Many congratulations to all the winners of our seventh award. Selected by the BSSA team and our shortlist judge, Samuel Hodder, from literary agency Blake Friedmann. Read all the comments on these wonderful stories in our Judges’ report.
Caroline Ward Vine
First Prize (£1200) goes to Caroline Ward Vine for her story, A GAP SHAPED LIKE THE MISSING.
Caroline Ward Vine came a little late to writing after a first career in magazine publishing. Since completing her MA in Creative Writing last year she has been placed and listed in a number of competitions. In January she won the Costa Short Story Prize 2018 with her story Breathing Water. Other highlights include reaching the shortlist and anthology of BSSA 2018 (her first taste of publication), the longlist of the RSL VS Pritchett Short Story Prize and being shortlisted in both Novella and Short Story categories of the 2018 Mslexia Fiction Competition. Currently working on her first novel, she lives in Kent with her husband and teenaged son. She tweets at @carolinewvine.
Christina Sanders
Second Prize (£300) goes to Christina Sanders for her story MURMURATION. Christina has had short stories and flash fiction published in literary and online magazines and anthologies including: Ambit,Words with Jam, Litro, Rattle Tales, TFM magazine, Best Small Fictions, Toasted Cheese. In 2017, she won the Aesthetica creative writing award. She is a regular contributor to Litro. In recent years she has been working on a project exploring connections between walking and writing, and is currently working on creative non-fiction pieces based on this research.
Derek Routledge
Third Prize (£100) goes to Derek Routledge for his story, FOR SOMETIME NOW. Born in York, Derek Routledge currently lives and works in Wales. He was shortlisted in the 2015 Bristol Short Story Prize and published in their anthology that year. He was also a notable contender in the Bristol Short Story Prize in 2014 and longlisted with them in 2012. In 2011 he was runner up in the Rhys Davies Short Story Prize, Literature Wales. In 2006 he won second prize in the Sheffield Theatres Cued Up Prize, chosen by Sam West, for a performed rehearsed play reading at The Crucible. The War On Television additionally won the Drama Association of Wales Best Play Award for Youth Cast, published by DAW in 2010. In 2005 he adapted his own short story for BBC R4 Woman’s Hour. He’s had poetry published, undertaken writer development at Arvon and Curtis Brown, has recently completed one novel and has another at first draft.
Melody Razak
Highly Commended (£30) to Melody Razak for her story, THE STEPWELL.
After completing a creative writing MA at Birkbeck University, Melody Razak is now in the final stages of editing her first novel, Moth. She has been published in the Mechanics Institute Review and has written a travel blog imaginearoad.com outlining the past year spent writing and travelling around India.
Bruce Meyer,
photo by Katie Meyer
Highly Commended (£30), Bruce Meyer for his story, SADNESS.
Bruce Meyer is author or editor of more than sixty books of poetry, short fiction, non-fiction, flash fiction, and literary journalism. His forthcoming books include McLuhan’s Canary (poetry, 2019) and Down in the Ground (flash fiction, 2020). He was a finalist for the Tom Gallon Fiction Prize in 2019. He lives in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.
The Local prize and £50 in book vouchers from Mr B’s Emporium of Books, Bath, goes to Tannith Perry for her story, BREAST PLUCKER.
Tannith Perry
Tannith Perry is an American living in Bristol. She has lived in all kinds of places including West Africa, New York City and Sidmouth, England. She has worked as a freelance writer, a non-profit community organiser and sold haircuts on the streets of New York City. She currently teaches ballroom dancing. Several of her stories have been shortlisted and published, including in the Bristol Short Story Prize and Gem Street International Short Story Competition. Her novel is currently represented by Lutyens & Rubinstein.
The Acorn Award for an Unpublished Writer of Fiction (£100) goes to Lucy Emma for her story, JUNGLE. Lucy Emma is a writer and a practising doctor. Her stories have previously been shortlisted for the Fish Prize and the Fiction Desk Prize, and highly commended for the Manchester Fiction Prize. She has a completed draft of one novel and is currently working on another. She lives in East London where she was born and raised. Occasional tweets @lucy_emma13.
Lucy Emma