Congratulations to the winners of the Writers’ Village ‘Best Writing’ 2010 spring award

The standard of entries in this round was higher than ever before. Often, only a whisker separated the winners from the Highly Commended. Indeed, there were truly no ‘duff’ entries whatsoever. So every contestant, winner or not, can justifiably consider themselves to be placed in a very honourable category.

Alas, I had only 13 prizes to give away. So when deciding between a Winner and an Honourable entry, I had to apply my judging criteria with extreme rigour. Sometimes only one point decided it. (You can find the ‘points’ system I used here.)

In fact, every entry would merit a prize in some contest or other and every judge, however scientific s/he tries to be, is inevitably subjective. All contestants, therefore, are seriously advised to enter their stories in other competitions without delay. (The stories will bear the Writers' Village seal of approval!)

Our three winners below are entitled to name themselves 'Winner 1st [etc] Prize in the Writers' Village Best Writing Award Spring 2010'.

Outright winner (£150). Karen Wolfe of Hornsea, East Yorkshire, UK for her story Sparrowbane. To read Karen's story, click here.

Second prize (£30). Sarah Dobbs of Wigan, UK for an extract from her novel Killing Daniel. To read Sarah's story, click here.

Third prize (£20). Wolfiewolfgang of Lewes, East Sussex, UK for Chicken. To read his story, click here.

The shortlisted winners below are entitled to use the phrase 'Shortlisted in the Writers' Village Best Writing Award Spring 2010'.

The ten shortlisted winners (£10), in alphabetical order of surname, are:

Gayle Beveridge of Victoria, Australia for The Garramoda, here.

Valerie Bowes of Caterham, Surrey, UK for Chill Thy Nights here.

Lisa Clark of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria for The Manipulated Gene here.

Rosemary Gemmell of Langbank, Scotland for Bubbles here.

Brian Mullaly of Ontario, Canada for If I Were a Blackbird here.

Iain Pattison of Bristol, UK for C.S. –Aye Jimmy here.

Spencer Ratcliffe of Woodford, New South Wales, Australia for The Disapproving Moon here.

Jane Ryan of Stonehouse, Gloucester, UK for A Bracelet of Bright Hair here.

Lynne Voyce of Smethwick, UK for Elizabeth and Alfie here.

Laura Wilkinson of Brighton, UK for Blood Mining here. 

To return to How to Enter the Contest, click here