We were delighted to read the news today that Patrick Holloway, first prize winner from our 2023 Award, selected by Farhana Shaikh is one of two winners of The Paul McVeigh Residency Prize. Many congratulations to Patrick! Paul judged the BSSA a couple of years ago and this prize he initiated looks very special. Read more about it below and on the Harrison Hotel website.

“The Harrison has become a mecca for visting artists, musicians and writers to stay while in Belfast. When Paul McVeigh enjoyed a stay here at the beginning of lockdown he spoke with our owner Melanie Harrison about doing something literary here and the seeds of the residency were planted. Once a residency was settled upon, Paul made a list of everything he thought would help an emerging writers go to the next level and went about getting it for the lucky writer. He thought about writers who couldn’t physically travel or take the time off work or family or carer commitments and came up with the idea for another winner who would receive an at-home residency with as many of the same benefits as possible. The Paul McVeigh Residency at The Harrison was born”

And this is what Paul had to say about the winning submissions:

“I was astonished at the standard of the entries, some of which I read over and over again unable to find any flaws. In the end, the work that Hilary and Patrick sent in kept rising to the top. I predict these two authors will have major work published in the not-too-distant future and we hope to help make that happen.”

We’re looking forward to reading Patrick’s first prize short story win, ‘The Language of Remembering’ in our 2023 anthology published before the end of the year and wish him all the best for the novel he is writing, which we believe came out of this winning story.