BBC 2022: “Blue 4eva” by Saba Sams

You can read the winning entry in the BBC National Short Story Award 2022 below this report in Guardian Online: Blue 4eva by Saba Sams.

“Blue 4eva is [also] available to listen to on BBC Sounds, appears in the BBC National Short Story Award 2022 (Comma Press, £7.99) and in Saba Sams’ debut collection, Send Nudes (Bloomsbury, £14.99)” (Guardian) 

Announcement: Shortlist for the Willesden Short Story Prize 2022

The ten stories shortlisted for the Willesden Short Story Prize 2022 in alphabetical order by author

  • Shoes by David Butler
  • Remembering Not Forgetting by Helen Harjak
  • Vevey by Catherine McNamara
  • Haircut by Andy Mead
  • Cuckquean by Jackie Morris
  • My Last Journey with Baron Baldanders by Peter Newall
  • Empathy by Diana Powell
  • Things we see, things we don’t by Anju Sharma
  • Forecast for Rain by Lui Sit
  • Hotline by Zakia Uddin

Thanks to all who entered for making our selection task so difficult with the high standard of writing. The total number of entries was 371. It was painful having to leave out many outstanding short stories.  

There will be a special event to announce 1st prize and runners-up and to launch the anthology, New Short Stories 12. Details to follow. 

Coming Soon: New Short Stories 12

Announcement: 371 entries received. Ten to comprise New Short Stories 12. “Watch this space.”

Short Story Competition: Closing Date Wednesday 31 August

August 29, Monday. Good morning! The total number of short stories in the inbox as of this morning stands at 279. [Ed.]

Announcement on Twitter

Photo: The picture shows this year’s one-off prize mug inscribed “The Willesden Short Story Prize 2022” standing in an array of books.

2022 Writers, Don’t Let Me Down! Ed.

Your forebears could hunt an epiphany through the great forest of Um without breaking a twig and spear it with words sharpened on the soles of their feet. Arise, put on your leotards and send in your short stories, ye of this century…(Enough, thank you. Get to the music. Ed.)

SUBMIT

One-Off Mug inscribed
The Willesden
Short Story Prize 2022

Announcement: Jarred McGinnis to judge Willesden Short Story Comp.

Jarred McGinnis

We’re delighted to announce that novelist and short story writer Jarred McGinnis has agreed to judge the Willesden Herald Short Story Competition 2022. An American abroad, his debut novel The Coward (Canongate, 2021) was a BBC2 national television “Between the Covers” recommendation. It is also about to be published in the US and in France, Italy and Spain later this year. He has many strings to his bow, including short fiction for BBC Radio 4 and much more besides, which you can read all about on his website. He is no stranger to our competition, having had a short story in New Short Stories 4. (Submit)

Willesden Short Story Competition 2022

We’re back with a competition for inclusion in Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 12. Open to international entries. Closing date will be August 31, 2022. Entry fee £5. There are ten prizes, as follows:

  • 1st prize: £300 + one-off inscribed Willesden Herald mug
  • 2nd: £200
  • 3rd: £100
  • 7 x £50
  • Plus you get a copy of the anthology when it’s published.

Judge: Jarred McGinnis (updated 20 Feb. 2022)

Please visit our submittable.com page for full details and to Submit

The Obscure Object of Desire

Photo: One-off Willesden Herald mug inscribed “Willesden Short Story Prize 20xx”

Jo Lloyd’s Stories on Strong Edge Hill Shortlist 2021

(It’s always gratifying to see a mention for our own short story competition. Ed.)
Full shortlist and selected stories online: Announcement – 2021 Edge Hill Shortlist.

Lucy Caldwell Takes BBC National Short Story Award 2021

Twitter: Lucy Caldwell shares links to some of her stories online

Three-time nominated Lucy Caldwell has won the sixteenth BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) with ‘All the People Were Mean and Bad’, a story taken from her 2021 collection, Intimacies. The news was announced live on BBC Front Row by 2021 Chair of Judges, James Runcie. Caldwell, a multi-award-winning writer from Belfast, was previously shortlisted in 2012 and 2019.

BBC Radio 4 National Short Story Award 2021