Monday 31 October 2016

Friday 28 October 2016

Off the Beaten Track

Delighted to be Highly Commended in the Senior Travel Expert Travel Writing Competition!


 Copyright M Huggins 2007

The Off the Beaten Track Writing Competition closed on September 30th. Over 300 entries were received with about a quarter of them being fictional. Most of the entries were of publishable standard and it was clear that a lot of time and thought had been put into meeting the competition criteria. Our thanks to everyone who entered.
Ten Runners-up will each receive a £10 firstwriter.comsubscription voucher.The high standard of entries meant that judging was very difficult. After much consideration, the Judging Panel, chaired by our Writing Competition Editor, Anne Esser, chose two entries as Joint Winners, one factual the other fictional. Each entrant will receive half of the £100competition prize.
In recognition of the high number of good quality entries, the Judging Panel decided that ten additional entries that were short-listed, but not finally chosen as winners or runners-up, should be listed as Highly Commended.
The winning and runner-up entries will be published on the STE website over the next few weeks.

Joint Winners

  • The Kingdom of the Cats – A Warm Welcome at the Edge of the World by Andrea Wotherspoon
  • Ystalyfera by Bridget Blankley (Fictional)

Runners-up

  • Anyone for Tea? by Barbara Bond
  • Bobbinfield Blast Off by Carolyn Ward (Fictional)
  • Cowboys, Indians and Hot Water by Deryn van der Tang
  • Exploring History – Chernobyl Exclusion Zone by Philippa Holloway
  • Just My Cup of Tea by Anne Leuchars
  • Not Just Soap by Caroline Boobis
  • Out of Place by Simon Whaley
  • The Grand Experience by Andrew Abbott (Fictional)
  • The Park in the Sky by Ellen Evers
  • The Road to Nowhere by Janet Traill

Highly Commended

  • Bray: Ireland’s Forgotten ‘Brighton’ by Eimear Dodd
  • Delicious Surprise by Mandy Huggins
  • Figeac – A Fortuitous Interlude by Amanda Lumley
  • Finding Paradise in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala by Lisa Montgomery
  • Jaffna by Clare Foxon
  • Journeying Back Into the Blue Ridge by Judy Mitchell
  • Life’s a Beach by Laura Collins
  • Nootka Island Trek by Janet Rogers
  • South of the Celtic Sea by Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder (Fictional)
  • Why Don’t More Come to Morecambe? by Helen Rhodes

Wednesday 5 October 2016

Dragonfly Tea / Henley Literary Festival Short Story Competition


So excited to be the runner-up in this year's competition!

Announcing our 2016 Short Story Winners!

 



The Dragonfly Tea Short Story competition has now come to a close. We received an outstanding number of entries, over 1000 across the adults and children's categories, and we were incredibly impressed with the quality and high standard of stories that were submitted this year.

Every story was read and reviewed and after a tough judging process, we are now thrilled to announce the winners of this year's Short Story Competition 2016:

Main Competition Winners: 

 

1st Prize
Jo Tiddy
Asase Ya
 
2nd Prize
Mandy Huggins
Michael Secker's Last Day 
 
3rd Prize
Hannah Hastilow
An Untitled Spanish Tale
 

Children's Competition Winners:

 

Ages 12-15:
Winner
Sophie Koziell-Pipe
The Observer
Highly Commended
Mia Myers
Heart Wrenched
Highly Commended
Sachleen Soor
We're All Mad Here

Ages 8-11:
Winner
Oscar Heelan
Pie in the W-Eye
Highly Commended
Ben Barnard
Liko and the Mythical Phoenix
Highly Commended
Charlie Martin
The Mary Celeste

Ages 4-7:
Winner
Lachlan Hudson-Cubitt
The Curse of the Sacred Maze
Highly Commended
Benji Rilett
When Nana Met a Goblin
Highly Commended
Bertie Wood
Attack of the One-eyed Boogei 
 
The winners were announced at our special awards ceremony at the Henley Literary Festival, where two of our wonderful judges Helen Lederer and Ireneson Okojie announced the winners and read the winning stories. 


We would like to congratulate all of the winners and thank everyone for entering this year. We hope our competition has inspired budding writers of all ages to put pen to paper and write a tale of discovery or adventure!

Also, this year we have printed all shortlisted stories into beautiful booklets. If you would like to read our shortlisted stories, please send an email to hello@dragonflytea.com and we would be delighted to send you a copy. 






Vo(i)ces II - A Review by Cathy Bryant

VO(I)CES II - A REVIEW BY CATHY BRYANT Vo(i)ces II is an anthology of the winning and commended poems from The Victorina Press Vo(i)ces Poe...