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In June 2010 the Jury met to decide the winning stories in the FBC/PROSPECT SHORT STORY PRIZE. The FBC Jury, made up of Baroness Joyce Quin, Tom Chatfield of Prospect Magazine, Boyd Tonkin of the Independent and Ann Kenrick of the Franco British Council met at the House of Lords recently to decide the winners. Other jury member Bonnie Greer was unable to attend the meeting but had sent her opinions in advance. After enthusiastic and animated debate, the Jury chose the winners for the two categories and we are pleased to announce the results as follows:
In the 16-18 category:
1st 'Boulogne Blood' by Lewis Bertenshaw
The judges were in full agreement that Boulogne Blood should be awarded first prize - it was a story that was rated highly by everyone. Boyd Tonkins described the story as ‘ambitious' and said that it ‘engaged with the present in an immediate and very hands-on way'. Asked what winning meant to him Lewis replied "winning the short story prize means a lot to me because it has given me confidence in my writing ability, especially having not attempted a short story before."
Download 'Boulogne Blood' here
2nd , 'The Nose and the Tongue' by Jon Richardson
Boyd Tonkin noted that this was written with a voice ‘more fully achieved' than most of the other stories and that it was a ‘well voiced and turned pastiche'. Tom Chatfield observed that this was ‘such a hard style to do' and he was ‘surprised at how well it worked'. He also commented that there were ‘phrases in there that I was stopping to enjoy' and he remarked that he thought the story was by ‘an older writer'.
Download 'The Nose and the Tongue' here
3rd 'This Will All be Over as Soon as Spring Arrives' by Kat Spooner,
Ann Kenrick noted that this story possessed ‘good pace and tension which carried the reader on' and Tom Chatfield commented that this was ‘more of a story' than many of the other entries.
Download 'This will all be Over as soon as Spring Arrives' here
The following entrants were highly commended: Amy Allebone-Salt, Ejemen Asuelimen, Shuxin Cai, Olivia Waddell
In the 19-25 category the results are:
1st 'The Bully' by Jack Boardman,
Boyd Tonkin stated that this story was ‘going to a place in terms of emotion and psychology which I thought was more sophisticated than any of the other stories'. He also commented that ‘it goes a surprising route which is always a sign of a writer in control'. Tom Chatfield observed that it is ‘difficult to write a story where the protagonist is being observed from a distance' and he felt that the story ‘skirted around what would have been a more boring and predictable story'.
Jack Boardman was drawn to the FBC short story competition because of his admiration for the ‘lost generation' of writers, such as James Joyce and Hemmingway, who chose to become ex-patriots in 1920's Paris. Although he has been published in underground magazines and has already written his first novel this is the first national prize that Jack has won. Asked what winning means to him he replied ‘It means everything - I had been saving up for a trip to France anyway because I want to go and write there. Now I can just go!' He is also an admirer of French writers such as Joris-Karl Huysmans, author of À Rebours (Against Nature), and Henri Alain-Fournier, author of Le Grand Meaulnes (The Lost Estate).
Download 'The Bully' here
2nd 'The Wasp' by Cordelia Lynn
Boyd Tonkin noted of this story that ‘sentence by sentence it holds your attention' and Tom Chatfield commented on the ‘quality of the writing and observation.' Ann Kenrick enjoyed the ‘evocative description of a family'.
Download 'The Wasp' here
3rd 'Creme Brulee by Polly Akhurst
Boyd Tonkin particularly commented on the description of the mother in this story, noting that she was ‘a character who did not come out of stock'. He said of her relationship with the daughter that ‘you have something real going on in the relationship' and he was taken by the way the mother was ‘testing the girl to the point of sadism'. Joyce Quin quoted the memorable passage from this story which contains the words ‘an anthropologist stumbling upon the cast of a Noel Coward play in a rainforest', which all the judges agreed was memorable.
Download Creme Brulee here
The following entrants were highly commended: Edward Belleville, Claire Booth, Amy Card
Details about our next competition will be posted soon.