We’re delighted to announce this year’s winning stories for the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize. The stories were chosen by our fantastic judging panel, writers Kathryn Aldridge-Morris and Melanie Carvalho.
Around 400 entries were received in the ninth year of the prize, open to published and unpublished writers, for a short story of up to 3,500 words on any theme or subject. All entries were judged anonymously.
Judges were impressed by the outstanding quality of entries received.
The winning stories in this year’s competition are:
1st prize: My time at the poison factory by Matt Cook
2nd prize: Okra/bamya/lady fingers by Farha Quadri
3rd prize: We cannot know the dreams of absent fathers by Laura Besley
Highly commended:
Fifty fifty ball by Seán McNicholl
Going uptown by Vicky Grut
Twenty short stories which feature on this year’s longlist will be published in an anthology and launched on Saturday 20 September as part of our Short Story September Festival.
Judges report to follow.