We are delighted to be able to announce the shortlist for the 2020 Fresher Writing Prize short story category.
We really were quite overwhelmed by the number of entries this year and would like to thank everyone who took the time to send us their work. There is so much talent out there, and it has genuinely been a difficult task to whittle the longlist down to the stories that you see listed here.
Our judges, including Ansa Khan Khattak, Commissioning Editor at Picador, now have the even more difficult task of choosing an overall winner for the category. We hope to announce this in early June, but given the extra pressures on everyone at the moment, we are obviously having to build in some flexibility with that. In the mean time, congratulations to all of you who have been shortlisted!
Fresher Writing Prize 2020
The Shortlist
24 Seconds To Prove My Innocence by ANOUSHKA CHAUHAN
A How to Guide by HANNE LARSSON
Abridged by JESSICA ALLEN
Aiofe Tir Far by HAZEL COMPTON
Apparently More Life by TED BRADY
At The Top by LAUREN WHITNEY
A Better Britain by INDIA DEAR
Changing a Lightbulb TRAHEARNE FALVEY
Ciggie Stardust by DAVID TAYLOR
Cobwebs by RICHARD HOOTON
Cycle Path Test by SEAN FALLON
Death is a Woman by MEGAN JAMES
Dinner and Saints by JOSS WYATT
Echoes and Awakening by GILLIAN ROBERTSON
How Lucky We Are by ERIN BANKS
I am a Circle by BENJAMIN KIRBY
Just to You by JANE COPLAND
Khapasa by DANIELLE WERNER
Late FOR SUBMISSION by HENRY SHEEN
Lightbulb Moment by LIZ ANDERSON
Lolly and Gareth by JAYNE ROWNEY
Love endures by RICHARD TEAGUE
Manifest Destiny by JACK BUMBY
Marvin by ROGER L GUFFY
Mr Douglas by MICHAEL J.F. GAINES
Mysterious Ways by BEVERLEY BYRNE
Next Stop by MAUREEN CULLEN
Nighthawks by CASSAN-PAUL FESSEY-SALIBA
One Moment by HANNAH CROSS
Othering by EMILY RICHARDS
Semper Sorocula by LUCY MAY
The Auditor by ELLIOT TINGUELY
The Boy Beneath my Feet by GFJ TAYLOR
The Dark Space by OLIVIA GILCHRIST
The Dung Lady by EMMA GOODE
The Fenian Cycle by PATRICK BIRD
The Girl in the Crystal Tree by KIM WEDLOCK
The Gulf Between Us by JASON BLACKBURN
The House that Has no Corridors by ANDREW SUTHERLAND
The Inconceivable by GEMMA AL-KHAYAT
The Need by DAVID E GATES
The Reddifers by PETER HANKINS
The Rower by JAY HAROLD
The Story of Matthew Pity by ANNE SHEWRING
The Taxidermist’s Apprentice by SILVA CHEGE
The Watch by JOSEPH HIPGRAVE
Through The Seams, A Lullaby by BHAGATH SUBRAMANIAN
Tight Knit by RUTH BRADSHAW
Tobias’ Dreamer by LUCY PEACE
Too close for comfort by KIA MOONEY
Tunnel Vision by GRAHAM HUBBARD
Twelfth Night by SALLY FORD
Up in the air by BENNY ALLEN
Wardrobe by KATHERINE BRADSHAW
For the Fresher Writing Prize poetry shortlist, please refer to this post.