We're pleased to announce the winners of the Short Story Prize, in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing.
The competition, which launched in March, challenged budding authors
to capture children’s imaginations by recreating a classic fairy tale with a modern
twist, aimed at an audience of eight to 12-year-olds.
Hundreds of 2,000 – 4,000 word entries were received and judged by
a panel including award winning children’s author Chris Priestley, members of
the Bloomsbury Editorial team and our director, Jonathan Douglas.
The winning stories will all be included in an eBook
anthology by Bloomsbury and the newly-published authors will also receive £200
each.
- Beardunzel by Annie Edge
- The Perfect Child by Charlotte Goddard
- VANISHED by Frances Stickley
- The Mysterious Transformation of
the Prince of Amphibia by Stephanie Aslan
- Sarah Snow and the Seven
Spacecraft Engineers by Mirandy Luby
- Rapunzel’s Reunion by Emma Young
- The Giant’s Child by Vicky McFarland
- The Problem with Mr Woolf by Kelly Archer
The money raised from entrance fees to the competition will help us to continue its work helping to give disadvantaged children
the literacy skills they need to succeed.
Jonathan Douglas, Director of the
National Literacy Trust and Short Story Prize Judge Panellist said:
“Exciting
and inspiring literature is vital to our work and we are delighted that the
Short Story Prize has helped up to uncover such brilliant new children’s
writing talent. A huge congratulations to our winners, who can now say they are
published authors thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing.
“A huge
thank you to everyone who entered the competition – the money raised will help
us to inspire more children to enjoy reading, which has an important impact on
how well they do at school and in the future.”
Ian Lamb, Head of Children's
Marketing and Publicity at Bloomsbury Publishing Plc said:
“We were
blown away by the many wonderfully twisted Short Story Prize entries and are
delighted to have discovered fantastic new writing talent with the National
Literacy Trust.
“We hope
that the published eBook will inspire young people across the country to enjoy
reading… and perhaps even write a short story of their own.”