We published the winning entries of our Creative Writing Ink monthly competitions in this Creative Writing Ink Journal. The competition is now closed.
January 2022 Competition
Winner: Perry Kay. Read the winning entry here.
December 2021 Competition
Winner: Albert Sotelo. Read the winning entry here.
November 2021 Competition
Winner: Kathryn Hefford. Read the winning entry here.
October 2021 Competition
Winner: Madeline Medensky. Read the winning entry here.
September 2021 Competition
Winner: Amy Moreno. Read the winning entry here.
August 2021 Competition
Winner: Natascha Graham. Read the winning entry here.
July 2021 Competition
Winner: Agnibeena Ghosh. Read the winning entry here.
June 2021 Competition
Winner: Johanna Zomers. Read the winning entry here.
May 2021 Competition
Winner: Tim Taylor. Read the winning entry here.
April 2021 Competition
Winner: Fabiyas M V. Read the winning entry here.
March 2021 Competition
Winner: Marion Horton. Read the winning entry here.
February 2021 Competition
Winner: Anne Savage. Read the winning entry here.
January 2021 Competition
Winner: Ellie Piddington. Read the winning entry here.
December 2020 Competition
Winner: Sadie Maskerry
November 2020 Competition
We appreciate all entries. However, having read all competition entries, we didn’t find our winner for November.
October 2020 Competition Results
Ruth Taaffe. Read the winning entry here.
September 2020 Competition Results
Riley Sutton. Read the winning entry here.
August 2020 Competition Results
Fabiyas MV. Read the winning entry here.
July 2020 Competition Results
Fabiyas MV. Read the winning entry here.
June 2020 Competition Results
Sue Hoffman. Read the winning entry here.
May 2020 Competition Results
Rachael Barnes-Powell. Read the winning entry here.
April 2020 Competition Results
Tomos Dargie. Read the winning entry here.
March 2020 Competition Results
Ruth Taaffe. Read the winning entry here.
February 2020 Competition Results
Kathryn Ratzko. Read the winning entry here.
December 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Ayesha Asad. Read the winning entry here.
November 2019 Competition Results
Winner: James Croal Jackson. Read the winning entry here.
October 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Ruth Taaffe. Read the winning entry here.
September 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Kaci Skiles Laws. Read the winning entry here.
August 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Peter Branson. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Asirini Parakramawansha, Bethany Ascott, Lorraine Carey, Sally Armstrong, Julia Paillier, Sylvia Anne Telfer, Isaac Pickersgill, Kathryn Ratzko, Patricia Lowther
July 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Gaynor Kane. Read the winning entry here.
Runner-up: Ellie Piddington
June 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Avra Margariti. Read the winning entry here.
Runner-up: Frances Jones
May 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Ruth Taaffe. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Lauren Aspery, Olivia Edwards, Elizabeth Train-Brown.
April 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Sue Morgan. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Shirley Pringle, Sarah Masters, Jane Westhead.
March 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Charles Leggett. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Helen Larder, Hazel Wynn, Bibi Kington Brady, Thomas Polo, Polly Margesson
February 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Kathryn Ratzko. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Mari Maxwell, Fabiyas MV, Helen Winter, Elinor Clark, Anna McLellan, Jim Rowlands, Kerry Greene.
January 2019 Competition Results
Winner: Fabiyas MV. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Michelle Marsiglia, Sam McPherson, Carol Harte, Caroline Cooper Charles, Ben Sears, Sharon Laslett, Glyn Carter.
December 2018 Competition Results
Ruth Taaffe. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Howard Kerr, Bethany Ascott, m.nicole.r.wildhood, Kathryn Ratzko, Millie Stephens.
November 2018 Competition Results
William Lythgoe. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Beatrice Hughes, Ruth Taaffe, Fabiyas MV, Derek Bunce, James Stoddart, Frances Jones, Helen Morel, Anna McLellan, Tricia Lowther.
October 2018 Competition Results
Winner: Maureen Cullen. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Peter Moulding, Colette Coen, Lauren Galligan, James Wiffen
September 2018 Competition Results
Winner: William Lythgoe. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Cameron Clark, Ella Morel, R.S. Pyne, Fabiyas MV, Amaylia Dewis, Ava Montgomery.
August 2018 Competition Results
Winner: Millicent Stott. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Miriam Gallacher, Maisie Banning, Owen Swan, Ella Morel, Colette Coen, Anna Hayes.
July 2018 Competition Results
Winner: Katie Mason. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Jack Cooper, JC Cairns, Joy Deacon, Kath Lamb, Evie Heywood, Helen Mills, Natalie Peteranna, Clare Lally.
June 2018 Competition Results
Winner: Jack Cooper. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Howard Kerr, Sanjeev Sethi, Kevin Johnson, Claire Harrison, Bethany Ascott, Beth Flynn, Umaima Junejo, Bill Lythgoe, Ankita Anand, Leia Malot, Kelvin Abbey, Fabiyas MV, Sacha Chapman, Tricia Lowther, m.nicole.r.wildhood.
May 2018 Competition Results
Winner: Beatrice Hughes. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Adam Rowlands, Jean Conte, Marion Clarke, Fabiyas MV, Jack Cooper, Leia Malot, Frances Jones, Bill Lythgoe, Howard Kerr, Cameron Clark, Ahmad Aamir Malik, Rachel Nicholas, Louise Ashton, Oliver Bevan, Nora Hegarty, Joseph Estevez.
April 2018 Competition Results
Winner: Fabiyas MV. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Teresa Butler, Natalie Pearson, Howard Kerr, Bill Lythgoe, Pernina Jacobs, m.nicole.r.wildhood, Leia Malot, Wally O’Neill, Amelia MacBryan, Frances Jones, Sorcha King, Patricia Carr, Lucy Bignall.
March 2018 Competition Results
Winner: Jean Cooper Moran. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Marguerita McNally, Bill Lythgoe, Howard Kerr, Peter Branson, Carine Harb, Eri Okoye, Diana Lock, Fabiyas MV, Ilona Weir, Frances Sambrook, Evie Harris.
February 2018 Competition Results
Winner: William Lythgoe. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Jack Cooper, Howard Kerr, Fabiyas MV, Paul Breen, John Cooper, Colette Coen, Kevin Doyle, Eamon McManus, R. S. Pyne , Matthew Jamieson, Charlotte Gray, Lucy Bignall, Frances Sambrook, Ilona Weir, Sorcha King, Ilsa Nite, S. Bance.
January 2018 Competition Results
Winner: Jack Cooper. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Frances Sambrook, Cameron Clark, Isabel Renjith, Howard Kerr, Fabiyas MV, William Lythgoe, Rebecca Ladbrook, Farhana Khatun, Umaima Junejo, Rachel S., Vanessa Deroo, Emily Barbour.
December 2017 Competition Results
Winner: Afia Khatun. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Laura McGlashan, Peter Branson, Zoe Perrenoud, Barry Carter, William Lythgoe, Camilla Moni, Joy Deacon, Jimmy Gleeson, Fabiyas M V, Maisie Beckett, Katherine Young, Marvel Chukwudi Pephel, Howard Kerr, Jennifer Hayashi Danns, Lauren Edwards, Jack Cooper, Nora Hegarty, Matt Williams, Koan Lake, Patrick Hodgkins, Sorcha King, Sarah Cottee.
November 2017 Competition Results
Winner: Shaunna Harper. Winning entry here.
Shortlist: Helen Kreeger, William Lythgoe, Sorcha King, Fabiyas M V, Hannah Aston, Marvel Chukwudi Pephel, Kester Grieve, Colette Coen, Howard Kerr.
October 2017 Competition Results
Winner: Anne Walsh Donnelly. Winning entry here.
Shortlist: Ellie Beatson, Dianne Bown-Wilson, Bill Lythgoe, Rowena Fishwick, Ola Abdalkafor, Helen O’Neill, Diya Amber Ramanjini, Howard Kerr, Amelia Mitchell, Evie Rose Wilson.
September 2017 Competition Results
Winner: Jane McNamara. Winning entry here.
Shortlist: Colin Dardis, Elizabeth Kay, Ola Abdalkafor, Hannah Aston, Howard Kerr, Maureen Cullen, Tim Abbott, Marvel Chukwudi Pephel, Phiona Lees, Ellie Klein, Mia Holmes-Nicholson, Lina Saadani Allali, Cora Joy, Jamie Stewart.
August 2017 Competition Results
Winner: Marvel Chukwudi Pephel. Winning entry here.
Shortlist: Ursula Brunetti, Ruth Taaffe, Bill Lythgoe, Karrissa Webster, Robert Bester, Howard Kerr, Jackie Goulding, Magdalena Ratajczak, Hannah Jones, Kevin Doyle, Alison Dey, Nora Hegarty, Cheryl A. Van Beek, Jack Cooper.
July 2017 Competition Results
Winner: Kevin Doyle. Winning entry here.
Shortlist: Jacqueline Pemberton, m.nicole.r.wildhood, Bill Lythgoe, Howard Kerr, ‘Otaku Queen’, Jenny Darmody, Nabeela Solkar, Chris Newton, Caprice Darnell, Emma Wardlaw, Renata Sims, Emily Morrissey, Kate Bermingham, Nicola Gledhill, ‘Beyond Kailani’, Amy Fyvie, Neil A. Edwards, Cheryl A. Van Beek, Fabiyas MV.
June 2017 Competition Results
Winner: m.nicole.r.wildhood. Winning entry here.
Shortlist: Mary Hodges, Ruth Taaffe, Katelyn Dunne, Ilaeira Leto Agrotou Georgiou, Ella Dunthorne, Barry Carter, Eleanor Guthrie.
May 2017 Competition Results
Winner: Marvel Chukwudi Pephel. Winning entry here.
Shortlist: Molly-Mae Hannam, Bill Lythgoe, m.nicole.r.wildhood, Kevin Doyle, Lydia Melville, Iona Mandal, Anne McDonald
April 2017 Competition Results
Winners:
Bill Lythgoe. You can read the winning entry here.
Gary W. Bloom. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Fabiyas M V, Frank E Lee, Luke Schofield, Emily Griffiths, Emma Burry, Jac Shortland, May Fitzgerald, Howard Kerr, Samantha Chasse.
March 2017 Competition Results
Winner: Kevin Doyle. Winning entry here.
Shortlist: Enzo Bavetta, Cheryl Van Beek, Sian Hughes, Frank E Lee, Amaylia Dewis, Sapphire Allard, Grace Boettcher, Bill Lythgoe, L. J. Engelmeier, Joseph Draper, Ola Abdalkafor, Lydia Melville, Gary W. Bloom, Conor Kirwan, Sophie Harrison, Christopher Roberts, Kiera Ovens, Arabella Thomas.
February 2017 Competition Results
Winner: Lucy Thynne. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Lisa Ardill, Peter Caunt, Ani King, Deborah Guzzi, Colin Mayson, Cathy Keaney, Sue Kinsella, David Woods, Rohan Chakraborty, Kevin Doyle, Cheryl Van Beek, Peter Branson,
m.nicole.r.wildhood.
January 2017 Competition Results
Congratulations to Deborah Guzzi, the winner of our January 2017 competition. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Gregg Jansen, Ida Champion, Louisa Kitley, Grace Spencer, Margaret Gumley, Christof R. Davis, Howard Kerr, Susan O’Brien, Cheryl Van Beek, Hannah Fitzpatrick, Ilaeira Leto Agrotou Georgiou, Frank E. Lee, Grace Boettcher, Pat Drummond, m.nicole.r.wildhood.
December 2016 Competition Results
Winner: M T Ingoldby. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Declan Molloy, Martin Murphy, Emma K, Naoise Deeney, Richard Lee-Graham, Yasmin Spark, Karin Britt Gall, Kevin Doyle.
November 2016 Competition Results
Winner: Cheryl A. Van Beek. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Lauren Colley, John Grey, Kevin Doyle, Howard Kerr, Samantha Davey, Zev Lawson Edwards, Ryan Taylor, Sean Bracken, Heather Stewart.
October 2016 Competition Results
Winner: Sue Morgan. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Theresa Ryder, Neasa McHugh, Philip Morgan, Jen Bourke, Cheryl A. Van Beek, Kevin Doyle, G. Shore, Marie England, Ceinwen E C Haydon, DZ Wagner.
September 2016 Competition Results
Winner: Kevin Doyle. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Philippa Rae, Jackie Goulding, Christopher Dwyer, Simon Costello, Ola Abdalkafor.
August 2016 Competition Results
Winner: Anne Walsh Donnelly. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Julia Hones, Nick Westwood, Jac Shortland, Howard Kerr, Judith Hummel, Denis Bruce, Cheryl Van Beek, Kevin Doyle, Theresa Ryder, Elena Adams, Phil Cram, Frank E Lee.
July 2016 Competition Results
Winner: Kevin Doyle. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Megan James, Victoria Chadwick, Sally Roberts, Fiona M. Campbell.
June 2016 Competition Results
Winner: Eleanor Kerr. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlist: Jen Bourke, Jackie Kirman, Frank E Lee, D.S. Benjamin, Sarah Treacher, Neil Palmer, Kevin Doyle, Emily Aherne, Cheryl A. Van Beek, Jackie Goulding, Howard Kerr, Jasmin Jackson, Katie Bennett-Hall, Phil Miller, Amy Noon, ‘Nico’, Kirsty A. Niven.
May 2016 Competition Results
Winner: m.nicole.r.wildhood
Shortlist: Ola Abdalkafor, Dave Clark, David Woods, Louis Brierly, Katie Roberts, Kirsty A. Niven, Howard Kerr.
April 2016 Competition Results
Winner: m.nicole.r.wildhood. You can read the winning entry here.
Second: Howard Kerr
Third: Cheryl A. Van Beek
Shortlist: Anna Kyle, Peter Collins, Kirsty A. Niven, Rachel Edge, Daniel Roy Connelly, Karen Lethlean, Eli Baigel, Jackie Goulding, Harry Logan.
March 2016 Competition Results
Winner: Colette Coen. You can read the winning entry here.
Shortlisted: David Woods, Harvey Martin, BLJ Langham, Cheryl A. Van Beek, Kate Enright, Sophie Howells, Rosemary Sgroi, A. LLoyd-Selby.
February 2016 Competition Results
Winners: Jane Salmons and Daniel Roy Connelly.
Read Jane’s winning entry here and Daniel’s here.
Second: Megan Wildhood
Shortlist: Kirk Houghton, EB Johnson
January 2016 Competition Results
Winner: Marion Clarke. Read here.
Second: Alice Kinsella
Shortlist: Howard Kerr, Shannon Perry, Anna Cummins.
December 2015 Competition Results
Winner: Cheryl A. Van Beek. Read here.
Shortlist: Sarah Wise De Jong, Kalman Dean-Richards, Jane Elkin, Rosemary Sgroi, G.Vargas, Georgie Dobson.
November 2015 Competition Winner
Winner: Colette Coen. Read here.
Shortlist: Peter Branson, Sheila Jacob, Howard Kerr, Laura O’Mahony, Ruth Thompson.
October 2015 Competition Winner
Winner: Emmie Readman. Read here.
Shortlist: Ilona Klein, Barbara Catchpole, Ilhem Issaoui, Neil Slevin, Samantha Davey, Jemimah Thomas, Mark Ley, Rebecca Marment.
September 2015 Competition Winner
MT Ingoldby. Read the winning entry here.
Second: Jennifer Egan
Shortlist: Howard Kerr, Cheryl Van Beek, Sheila Jacob, Harvey Munro, Laura O’Mahony, Geraldine McCarthy, Richie Geoghegan, Ashley O’Halloran, Joanne Spain, Jacquelyn Langley, Mark Farley.
August 2015 Competition Winner
MT Ingoldby. Read the winning entry here.
Second: Cheryl Van Beek
Shortlist: Carolyn Ward, Jessica Davis, Shelley Crowley, Barbara Harland, Charlotte Unsworth, Howard Kerr, Terry Kerins.
July 2015 Competition Winner
Peter Branson
Second: Bernie McQuillan
Third: Sheila Jacob
Shortlist: Cheryl Van Beek, Joanne Spain, Tess Adams, Colette Coen, Layla Hehir, Joe McGuire, Louise Ashton, James McGlynn.
June 2015 Competition Winner
Ann Brehony. Read here.
Shortlisted: Harriet Avery, Howard Kerr, James McGlynn, C. Binley, Sue Browne, Natasha Syed, Antonios Efthymiou, Barry Oliver, Eilis Haden.
May 2015 Competition Winner
A.L. Clarke. Read here.
Second: Patrick Roche
Third: Terry Kerins
Shortlisted: Layla Hehir, Orla Donoghue.
April 2015 Competition Winner
Winner: Roisin Browne. Read here.
Second: Tracey Taylor.
Third: Howard Kerr
Shortlisted: Rosie Couch, Julia Hones, Nicola Geddes, Peter Branson, Jocelyn Cannon, Eilis Haden, Seanin Hughes, Honor Wellington, Portia Miller.
March 2015 Competition Winner
Winner: Sheila Jacob. Read here.
Shortlist: Sarah Ang, Cathy Bryant, Cheryl A. Van Beek, Bernie McQuillan, Sarah Hamilton, Gary Morton, Marion Clarke, Maggie Hearne, Jessica Phillips.
February Competition Winner
Winner: Cheryl A. Van Beek. Read here.
Second: Sheila Jacob
Shortlist: Bernie McQuillan, Roisin Browne, Fiona McPhillips, Angela Gabrielle Fabunan, Marie Leprêtre, Sarah Hamilton, Terry Kerins, Sarah Mackey, Miriam Lee, Gavin Rafferty, Aoife Mulvey.
January Competition Winner
Joanne Weck for Ladies Man. Read here.
Shortlist: Terry Kerins, Tracey Taylor, Lynda O’Gorman, Brian McCabe, Jonathan Henderson, Cheryl A. Van Beek, Xanthe Hall.
December Competition Winner
Jim Gleeson for The Million Shilling Boy. Read here.
Shortlist: Terry Kerins, Joanne Hayle, Sonali Raj, Lucille Bellucci, Carolyn Ward.
November Competition Winner
Marion Clarke for her poem “Sheelin”.
Shortlist: Andrew Campbell-Kearsey, Cathy Bryant, Honor Wellington, Meabh Ann McCrossan and Hogan Conroy.
October Competition Winner
Sheila Jacob. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlisted: Nora Hegarty, Ken McGrath, Molly Garbutt, Marion Clarke, Dearbhla Molloy.
Creative Writing Ink Young Writer Competition Winners
13-17 Caitlin Nolan. Read the winning entry here.
8-12 Asha Howard-Birt. Read the winning entry here.
September Competition Winner
Winner: Peter Branson
Read the winning entry here.
Shortlisted: Lim Xin Rui, Joanne Hayle.
August Competition Winner
Winner: Wilson F. Engel III
Shortlisted: Sean McNally, Nora Hegarty, Joanne Hayle, Lim Xin Rui, Sheila Jacob.
You can read the winning entry here.
July Competition Winner
Winner: Margaret Magee, Blue with White Daisies. Read here.
Second: Dawn McKinley. Third: Dearbhla Molloy
Shortlisted: Catherine Higgins-Moore, Andrea Connolly, Jasmine Ketch-Neumann, Laura Ranson, Nemma Wollenfang, Wilson F. Engel III, Jacinta Kidd.
June Competition Winner
Ellen Kelly, Sunglasses. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlisted: Shey Hargreaves, Mark Murphy, Damian Murphy, Jahla Seppanan, Xiangyu Hu.
May Competition Winner
Colette Coen, Pictures on a Wall. Read the winning entry here.
She has published a short story collection The Chocolate Refuge and you can find out more about Colette on her blog.
Shortlisted: Hannah Lindsay, Anne Donnelly, Gouliélmos Antonátos, Geraldine Hogan, Jasmine Ketch-Neumann, Ciaran Carrick, Jordan Jacobs, Nemma Wollenfang.
April Competition Winner
Carol Tobin, Fresh Air. Read the winning entry here.
Shortlisted: Eithne Cullen, Tracey Taylor, Isis Grayling, Andrew Campbell-Kearsey, Ruth Wynne-Jones, Hannah Lindsay, William O’Keeffe, Shira Hereld.
March Competition Winner
Anne Donnelly. Read the winning entry here.
2nd: Emma Hewitt
Shortlisted: Jane Salmons, Isis Grayling, Matthew John, Steve Howells, Michelle McCartney.
February Competition Winner
Winner: Owen Townend
Shortlist: Molly Hope, Jillian Becker, Nora Hegarty, Marie Thiemann, Ashling Buggle, Holly-Platt Higgins, Tsariye Doro.
You can read the winning entry here.
January Competition Winner
Peter Branson. Click here to read winning entry.
Shortlist: Jane Salmons, Gary Morton, Michelle McCartney, Anne Donnelly, Brian Hickey, Mantie Lister, Ciaran Carrick, Barry Carter, Andrew Campbell-Kearsey.
December Competition Winner
Roisin Browne. Click here to read the winning entry.
Shortlisted: Peter Branson, Andrew Campbell-Kearsey, Brian Hickey, Michelle McCartney, Ciaran Carrick, Kieran Kejiou.
November Competition Winner
Derek Keenan.
Shortlisted: Nora Hegarty, Olwen Hogan, Petra McQueen, Gary Morton, Barry Carter.
October Competition Winner
Helen Yendall. To read the winning entry, please click here.
Shortlisted: Lisa Hall, Tracey Taylor, Robert Browne, Nathan Dowling, Dominic Lavin, Jane Salmons, Nile O’Hagan, Andrew Campbell-Kearsey.
September Competition Winner
Emma Bolger for “Playing the Part.”
Shortlisted: Jeannie Abbott, Jane Salmons, “T.T. Reedswell”, Jerry Mulligan, Linda Nabasa, Fiona Barry and Kieran Marsh.
August Competition Winner
Pauline McNamee. To read the winning entry, please click here.
Shortlisted: Emily Aherne, Tracy Fahey, Andrew Campbell-Kearsey, Dominic Power, Ruth Simpson, Michelle McCartney, Pat Bennett.
July Competition Winner
Andrew Campbell-Kearsey. To read the winning entry, please click here.
You can also buy Andrew’s collection of short stories, Centurionman here.
Shortlisted: Elizabeth Anne Conroy, Dianne Bown-Wilson, Brian Ronan, Tracey Taylor, Anna Voelker, Máire Ryan, Helen Bennett.
June Competition Winner
Anne Donnelly. To read the winning entry, please click here.
Shortlisted: Mary McFadden and Sheila Armstrong
May Competition Winner
Rob Tye, Hampshire, England
To read, please click here.
Shortlisted: David O’Connor – Salaries and Calories
Yvonne Doherty – River Release.
April Competition Winner
Maria Kiernan, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland
To read, please click here
Shortlisted:
Rebecca Reddin – Today
Paul Protheroe – Contagious
Ruth Elizabeth Powell – Yak Cabaret
March Competition Winner
Optimism by Vera Sugár, Roehampton, London
To read, please click here
Shortlisted:
Mark Airlie – Broken Minature Geometries
Joseph Burke – Whispers
Emmy Todd
February Competition Winner
Getting away from it all, by Bill Hodson, York, England
To read, please click here
Shortlisted:
Patrick O’Laoghaire – Achilles and Briseis
Roisin Browne (Haiku)
Clare Lally – Little Pleasures
January Competition Winner
A Winter Baby, by Pauline Murphy, Co. Clare, Ireland
To read, please click here
December Competition Winner
Reflecting Queenie, by Anne Goodwin, Nottinghamshire, England
To read, please click here
November Competition Winner
Conkers, by Peter Branson
October Competition Winner
Cemetery Rose, by Barry Carter, Hull, England
To read, please click here
September Competition Winner
Drenched, by Trisha McKinney, Dublin, Ireland
To read please click here
August Competition Winner
The Rainy Day, by Martin Keaveney, Ireland
To read, please click here
Quarterly Competition Winner (May-July 2012)
Juliet Wilson, Edinburgh, Scotland.
July Poetry Winner
Morning Tea, by Celia Donoghue, Dublin, Ireland
To read, please click here
July Short Story Winner
Narcissine Attraction, by Andrew Campbell-Kearsey, Brighton, East Sussex, England
To read, please click here
June Short Story Winner
Duck a l’Orange, by Nicola Garrett, Dunboyne, Co. Meath, Ireland
To read Nicola’s story, please click here
June Poetry Winner
Celestial Beings, by Marie Munnelly, Ireland
Please click here to read
May Short Story Winner
Luna, by Colm Reynor, Dublin
To read Luna, please click here
May Poetry Winner
Sleep Disturbed, by Juliet Wilson, Edinburgh
To read Sleep Disturbed, please click here
April Short Story Winner
Killing, by Samuel Dodson, Warwick, United Kingdom
To read, please click here
April Poetry Winner
Tapir by Bern Butler, Galway, Ireland
To read, please click here
March Poetry Winner
Love for a Sister, Marie Munnelly
To read, please click here
March Short Story Winner
What Goes Around, Joan Skura, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
To read, please click here
February Poetry Winner
My Senses, My Memories by Rose Kelland, Suffolk, United Kingdom
To read, please click here
February Short Story Winner
Admiral Knightsky, by David O’Connor, Co. Dublin
To read, please click here
January Short Story Winner
Behind the Lace, by Cynthia Allen, United Kingdom
To read the full story, click here
January Poetry Winner
Safety First, by Peter Branson, United Kingdom
December Poetry Winner
Jonathan Cooper, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Windy Day
Assault again my bitter ear
You poltergeist, so cumbersome
With rage, as forged in yesteryear,
Where warmth holds no dominion.
Now animate the battered limbs
Of summer’s leafy sentinels;
Your one-voice choir shrieks winter’s hymns
In praise of dark confessionals.
Assault again my weathered face
Dried up, save for the tears of cold.
Pierce not my pulled-tight carapace;
Touch not my thoughts of summer’s gold.
December Short Story Winner
Jessie, by Rose Kelland, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Read full story here
November Poetry Winner
C.R. Redd, North Somerset, England
Death on the Motorway
They died on the motorway. In no way
Connected, these strangers connected
For one last time. An awful death, not
Because of the shrieking inferno
Nor their choking in the acrid blackness
That was everywhere, and overcame them.
I cannot imagine those, so they do not
Affect me. And yet when I heard I cried
Because they died nowhere, not even
Half-way home. These bodies were in
Transit, travelling, leaving, going.
I do not want to die on the motorway
In the middle of nowhere, the grey road.
I want to die stationary, where I seem
Permanent to the ground.
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November Short Story Winner & Quarterly Competition Winner (Nov 2011-Jan 2012)
Nora Hegarty, Waterford, Ireland
The Christmas Cake
Giving the kitchen table one last unnecessary wipe, Mrs Mooney decided that today was the day to think about baking her Christmas cake. Every year, good or bad, brought November and every November brought this decision. She had lost track of how many times the ritual had been followed. God, it made her feel jaded and old. This year, she thought, looking out at four mad magpies strutting around the garden, it’s going to be different. This year, it’s going to be my way. Now that she had her mind made up, she was very definite. The birds’ boldness as they squawked and screeched, taking charge of the place though they were complete imposters only served to bolster her further. She would buy a cake and shock them all.
What would they make of that, she wondered, making her way upstairs, rooting out her good shoes, pulling on her raincoat and running a comb through her hair. She smiled at her reflection in the landing mirror. Her hair, due an overhaul before Christmas had grown out of its usual rigid bob, and was starting to curl in little wisps around her face. In a certain light, she thought it made her look positively girlish. Her well cut raincoat hid an abundance of middle age spread and its jade green colour complimented her eyes. Mrs Mooney was on a high.
Read full story here
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October Poetry Winner
Elizabeth Jardine Godwin, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
Moth
Elizabeth Godwin
Flashing over polished stones,
our candles bobbed
like plums in cold water
and glanced across the foxgloves
and cow parsleyscenes we had breasted
in the tang of that late summer afternoon’s high smoulder.
October Short Story Winner
Michael Poyser, Leeds, United Kingdom – “The Importance of Being Furnaced.”
September Poetry Competition Winner
Susan Morgan, Newry, Northern Ireland – “Guzelyurt”
September Short Story Competition Winner
Henry St.Leger-Davey, Winchester, England
I went to the beach today
I start to feel uncomfortable, sitting here still. Her damp cheeks make me want to stand up; push the world over; dismiss it; throw it away; reject it; tell it something must be wrong with it; tell it that it’s failing; make it see that its purpose, whether it doesn’t include her or me (or is one of those ‘the point is there’s no point’ so-zen-it’s-crazy mentalities), can’t possibly be doing its job right when she, she is sitting here at the edge of this wooden platform with her frame collapsing into her stomach and her sobs sinking ever deeper into her chest with each rush of salt sliding down the bridge of her nose, manoeuvring over and around the resigned freckles in its path, palely dotted like the careless afterthought of a painter flicking the last specks of orange off his brush. The way they rest on her, parallel to the curved hoods of her eyes, reminds me of the faint caresses prodded into the sand by the first dozen drops of February rain (who goes to the beach in February?).
Continue reading I went to the beach today
August Short Story & Quarterly Competition (Aug-Oct 2011)Winner
Amanda Bowden, Bristol, England
Papier Mache Doll
Amanda Bowden
I pull my long black woollen coat around me. Lennon lies quietly at my feet, the cold air teasing his fur. My sister tells me it’s disrespectful to take a dog to a funeral. I don’t see why. It’s a woodland funeral. Dad’s in a wicker coffin. She doesn’t like that either, Jasmine. God only knows how she turned out so conventionally; so staid, so normal.
Twanged notes play with the still air – Evan on the five-stringed banjo. Dad’s banjo. He finishes the song, pauses then throws the banjo into the grave. It thuds and gives off a final note. Jasmine pulls a face like she’s tasted something nasty.
The grave is starting to look like a white elephant stall. So far it contains – as well as dad – a flat cap, a scarf, a necklace, a coin, a crystal, a belt buckle, several CDs and photos, football programmes, a CND badge and the banjo.
Continue reading Papier Mache Doll
August Poetry Winner
Annie Lang, Sheffield, England
The Midnight Poet
I met a woman on a beach last night while I was sleeping.
The beach crept into my room, and I fell to land
in seas too warm to be this far north.
She smiled at me, and cocked a gun,
and said, ‘Don’t you think you’d better run?’
I told her, even dreaming, I do not rhyme the lines,
and she laughed at me and said she knew.
‘I know your lines,’ she said, and the gun melted.
It split through her fingers and splattered on the sand,
and inky hearts drew themselves beneath us.
‘You write your soul, and leave it raw,’ she said,
and the hearts mourned the toes that drew them.
‘You do not write, you bleed,’ she said, and barefoot
drew lines through the hearts and boxes around the lines.
July Short Story Competition Winner
C.R. Redd, North Somerset, England.
The White Hart
He was a self-styled wise man. A man who, to all troubled newcomers, would bestow simple and perfect advice. These concise nuggets of wisdom were always found amidst an air of sobriety indicative of a man who has seen everything, and often accompanied with a lowering of eyebrows that creased the leather of his face. It was not unusual for an entire evening to be spent in sombre consult with some poor downtrodden stranger, whose problems were inevitably eradicated by the clarity of his words. There was not much to discriminate him from the other men of his certain time and place, bound as he was to the path life had laid out for him. Continue reading The White Hart
July Poetry Competition Winner
Henry St Leger-Davey, Winchester, England
Just not as they ought to be.
This time, last night, was the Wednesday of my discontent,
Which did flourish, surprised at its own appearance.
Could I her compare to a day so impaired
By rain? Mere moments past being told of light
And warmth… unforgettable picnics and such,
To tell to our child ‘round the crackle of reddening timber,
The tale of that day, that dear day we so dined,
But it rained it just rained and forgot I was there.
Continue reading Just not as they ought to be
June Poetry Competition Winner
June Short Story Competition Winner
May Poetry Winner & Quarterly Competition May 11-July 11 Winner
Quarterly Competition Feb 11-April 11 Winner
Quarterly Competition Nov 10-Jan 11 Winner
August Short Story Winner – (& 2010 Quarterly Competition Winner)