31 July
And the winner is...
Bestselling author Sean Lusk reflects on his experience as judge of our new short story competition, The Astley Prize, and announces this year's fantastic winners!
What an honour to be the judge for the inaugural Astley Prize – a short story competition created in memory of Veyatie Astley, a talented young writer whose life ended much too soon. I like to think that Veyatie would have enjoyed reading our winning stories as much as I did. A big thank you goes to Melanie Kerr who helped me in reading all the entries, and to Victoria Taylor Smithson, Tanera Bryden and everyone at Nairn Book and Arts Festival.
Our theme this year was ‘coast’ and so it was perhaps fitting that we had many entries featuring selkies, and quite a few in which sea swimmers set off from beaches on freezing cold days, and others where rough seas resulted in narrow escapes. The quality of the over one hundred entries was very high, and it was far from easy to pick out our three winners, together with three highly commended entries. In each case it was a compelling voice as well as an engaging story that made them deserved winners. Entries arrived from all over the UK and internationally, but by happy coincidence (all entries were judged anonymously) our winning story is from a Nairn writer, and third placed from one based in nearby Ardersier.
Our three winning stories will appear on the Nairn Book and Arts Festival website following our prize-giving event at Nairn’s Little Theatre on Wednesday 3rd September.
FIRST PRIZE: Mairi Sutherland
Beachcomber
Beachcomber deals with great sensitivity with the subject of those crossing to the UK from France in small boats, intertwining it with a couple’s wish to have a baby. Touching, and beautifully original, a deserved winner.
Mairi Sutherland lives in Nairn, where she enjoys beach walks and frequents cafes to ponder new story ideas. Mairi has had short stories published in a variety of journals. She has been working on a novel forever and hopes one day it will be ready to find a home. Funded by Creative Scotland, Mairi recently collaborated with a local artist, where they travelled throughout the Highlands delivering creative workshops.
SECOND PRIZE: Alison Powell
If You Look Closely, You Can See White Horses Running
Our second placed story captures a child/teenage point of view perfectly, especially its unthinking cruelty towards a vulnerable young person, ultimately rewarding the reader with a redemptive act – and a mystery.
Alison Powell is a writer and teacher based in Somerset. She has an MA in Creative Writing and her fiction has appeared in various anthologies and been listed in competitions including Flash500, the Bath Flash Fiction Award and the Bridport Prize. She is drawn to themes of family dysfunction, grief and working-class life. When not writing, she can mostly be found in the hills.
THIRD PRIZE: Mary Anne Spence
Drift
Drift tells the story of a woman who, having persuaded her local primary school to build a driftwood horse, finds herself building a relationship with a troubled boy. Filled with wonderful imagery and satisfying emotional journeys for the characters, a very enjoyable and complete story.
An English teacher by trade, Mary Anne Spence now lives in Ardersier and works part time, allowing her time to write poetry (her first love) and stories. She writes in English, Scots, and the local dialect of Greenock where she grew up. She is a member of Nairn’s local writing group, The Pen and I.
In a strong field, I also want to mention three highly commended stories:
Sea Salt by Anna Rickard is a tender, finely written story about the relationship between two sisters, bringing us subtly into each point of view and leaving us wanting more.
Mired by Catherine Ogston is one of relatively few stories that chose to take the theme of ‘coast’ as a verb. The protagonist in this story is well and truly coasting, and mired. Humorous and written with real verve.
Somewhere Elsie by Charlotte Levene is a tremendous evocation of time and place, in this case the south of France in the early seventies, as youthful drifters contemplate parenthood in a far from realistic way.
Many congratulations to all our winners and thank you to all who entered your stories. Keep writing… persistence is everything!
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