Short Story Competition
A Sense of Mischief
A Sense of Mischief is a new short story competition suggested by the young people's reading group at Clayport Library who want to read more good short stories. From the fifty-nine entries received by the closing date of 26 September, twelve were short-listed. The winners, who receive cash prizes and retain their copyright of the material, were announced at a ceremony in Durham Clayport Library on Thursday 16 October. They were:
Primary school age
Joshua BRIGGS Gorbal Glock
Runners up: Anna BARTLETT Hairy the monster and Jessica McKEOWN Dragon kings
Secondary school age
Nathan WEST The friendly Cyclops
Runners up: Roxanne PLATT Myths and monsters and Philip WATSON A sense of mischief
18-40 years category
Helen HALL Slug sandwich
Runners up: Darren ROSS The monster in the attic and Julie SLATER The elephant cat
Over- 40 category
Elaine MILLS The Umbleglots (click to read story)
Runners up: Brenda STEVENSON The queen, the wizard and the four seasons and Ruby WATT Caitlin and the kelpie
Left to right: Elaine Mills and Joshua Briggs with Eve Gamblin
The competition is a tribute to John Gamblin, a founder and stalwart of Valley Writers who died in June 2003. The winners were announced by his widow, Eve, who reflected on his commitment to writing, the encouragement he gave to others and his humour, warmth and creative spirit.
The competition was open to both adults and young people. The brief is to create an engaging, original short story of no more than 2,000 words. The members of the young peoples reading group at Clayport Library judged the entries.
Judges' report
Judging of the "Sense of mischief" short story competition took place on Saturday 27th September, immediately after the submission deadline the previous day. Carol Attewell, Lending Services Officer at Clayport Library, reports:
Fifty-nine entries were received on time - the youngest entrant was 8 years old, the oldest admitted to 64 years. There were enquiries from as far afield as Hertfordshire, and one lady from York was very annoyed that she lived outside the catchment area!
The "Myths and Monsters" theme had been interpreted very widely, and styles and treatment ranged from folk tale to fantasy. Bullying figured heavily, and there are clearly many who live in a parallel universe! Several writers had taken great pains to illustrate their entries, but in only one case was this considered to be crucial to the story.
Length was no indication of quality.
All entries were examined. The number, range and quality made it very difficult even to compile a "longlist", but eventually 6-8 submissions were chosen in each age category, Opinions around the table varied greatly, certainly differing from my own, but finally it was the young people's verdict which mattered, and they produced a shortlist of three for each age group.
The ages of the young people in our Chatterboox reading group range from 6 - 11 years, but the seven who actually judged the competition were over 8 years. They are avid readers, and give the lie to the view that children no longer read. Their comments were very perceptive. They worked very hard, and said at the end that they had enjoyed the experience - but would like to enter themselves next year!
The enthusiasm of the young writers also shows that at least two of the 3"Rs" are in good shape.
The work of the shortlisted writers is currently displayed in Durham Clayport Library.
