison of Oldham
Solitary by Jenny  Morris  of  Norwich  
 
LOCAL SECTION.
 
First Prize -The Other Side by Jenny Gordon of  Bristol
 
Three stories came equal second:
Nighties Under Anoracks by Catherine E. Weeks of Bath
The Grey Wave by Myfanwy Morore of  Beckington.
An Inheritance by Diane Simmons of  Bath 
 
Highly commended:
The Wall by Sally Sanderson of  Nunney
No Dreaming by Bozsi Davis of Frome
Pink Crocs by Jude Higgins of Bristol

 2010 Winners named

Japanese Tourists by Lexie Elliott from Putney, London, won the £300 first prize in the Frome Festival Short Story Competition 2010.

Second prize went to Watercress Makes A Meal by Rachel Crowther, from Oxford, and third to The Question by Fiona Allan, Horam, East Sussex. The Other Side by Jenny Gordon won top prize in the regional category.

Short story organiser Alison Clink said judge Kate Harrison picked out the overall winner for its “many layers and quirky humour”.

2010 - Short list

The Question by Fiona Allan -  Horam E. Sussex
The Wind In My Sails by Margaret Irish - Kilkenny, Ireland
The Market by Christine Jordan - Bristol
Lunch with Aunt Kitty by Emma Timpany-Falmouth, Cornwall
Lessons in Sign Language by Anne Ayres - Reading
The Kid by Laurinda Luffman - Clapham, Beds.
Watercress Makes A Meal by Rachel Crowther - Oxford
The Summer Son by Vicki Jarrett - Edinburgh
Solitary by Jenny Morris - Norfolk
Japanese Tourists by Lexie Elliott - Putney
The Scent of Patchouli by Judy Darley - Bristol
The Turning Point by Francine Collison - Oldham, Lancs.

Frome Festival short story prizegiving 2010.

This year’s prize giving takes place in Frome Library on Sunday 11th July at 11.30am. The judges have now made their decisions on the winning stories and all the authors have been informed.  Come along to see who won and to hear the winning story read aloud by an actress.  The judges, novelist Kate Harrison and short story writer, Paula Williams will be presenting the prizes and talking about their own experice as writers as well as the competition.
This year we had a record, 555 short stories entered into the competition from all over the world.  Entries came from as far afield as Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Spain, Italy and South Africa, as well as from all over the UK. 
If you entered the competition you can come to the prize giving for free.  Normal entry £5.
 
We are already planning for next year’s competition - the judge for 2011 will be novelist, Emma Darwin.

 Short Story competition deadline past.

Please note that the deadline for entries for the 2010 short story competition has now passed and the competition is now closed to new entries for this year. If you missed this year’s competition why not enter next year’s. Watch out for details of the 2011 competition as they are published.

 

Calling all budding short-story writers!

The 2010 Frome Festival short story competition is now open and accepting entries until 31 May 2010. The lucky winners will receive £300 (1st prize), £150 (2nd prize) or £75 (3rd prize) and have their work read by a top London literary agent and featured on the Frome festival website. There are additional prizes for local winners.

Now in its seventh year, the competition is going from strength to strength. Last year [2009], it received some 400 entries from around the globe.

This year’s judges are Kate Harrison, the author of six novels, including The Secret Shopper’s Revenge, which was short-listed for the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance; and short story and serial writer Paula Williams from Wookey near Wells, who has had hundreds of her stories published in magazines in the UK and overseas.

Speaking about her selection as judge, Kate Harrison said:

‘Short stories are enjoying an incredible surge of popularity at the moment so I’m really looking forward to reading the entries. I got my first publishing deal after winning a competition so I know what a difference they can make. It’s a great chance to experiment with form and style, so I’d urge entrants to be bold and see where the story takes you. Good luck!’

Paula Williams added:

‘I am thrilled to have been asked to judge this year’s competition – and more than a little nervous! It’s an awesome responsibility but one I’m looking forward to very much indeed.’

Alison Clink, the competition’s organiser, added:
‘The standard of last year’s entries was impressive, as always, as was the number of local entries. We look forward to seeing just as many in the bulging mailbag between now and 31 May.