Winter Short Story Winners

A witty, tongue-in-cheek account of Oxford tuition; a very human vision of the end of the world as we know it; the hidden pain of a family beach holiday.

Three stories about as different from each other as you could wish for, three fantastic stories eventually chosen from our final seven after hours of reading. Then re-reading and weighing each again to put one ahead of the other two. Now it’s results time.

Our winner is: Saltwater by Rachael Cudlitz.

Our two runners-up are: Blueprint For The End Of The World by Laura Duerr and The Essay by Hugh Kellett.

Here’s what we thought about Saltwater:

An intense, moving insight into the life of a mother of two young boys. The layers are peeled away until we share her innermost secrets of love and hate – all laced through with beautiful imagery of the wind and waves, the sun and sand. There’s some wonderful use of language amidst the sometimes excruciating  self-awareness of Saltwater.