We held our latest meeting and AGM at Newark Library last week, where our judge for the Flash Fiction competition, Matt Kendrick, joined us online to announce the winning entries. Matt noted:
“Crafting a story in the space of 300 words is a tricky thing to do. Generally, a reader still expects some sense of narrative journey, some sense of character. We want shifting emotions, startling images, original turns of phrase. There is the need for compactness on the one hand and for specificity on the other. It is a balancing act between too much story and not enough, too much detail and too little. And I think that need for balance was heightened in this competition since the chosen theme “equinox” is all about the balance between night and day.
I loved the variety of interpretations on that theme – stories that took place either at the vernal or autumnal equinox, stories that explored elements of folklore connected to the equinox, stories that approached the theme from a more oblique angle, thinking about white and black, light and shade, the sun and the moon, and stories that explored other celestial events.
With so much variety, it was tricky (as it always is) to reach a decision on which stories should place first, second and third. Whenever I judge a competition, I always emphasise how subjective the process is. The pieces that most resonated with me might not have been the ones that most resonated with another judge. I found a lot to admire in each and every piece, and it took me several reads to reach my decision.”
Commended Entries:
- Criteria for the Selection of a Husband by Anne Howkins
- The Players in the Park by Sam Hook
Third Place: Choose by Louise Wilford
Second Place: Ostara and the Hare by Sam Hook (local writers prize winner)
First Place: When We Walked Out At Sowing-Time by Sarah Royston
Thanks to all who participated! We’ll get the top three entries up on the website to read as soon as we can.
Don’t forget that our YA Short Story competition closes at 23:59 on Wednesday 19 October 2022!
Leave a Reply