A not-for-profit organisation
Encouraging creative writing
The 2020 Short Story and Poetry Competitions will open for entries on 1st May 2020. This year feels very different from previous times because worldwide we are conscious of the threat from coronavirus and are trying to find ways to cope with the self-isolation that has been forced upon us.
It will be hard to stay positive, but one of the methods you might want to try is to use the time to bring that story or poem out of your imagination and put it into hard print so that others can read and enjoy it. Then you might want to take the next step of entering your written work in our short story or poetry competition. As a result, you could see your entry being recognised in a number of ways from being longlisted to winning a monetary prize.
Building on the success of the Young Writers' Short Story Award in 2019 we are now extending this to include the Young Writers' Poetry Award. For both these awards, if you are aged 30 or less on 1st May 2020, your story or poem will automatically qualify for a chance to win these prizes, but please ensure that you enter your age group on the entry form. The prizewinners will receive £100 and will be published in the 2020 anthology.
For any of you who are new to our competitions and are uncertain whether you should enter, you may find it useful to obtain a copy of the anthology of shortlisted stories and poems. The anthology for 2019 has not yet been published but previous publications can be purchased from Amazon. Go to the Archive menu option and scroll down the page to the particular year.
For all of you who will be entering this year we thank you for your support and wish you luck.
Eleanor is a respected Editor and publisher. After working as publishing director of Avon, the commercial fiction arm of HarperCollins, she moved to Bonnier Zaffre where she spearheaded the commercial women's fiction and reading group list and she published bestselling authors Louise Pentland, Lydia Syson, Patricia Wilson and saga brand Rosie Goodwin Publishing where she had overall responsibility for women's fiction.
Other authors she has worked with include Jeffrey Archer, Angela Clarke and Kate Mosse.
In April this year she joined Headline Review imprint, home to authors Victoria Hislop, Jill Mansell and Alison Weir, as leader of their commercial fiction team.
Eleanor is also the co-founder of the Feminist Book Society, a monthly get-together that hosts active panels about feminism with authors and industry insiders.
Nick Everett is founder and co-editor of New Walk Editions poetry pamphlets. He teaches poetry writing and contemporary poetry at the University of Leicester.
Having gained experience as an author, publisher, publicist and marketer, Kate has seen every side of publishing and has used her background to set up her own literary agency so she could do "the best job in publishing". Kate's reading tastes - from romance to thrillers - are highly commercial.
Kate has a degree in History (BA Hons.) from the University of York and later gained distinction with two undergraduate modules in Creative Writing and Literature from the Open University. She also holds a postgraduate certificate from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
Kate enjoys travel, wine, the theatre and fine art. She is also a trustee of the Catholic Truth Society (CTS), a 150-year-old charity who are the UK publishers to the Holy See.
Kate Nash is listed 20th in UK Fiction by Publishers Marketplace, based on number of deals made (Feb 2017). Kate was named as The Bookseller Rising Star in 2018.
Find out more about Kate Nash from her website
.| Story title | Author |
| Caught Kindly by the Tides | Jeremy Galgutt - Nottingham |
| Chad Woz 'Ere | Nicola Ratnett - Llangammarch Wells |
| Change is the Keeper of All Things | Michael Roe - Wimborne - Dorset |
| The Fish Tree | Louise Wilford - Barnsley |
| In Search of Puffins | Jacci Gooding - Fenny Compton |
| Influence | Sarah Price _ London |
| Last Light Breaking | Meg Holdsworth - Cheltenham |
| The Longest Rope | Torshia Seales - Princes Town, Trinidad & Tobago |
| Miss Bird Catches a Wave | Diana Powell - Haverford West |
| Mr Jemba | Stephen Palmer - Stockport |
| Okavanga Theft | Jennifer Walne - Cambridge |
| Wayne's Name | Hannah Retallick - Menai Bridge |
| Poem title | Poet |
| The Black Mountain | Estelle Price - Wilmslow |
| Fungi Foray | Adrian Buckner - Derby |
| Geese | Jim Green - Norwich |
| The Land of Epilogue | Anthony Watts - Taunton |
| My Neighbour the Magician | Chris Raetschus - Hexham |
| Northride | Gwen Seabourne - Bristol |
| The Orchid Room | Molly Underwood - London |
| Poldark III | Sharon Black - St André de Valborgne, France |
| Il Ponte di Morandi, Genoa 2018 | Caroline Maldonado - London |
| Private Viewing | Georgina Titmus - Truro |
| a recurring drama in one act | Lucy Crispin - Kendal |
| Spider | Tarquin Landseer - London |
| Story title | Author |
| Amazons Teetering on the Edge of a Black Sea | Shannon Savvas - Nicosia, Cyprus |
| The Assassination of a President | Richard Hooton - Ashton-under-Lyne |
| Caught Kindly by the Tides | Jeremy Galgutt - Nottingham |
| Chad Woz 'Ere | Nicola Ratnett - Llangammarch Wells |
| Change is the Keeper of All Things | Michael Roe - Wimborne - Dorset |
| The Elephant played the Trumpet | M Valentine Williams - Market Drayton |
| The Fish Tree | Louise Wilford - Barnsley |
| The Goat | Andrew Canty - Deal |
| A Good House In A Storm | Jeremy Galgut - Nottingham |
| Hogwarts, We Have a Problem | Stephen Brown - Greenisland |
| In Search of Puffins | Jacci Gooding - Fenny Compton |
| Influence | Sarah Price _ London |
| Last Light Breaking | Meg Holdsworth - Cheltenham |
| The Longest Rope | Torshia Seales - Princes Town, Trinidad & Tobago |
| A Mile in Her Shoes | Shannon Savvas - Nicosia, Cyprus |
| Miss Bird Catches a Wave | Diana Powell - Haverford West |
| Mr Jemba | Stephen Palmer - Stockport |
| Nightcaps for Wild Boys | Bruce Harris - Seaton |
| No Answer | Eamon Oleary - Cork, Ireland |
| Okavanga Theft | Jennifer Walne - Cambridge |
| A Pocket for Secrets | Angela Williams - Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Sex like slugs | Gemma Williams - Newhaven |
| Snake in the Grass | Judith Tremaine Drazin - Bristol |
| Sorrow Bees | Pete Pitman - Stapleford |
| Stop Them Talking | Lucy Banks - Exeter |
| Tides | Anita Goodfellow - Marlow |
| Wayne's Name | Hannah Retallick - Menai Bridge |
| Poem title | Poet |
| The Black Mountain | Estelle Price - Wilmslow |
| Clearing His Father's House | Adrian Buckner - Derby |
| This Culture/This Life | Caroline Maldonado - London |
| The Dutch Room, picture no. 12 | Neil Elder - Harrow |
| Encrypted | Angela Croft - London |
| Fixed Odds | Peter Branson - Rode Heath |
| Fungi Foray | Adrian Buckner - Derby |
| The Gate | Maurice Franceschi - Glasgow |
| Geese | Jim Green - Norwich |
| Home/Back to the Root | Ambrin Mcbrinn - Teddington |
| Knives are the New Norm | Caroline Maldonado - London |
| The Land of Epilogue | Anthony Watts - Taunton |
| My Neighbour the Magician | Chris Raetschus - Hexham |
| Northride | Gwen Seabourne - Bristol |
| The Orchid Room | Molly Underwood - London |
| Poldark I | Sharon Black - St André de Valborgne, France |
| Poldark III | Sharon Black - St André de Valborgne, France |
| Il Ponte di Morandi, Genoa 2018 | Caroline Maldonado - London |
| Private Viewing | Georgina Titmus - Truro |
| Rant | Rowena Warwick - Thame |
| A Recurring Drama in One Act | Lucy Crispin - Kendal |
| Remembryo | Oliver Jones - London |
| Seminar, or I close my eyes and count to ten in Welsh | Gwen Seabourne - Bristol |
| The Silver Grey | Lizzie Holden - London |
| Speed Dating in a Northern Town | Peter Burgham - York |
| Spider | Tarquin Landseer - London |
| Stop Kicking | Oliver Jones - London |
| The Thoughts of Charles Byrne | Ben Ray - Ross-on-Wye |
| Triangulation | Mark Totterdell - Exeter |
| You Want to Come to Mine? | Eleni Cay - Milton Keynes |
Sophie Hannah is a best-selling author of atmospheric, psychological thrillers and her poetry is studied for exams. In September 2015 BWC invited her to be interviewed before a live audience at the Trinity Theatre, Bedford. She entertained us with her recollections of how she became a successful writer and shared some of her novel-writing secrets.
Ruth Hogan was the 2017 short story competition judge and has been a regular supporter of the competition since its start. Being a local author she represents the cultural reputation of Bedford which the BIWC aims to promote. Having spent her early working life in local government she wrote stories as part of her therapy while recovering from cancer. Her success with her first published novel in 2017 is testament to her never giving up hope of becoming a best-selling author and is a fine example to all writers with similar ambitions.
Toby Litt is an English writer and academic in the Department of English and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London. He has several publications to his name both novels and collections of short stories. Born in Ampthill and a former pupil of Bedford Modern School. In 2016 he was the judge of the BIWC Short Story Competition.
Ian McEwen was the judge for the 2016 Poetry Competition. He has had his poems published in a variety of magazines as well as producing a pamphlet, The Stammering Man and his first full collection in book form, Intermittent Beings. He is interested in opportunities to broaden the practice and appreciation of poetry, through readings, workshops or residencies.
Sue Moorcroft is a Sunday Times and international bestselling author and has reached the coveted No.1 spot on Amazon Kindle. She's won the Readers' Best Romantic Novel award, the Katie Fforde Bursary, and has been nominated on several other occasions, including for the Romantic Novel of the Year Awards.
She is a former judge of the Writers' Forum competitions.
Her short stories, serials, columns, writing guides and courses have appeared all over the world.
Margaret Norwich was the judge of the Bedford Prize in 2015 and 2016. She studied liberal arts at Vassar College, New York and then came over to England to read English at Girton College, Cambridge. As well as working in publishing and the voluntary sector, Margaret lectured for many years on English Language and Literature at De Montfort and Cranfield Universities. American born, she now regards herself a true Bedfordian.
Leigh Russell is a best-selling crime novelist. Her association with the BIWC began in 2014 when the competition went 'nternational'. She has been the judge for the 2014 and the 2015 competitions. We are extremely grateful for the encouragement that she has given us and gives to writers of all abilities.
© 2020 The Bedford Writing Competition. Developed by Xiaorong Tan
