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2024 Poetry Competition Shortlist
| Name | Title | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Andrea Perry | Faith and the Five Word fortune-teller | UK |
| Brenna Manuel | Wounded Knee p.93 | USA |
| Carolyn Gillespie | Unmarked Graves: Kamloops Indian Residential School, British Columbia, 2021 | UK |
| Damen O'Brien | In the Botanic Gardens | Australia |
| Elisabeth Murawski | The Small House in a Great Garden | USA |
| Lauren Mills | Letter to the Editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac, Robert Bailey Thomas | USA |
| Mark Fiddes | Euclid observes the end of geometry | Dubai |
| Mark Yakich | Instructions for Looking at Your Own Reflection | USA |
Owen Lewis | In The Wings | USA |
| Panika Dillon | Two cents for Bryan Hughes | USA |
| Philip Rosel Baker | Dandelion | UK |
Shelly Dennison | The whaler | UK |
2024 Short Story Competition – Shortlist
| Name | Title | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Ade Onitolo | My Other Half | UK |
| Bostan Nurlanov | The Eye and the Hand | Australia |
| David Mathews | Sheltered Lives | UK |
| Elaine O'Connor | Carmel | UK |
| Herb Zarov | The Dinner Party | USA |
| Jaime Gill | The Wedding Party | UK |
| Joe Bedford | Closure | UK |
| Louise Brakspear | Sleep Through the Winter | UK |
| Nora Thurkle | Ghost Signs | UK |
| Peter Holmes | Sahib want sugar? | Vietnam |
| Sally Bramley | Waiting for the balloons | UK |
| Sonya Weiss | Reflections | UK |
2024 Poetry Competition - Longlist
| Customer Name | Poem | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Allen Shadow | Walter's Luncheonette | USA |
| Allen Shadow | Dream and Dream and Dream | USA |
| Allison Hamilton | By the side of the fire | Australia |
| Andrea Perry | Faith and the Five Word fortune-teller | UK |
| Andrea Perry | How we are changed | UK |
| Brenna Manuel | Wounded Knee p.93 | USA |
| Carolyn Gillespie | Unmarked Graves: Kamloops Indian Residential School, British Columbia, 2021 | UK |
| Carolyn Gillespie | Winter. Eyes Shut. | UK |
| Christian Ward | The Quiet Alchemy Of The River Thames | UK |
| Damen O'Brien | The Curb-side Clean-up Tourney | Australia |
| Damen O'Brien | Kill Your Darlings | Australia |
| Damen O'Brien | In the Botanic Gardens | Australia |
| Deidre Sullivan | Good Shirts | USA |
| Elaine O'Connor | A Red Kite Hunts in Winter | UK |
| Elisabeth Murawski | The Small House in a Great Garden | USA |
| Esperanza Snyder | Hearing You Talk About Verona | USA |
| Esther Lay | Dropping Simon Armitage in the Bath | UK |
| Faye Wikner | Huldra | USA |
| George Alexandru Dragoi | The ballad of a dapper dreamer | UK |
| Gwyneth Box | Hoopoe morning | UK |
| Isobel Cunningham | Vancouver Island Moon | Canada |
| Judy Crowe | The Mulberry Tree (Morus rubra) on Irving Street in My Back Yard, Shared with the Grovers, Dale and Patty, Who Once Drank a Bottle of Vanilla Extract and Her Brother Said She Might Die (She Didn’t) | USA |
| Lauren Mills | Letter to the Editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac, Robert Bailey Thomas | USA |
| Maria Surricchio | No Word I Know | USA |
| Maria Surricchio | Impossible Numbers | USA |
| Mark Fiddes | New evidence of hummingbirds | Dubai |
| Mark Fiddes | Euclid observes the end of geometry | Dubai |
| Mark Yakich | Instructions for Looking at Your Own Reflection | USA |
| Michael Harris | We Who Are Digging | UK |
| Norman Goodwin | Without Consent | USA |
Owen Lewis | In The Wings | USA |
| Panika Dillon | Two cents for Bryan Hughes | USA |
| Philip Rosel Baker | Dandelion | UK |
| Rachael Hill | Something Borrowed: An Ode to Leipzig or “Mir läuft die zeit davon” | UK |
| Sharon Black | Bakelite | France |
| Sharon Rockman | When motherhood entails python maintenance | Australia |
| Shelley Dennison | The whaler | UK |
| Tricia Torrington | Five Languages of Love | UK |
Zuzana Kovárová | Between us | Czechia |
2024 Short Story Competition – Longlist.
| Name | Short Story | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Ade Onitolo | My Other Half | UK |
| Aidan Everett | Aunt Marjorie and the Jeep | UK |
| Bostan Nurlanov | The Eye and the Hand | Australia |
| Callum Brennan-Osment | A Knight in Shining Armour | UK |
| Catherine Love-Smith | Reflectivity | UK |
| David Mathews | Sheltered Lives | UK |
| David Shelley Jones | The Green Pool | Australia |
| Dianne Bown-Wilson | Guardian Angel | UK |
| Elaine O'Connor | Carmel | UK |
| Emma Williams | Pest Control | UK |
| Gary Finnegan | In Common Calamity | Ireland |
| Helen Binks | Visiting hours | UK |
| Herb Zarov | The Dinner Party | USA |
| Jaime Gill | No Place Like Home | UK |
| Jaime Gill | The Wedding Party | UK |
| James Skivington | American Dream | UK |
| James Watson | A Cup of Tea | UK |
| Joe Bedford | Closure | UK |
| Judith Wilson | Songs of Desire at the Library | UK |
| Keith McKibbin | The Smell of Orange | UK |
| Laura Hayward | Chess with Egga | UK |
| Louise Brakspear | Sleep Through the Winter | UK |
| Mark Campbell | Sarge | USA |
| Matt Thomas | Missing | UK |
| Matt Thomas | The Salute | UK |
| Noel Taylor | Where's Neville? | Portugal |
| Nora Thurkle | Ghost Signs | UK |
| Paul Bassett Davies | Big Fire at Old Seaside Hotel | UK |
Peter Holmes | Sahib want sugar? | Vietnam |
| Rae Leaver Rahman | What it would be to hold your hand | UK |
| Richard Westwell | The Devil and the Seamstress | Australia |
| Sahlan Diver | A Sudden and Totally Unexpected Reversal of Fortune | Ireland |
| Sallie Bingham | July Fourth | USA |
| Sally Bramley | Waiting for the balloons | UK |
| Sara Cizek | Theo's Awakening | USA |
| Shanley Kearney | Team Player | USA |
| Sonya Weiss | Reflections | UK |
| Sue Smith | Somewhere In England | UK |
| Willy Adam | Three Blind Mice | UK |
Author event.
Don’t miss your opportunity to support a local Bedford writer who is hosting the launch of Rose Diell’s new book at the Eagle Bookshop, Bedford.
Kate Packman is The Bedford Competition 2025 Judge of the Bedford Short Story Prize.
Kate graduated from the University of Bedfordshire and completed an MA in creative writing at Birkbeck.
She is an active member of Ampthill Writers’ Group and Writing Bedfordshire.
She is an active member of Ampthill Writers’ Group and Writing Bedfordshire.
The Forward Book of Poetry
The Forward Book of Poetry, an anthology of the best poems from 2024, includes poems from The Bedford Competition judges:
Rishi Dastidar, 2024 and 2025 Cygnature Poetry judge.
Fran Lock, 2025 Main Poetry judge.
Also several of our competition entrants are in the collection:
Damen O’Brien – Winner in 2022
Vanessa Lampert -Third Place in 2021 and shortlisted in 2020
We congratulate them and are proud to have our judges and poets represented in the most influential awards for new poetry published in the UK and Ireland.
