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In this fourth year of the prize, we were again delighted with the huge number of entries. And the standard remained impressively high, which, as always, made the judging very difficult. We looked again for novelty of treatment and writing flair in approaching this year’s theme – ‘An Unlikely Friend’ – and could not have been more impressed.
Our three winners, who will each receive £200 and a selection of books, are Grace Kenworthy, Noah Pearce and Chloe Oulahan.
Congratulations to all three!
Our runners-up, whose stories will appear in the prize pamphlet alongside the winners, are Imogen Kitty Leigh, Sebastian Goodfellow, Sophie Eorsi, Rossi Morrison-Burke, Aisha Oyewande, Eira Newman, Gloria Akinwalere, Aiyana Patel, Titus Rollett, George Francome, Kevin Rezai.
One of the judges of this year's prize was Michael Rosen. He said, of the stories he read:
‘Every one of them had "something", that little magical thing that makes for a really good piece of writing. I had several criteria in mind: did it surprise me? Did it move me? Was I amazed by the inventiveness? Did I admire the texture and imagery of the writing?' The overall quality, he said, was 'amazing . . . There wasn't a single dud.’
This year’s prize booklet will be available to buy in the Bookshop and online here.
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