The much awaited results of the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition were announced on Wednesday 22 February at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay as part of an evening celebrating Welsh fiction.
First Prize of £1000 was awarded to Kate Hamer from Cardiff for her story One Summer. Kate, who was born in the West Country and raised in Pembrokeshire, is currently working on completing her first novel, the opening of which recently won the Luigi Bonomi/Aberystwyth University prize for best beginning of a novel.
Kate’s story One Summer is about a young girl called Scarlet who, while her mother is in hospital following an accident, embarks on an otherwise forbidden friendship with a boy called Wolf. Following the announcement of the winners, Kate said: “Winning a prize like The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition is an incredible thing to happen to any writer, but for me – working on my first novel – it’s also a massive boost of confidence. To have such organisations as Literature Wales and The Rhys Davies Trust who really value and nurture writing here is wonderful. Wales feels like a great place to be a writer at the moment.”
The ten equal runners-up in the competition each receiving £100 are: Bill Davies from Llansawel in Carmarthenshire; Stevie Davies from Swansea; Nigel Jarrett from Chepstow; Huw Lawrence from Aberystwyth; Rob Mimpriss from Bangor; Derek Routledge from Cardiff; Ann Ruffell from Conwy; Linda Ruhemann from Abergavenny and Jo Verity from Cardiff.
The competition was judged by Trezza Azzopardi, Russell Celyn Jones and filter judge Siân Preece.
Literature Wales Chief Executive Lleucu Siencyn said: “The continued success of the Rhys Davies Competition shows that the short story form is as strong as ever in Wales. New and established writers feature in the list of winners proving that literary competitions are important for writers at all stages of their career.”
In addition to the publication of an anthology, containing all eleven prize-winning stories, three of the winners will also have their story recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio Wales. Keep an eye on the Literature Wales website as information on the anthology and broadcast will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition is administered by Literature Wales and supported by the Rhys Davies Trust.
