The contest welcomed multi-disciplnary pieces on the theme ‘Fast’. The prize was awarded to my a flash fiction, ‘Primogeniture’; editor James Hopkirk describes it as “original, very well written and genuinely disturbing.”
Awarded for a short story, ‘Underskirts’; judge Zoe Heller describes it as “a weird and enthralling tale of sexual transgression, told in a series of prose-poem monologues. Robert Browning meets Adrienne Rich: terrific.”
Awarded for a short story called ‘The Rental Heart’, which you can read at Expanded Horizons. The story was also included in the anthology By Invitation Only.
Awarded for a poem called ‘Dear Guy Who Scribbled All Over His Questionnaire, Put His Religion As ‘Jedi’, And Asked Why The Police Aren’t Investigating Supernatural Crimes’.
Awarded for a short story, The Owlatorium and the Cat-King, which retells a nursery rhyme to explore fractures and miscommunication in young people’s relationships. Read the story in print in New Writing Dundee.
Awarded to put together ‘Slacker Love Songs’, a collection of short fiction using mythical and fairytale tropes. The collection will include The Man From the Circus, Three Variations on Susan; fiction in print in PANK, Polluto, Girl Crush, Lock Up Your Daughters; and several new stories.
Awarded to launch Fractured West, a new print magazine for flash fiction. Though grounded in modern Scotland, Fractured West welcomes submissions from writers all over the world. It provides a showcase for young and emerging writers who may find it difficult to break into the commercial mainstream. Issue 1 is due to be published in early 2010.
The award was granted based on a portfolio of work, including dear creatures, Sweeten, and Imaginary Birds.
Awarded for stories which show “passion, excellence, and authenticity in the woman’s writing voice”. The prize was awarded for The Man From the Circus.
Awarded for the poem This Is What You Must Do.
Challenged contestants to describe a “single moment in time just after something happened” that, by itself, implies a story. Awarded for Spider.