Final results 14/04/08

(Click the extract link to read the first page of each story from the Winners' Anthology.)

Winners:

1. Seeing Anyone - Tom Vowler (website) (extract)

2. Wrong Bus - Jo Field (extract)

3. The Hour - Hannah Eisman-Renyard (extract)

 

Commended:

• In the Constitution - Joel Willans (extract)

• Lost and Found - Rachel Crowther (extract)

 

Short List:

 

• Seeing Anyone – Tom Vowler

• Off the Map – Fiona Ritchie Walker

• Melting Away – Vivien Jones

• The Hour - Hannah Eiseman-Renyard

• Lost and Found – Rachel Crowther

• In the Constitution – Joel Willans

• Wrong Bus – Jo Field

 

 

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who supported the competition this year. News of the Story winners' anthology will be announced shortly, and you can read Susie's comments here.

Second long list 30/03/08

 

• Radical Design – Rachel Crowther

• Dragon Rider – Sarah Shaw

• Toxic – Sarah Shaw

• Seeing Anyone – Tom Vowler

• Crane Fly – Katherine Clements

• The Unnertaakin' – Susan Grant

• The Magic Man – Penelope Randall

• The Hair Cut – Deborah Gregory

• I Can Read You Like a Book – Rol Hirst

• Off the Map – Fiona Ritchie Walker

• Melting Away – Vivien Jones

• The Mice - Rachel Arrowsmith

• nightdomain – David Paterson

• The 52 to Kingswood – William Letford

• The Visitor – Rosemary Chapple

• Going Commando – Annie Harrison

• Health and Safety – Sally Zigmond

• The Hour - Hannah Eiseman-Renyard

• Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind – Vic  Rothwell

• Lost and Found – Rachel Crowther

• In the Constitution – Joel Willans

• The Man Who Knew How –  Fiona Joseph

• The Same But The Other Way Around - Kate Dunton

• Well A Cushy Number  –  Dariush Alavi   

• Wrong Bus – Jo Field

First long list 26/03/08

The following 50 stories were selected in the first round of judging from just over 400 entries, and from which the second long list of 25 were chosen and sent to judge Susie Maguire.

 

• Radical Design – Rachel Crowther

• Window Dressing – Lucy Kitt

• Dragon Rider – Sarah Shaw

• Toxic – Sarah Shaw

• Seeing Anyone – Tom Vowler

• Booking – Derek Adams

• Going Under -  A Fuller

• Duty Calls – Douglas Bruton

• Crane Fly – Katherine Clements

• The Unnertaakin' – Susan Grant

• The Magic Man – Penelope Randall

• The Hair Cut – Deborah Gregory

• I Can Read You Like a Book – Rol Hirst

• Depth in Mustard – Rachel Arrowsmith

• True love, Blue love – Anne Armstrong

• Off the Map – Fiona Ritchie Walker

• Melting Away – Vivien Jones

• Breaching the Laager – Glynis Gertsch

• The Mice - Rachel Arrowsmith

• The Daughter of Shaitan – Harry Robertson

• nightdomain – David Paterson

• Auditor Lieu’s Little Announcement – Harry Robertson

• The 52 to Kingswood – William Letford

• Three Girls in Hats and Sandals – Douglas Bruton

• DVD – Nina Milton

• The Visitor – Rosemary Chapple

• Teardrops – Emma Melville

• Stealing the Show on Nature – Anne Goodwin

• Going Commando – Annie Harrison

• A Smell of Paint – Anne Goodwin

• Out of Style – Amy Bell

• Inheritance – Edna Eglinton

• Respect – Lisbeth Michaels

• Health and Safety – Sally Zigmond

• A Mistake – Val Davies

• The Hour - Hannah Eiseman-Renyard

• What the Painter Saw – Errol Collen

• Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind – Vic  Rothwell

• Lost and Found – Rachel Crowther

• Mr Norris’ Profession – Mrs K C Murdarasi

• Merely Players – Helen Cooper

• In the Constitution – Joel Willans

• The Man Who Knew How –  Fiona Joseph

• Woodman, Woodman – Clare Girvan

• Framed – Karen Pailing

• The Same But The Other Way Around - Kate Dunton

• Well A Cushy Number  –  Dariush Alavi   

• Peter and the Milk Jug – Emma Lee

• Wrong Bus – Jo Field

• Otto and Leonora – Heidi Amsinck

Update 14/03/08

This year there were just over 400 entries to the STORY competition, which was marvellous and also a bit of a shock. The filter readers were Sarah Willans and Helena Nelson - that was 200 stories each, and around three quarters of those entries requested tick-box critiques. 

This is how the process went. All the entries went to the administrator who logged them, stamped the story, entry form and any SAEs with a unique number, and sorted them into two piles: the Sarah pile and the Helena pile. 

Sarah and Helena started reading, one of them in Devon, the other in Fife. This is how the reading process goes: 

 

1. Read story once quickly.

2. Read story again.

3. Do tick box critique if requested (the tick box has a box for a comment too. This takes quite a time to do. The comments are honest ones and also personal, reflecting the view of the person who read the story. Even when criticising, we try to be constructive.)

4. Mark story as Yes List [:- ) ], Look Again [:-| ] or No [:-( ].

5. Gather stories together. Look again at the 'Look Agains'.

6. Draw up list of approximately 40 out of the 200 and send that list to the other reader.

7. Sarah sends 40 stories to Helena. Helena tells Sarah the numbers of her 40 stories (Sarah has the second copy). 

This is where we're at. What next? 

From the stories Sarah and Helena have exchanged, they each whittle down to the 25 they think best. Then they will talk. If one or other feels strongly that one of the stories that isn't in the 25, should be, or that one IS in the 25 and doesn't deserve to be, they will argue for it. Finally they will arrive at a jointly agreed long list of 50 which we will post on the website. At this point checkbox critiques will be returned to authors. 

Second whittling stage 

The first long list 50 will be now reduced to 25. This 25 will form the set of stories that goes to Susie Maguire for judging. How will we do this reduction? Sarah and Helena will both go back to the 50, and discuss which 25 should go forward. There will be lengthy phone calls between Fife and Devon. Once the selection has been finalised, we'll post a second long list on the website. 

Judge Susie Maguire on the case

Susie will read 25 stories and arrive at a short list of 6 which we'll share with you. From that, she will select three winners and make brief comments about her choices. 

Filter Judges’ Feedback so far

• lots of good stories

• lots of good stories with a significant flaw

• lots of characters called 'George'

• often couples in stories seem to have names that begin with the same letter (John and Jane, Betty and Bob)

• interesting number of stories involving betting

• stories in which one of the characters turns out to be a ghost are as popular as ever 

• a frequent weakness of construction is to do with handling of dialogue -- either the words sound wooden, or there are too many attributives (‘he/she said’, ‘Alice yelled’, ‘Arnold stuttered‘), or the punctuation and paragraphing around dialogue is faulty

• another key weakness is too much backdrop filler in past perfect tense (She had met John the year before when they had both been Skiing in the Alps. He had been on holiday for two weeks. She had been there as a ski instructor etc., etc.).

• a significant number of well-written stories leave the reader puzzled at the end. The 'click' doesn't click. This makes the filter judge feel stupid, and in fact, the fault may be with that reader. However, if one of us doesn't understand the end of your story, or doesn't see the point, it is likely that others will feel the same.

• some stories fell at the first hurdle by breaking the rules, or by arriving at our local sorting office under-stamped. These are simple things to get right, so it's always worth double-checking your entry before you send it.