W&A Short Story Competition 2022 - Winner Announced!

It has been a joy and a privilege to once again read, admire and select the very best stories from this year’s submissions to our annual Writers’ & Artists’ Short Story Competition.

Not surprisingly we received many entries that explored themes of loss, illness, and confinement (physical and metaphorical) in response to the impact of Covid over the last 12 months and more. Our collective desire to write and look at life through the lens of fiction however remained undiminished and we thank all of you who submitted a story.

Reading and whittling down the more than 750 entries was a mammoth, difficult but enjoyable task for my Writers and Artists colleagues Clare Povey and James Rennoldson.

The nine shortlisted stories were all examples of stories that managed to successfully combine the key ingredients of character, place, tension, plot and theme in less than 2,000 words. No mean feat. These stories were tautly woven narratives and like the very best stories kept this reader reading.

Our winning stories all have a clear sense of place and of character. They are fine examples of the short story form.

This year’s runners-up are, in third place:

Hidden by David Butler

Carried by deft dialogue that reveals detail about the interconnected lives of the characters and plot, this is a finely structured story.

In second place:

Chapel Hill by Sam Christie 

This story explores a father-son relationship in clear, simple prose and celebrates the joys of parenting and the agonies of letting go as your child becomes an adult. 

And I’m delighted to announce that the first prize goes to Olivia Wakeford’s winning story:

Who Will Remember Meredith Parker? 

It also receives the unofficial accolade of the story with the most beguiling title. Who wouldn’t be tempted to read on?

This story is elegantly structured, every detail earning its place in a narrative clearly set in a specific time and place. The extensive dialogue is crisp and realistic, carrying the reader along at a fine pace but is still able to convey the endless days of youthful idleness spent beside The Pond. The intensity and crushing disappointment of first love is beautifully articulated through the eyes of the story’s protagonist Hazel. It is a coming-of-age story in which past events are deftly threaded through the drama that Hazel and Dyl’s share. The past provides a parallel narrative as well as the main themes of the story. This is a fine piece of writing; a very worthy winner. Congratulations, Olivia!

Thank you to Arvon, who sponsors our competition by donating a place on one of their residential courses to the writer of the winning story. Arvon creative writing courses and retreats are led by published authors from its three writing houses in the UK, each in a beautiful rural setting. We're so grateful for their continued support!

If you weren’t successful this year, please do enter again! Details of our next short story competition will be announced this summer.

If you’d like  to attend The Anatomy of a Short Story, our online masterclass with Sheila Armstrong on her approach to the short story craft taking place on Wednesday 20th April, please use the code SSTORY10 at checkout to reserve your place at a 10% discount*.

*this code is single-use only and remains valid until midnight Sunday 17th April

Alysoun Owen

Editor Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook