Donate

The Bedford Competition 2021 Results

The 2021 Judges

Patrick McGuinness

Short Story Prize Judge

Patrick McGuinness is a poet and novelist, and Professor of French at the University of Oxford. His first novel, The Last Hundred Days (2011), was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Writers Club First Novel Award, and winner of the Writers Guild Award for Fiction and the Wales Book of the Year... Read More

Anne Berkeley

Poetry Prize Judge

Anne Berkeley's poems have been published widely and have won prizes in many competitions including the Times Literary Supplement, Arvon, Kent & Sussex. Her first collection The Men from Praga (Salt) was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre prize.... Read More

Katherine Mezzacappa

Cygnature Story Prize Judge

Katherine Mezzacappa is Irish but now lives in Carrara, between the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea. She writes mainly historical fiction on the themes of love and culture clash. Writing as Katie Hutton, she is the author of The Gypsy Bride (2020), The Gypsy's Daughter (2021) and Annie of Ainsworth's Mill (2022) published by Bonnier Zaffre. Her first novel under her own name, The Virgin of Florence, is in press with Impress Books for September 2022..... Read More

Cameron Staurt

Cygnature Poetry Prize Judge

Cameron Stuart is a poet originally from, and now back residing in, Bedford. He attended the Poetry MFA at Saint Mary's College of California, and has taught writing at SMC and Berkeley.... Read More

Guy Russell

Bedford Story Prize Judge

Guy Russell was born in Chatham, UK, and has been a holiday courier, purchasing clerk, media analyst and fan-heater production operative. He currently works in Milton Keynes for the Open University.... Read More

Simon Wrigley

Bedford Poetry Prize Judge

Simon taught English in secondary schools (1973-1994) before becoming chair of the national association (NATE) 2004-2006. He advised on English teaching in schools in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, 1994-2013. In 2009, he co-founded and directed a national project for writing teachers: National Writing Project. .. Read More

The 2021 Winners

Main Short Story

1st Prize

Passepartout

Gem Newman

.

2nd Prize

The Rains

Gavin O’Toole

3rd Prize

A Gradual Thing

Diana Powell

Main Poetry Prize

1st Prize

Motherland

Jenny Mitchell

 

2nd Prize

Penelope’s Perspective: Cutting Up the Bed to Offer Him Olive Branches

Freya Bantiff

3rd Prize

Halloween

Vanessa Lampert

Cygnature Short Story

CygnaturePoetry

Every Room, Every Wall

Eamonn McKeon

The certainty of your goodness

Hugo Jeudy

Bedford Short Story

Bedford Poetry

Shaken

Monica Hetherington

As A Child

Peter Chalker

Short Story Competition – Shortlist

Story titleAuthor
The End of Love-LongingSerena AlagappanUK
Lightning GirlElen Lee LewisUK
PassepartoutGem NewmanCanada
The Heehaw DogGill HerizUK
The RainsGavin O'TooleUK
The Fifty-Nine Second WatchAlastair ChisholmUK
ClaraChris HumphreyUK
Go, Judy, Go!, Judy, Go!David Shelley JonesAustralia
A Gradual ThingDiana PowellUK
ReleasedBruce HarrisUK
The Rescue DogDavid ButlerIreland
Whispers in ColourMichael RanesUK

Poetry Competition – Shortlist

Poem titlePoet
Biding our timeSusan GullyUK
The BiologistJennifer HarrisonAustralia
EggMichaela CoplenUK
ExaminationAnne CaseyAustralia
HalloweenVanessa LampertUK
HitchhikerNicholas HoggUK
In Memory of my father: UpholstererPhilip DunnUK
MotherlandJenny MitchellUK
Penelope's Perspective: Cutting Up the Bed to Offer Him Olive BranchesFreya BantiffUK
Snow DayMarie-Louise EyresUSA
SoarJim GreenUK
ViewMichaela CoplenUK

The Bedford Competition is an established nonprofit group that runs annual short story and poetry competitions. We are an internationally recognised competition with a carefully curated panel of judges who are either acclaimed writers or agents from renowned literary agencies.

Pages
Subscribe for more news and updates
Facebook-f Instagram
Donate

© 2024 The Bedford Competition | All Rights Reserved

Scroll to Top
Patrick McGuinness

Short Story Prize Judge

Patrick McGuinness is a poet and novelist, and Professor of French at the University of Oxford. His first novel, The Last Hundred Days (2011), was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Writers Club First Novel Award, and winner of the Writers Guild Award for Fiction and the Wales Book of the Year. In French, it was shortlisted for both the Prix Meedicis étranger and the Priz Fémina étranger, and won the Prix de la librairie Millepages and the Premier Roman étranger

Liv Maidment

Short Story Prize Judge

Liv Maidment is Head of Books and a Literary Agent specialising in literary, upmarket, and book club fiction. Liv came to the Madeleine Milburn Agency from The Blair Partnership and United Agents where she worked with bestselling and award-winning authors and global literary brands. She joined the agency in 2020 where she represents a stellar list of literary, upmarket, and book club fiction. As Head of Books, Liv works closely with the directors to implement strategy across the agency.

Jessica Mookherjee

Poetry Prize Judge

Jessica Mookherjee is author of two poetry collections and her second, Tigress (Nine Arches Press) was Shortlisted for best second collection in the Ledbury Munthe Prize 2021. She has been twice highly commended in the Forward Prize for best single poem (in 2018 and in 2021) and her work is included in notable anthologies such as ‘Staying Human’ (Bloodaxe). Her latest pamphlet is Playlists (Broken Sleep Books). Her next full collection is called Notes from a Shipwreck and out with Nine Arches Press in August 2022 . Her long poem Desire Lines will be published by Broken Sleep Books in 2023. She is a co-editor of Against the Grain Press and a Board Member of the Poetry Society.

Anne Berkeley

Poetry Competition Judge

Anne Berkeley’s poems have been published widely and have won prizes in many competitions including the Times Literary Supplement, Arvon, Kent & Sussex. Her first collection The Men from Praga (Salt) was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre prize. She has performed round England and Wales and in New York with the poetry ensemble The Joy of Six. She edited Rebecca Elson’s acclaimed posthumous collection A Responsibility to Awe, now re-issued as a Carcanet Classic.

Katherine Mezzacappa

Cygnature Short Story Prize Judge

Katherine Mezzacappa is Irish but now lives in Carrara, between the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea. She writes mainly historical fiction on the themes of love and culture clash. Writing as Katie Hutton, she is the author of The Gypsy Bride (2020), The Gypsy’s Daughter (2021) and Annie of Ainsworth’s Mill (2022) published by Bonnier Zaffre. Her first novel under her own name, The Virgin of Florence, is in press with Impress Books for September 2022.

Katherine’s short fiction has been published by The Copperfield Review, Ireland’s Own, Erotic Review, Me First, Asymmetry, Ariel Chart, Turnpike Review, Yours and My Weekly and in anthologies. She also writes romance under the pseudonym Kate Zarrelli (eXtasy Books). Her stories have been shortlisted in competitions by The Writers and Artists Yearbook and The Fiction Desk, and longlisted for the 2018 Colm Tóibín Short Story Award and in 2019 for the Dorothy Dunnett prize. She has also published academically in the field of 19th century ephemeral illustrated fiction, and in management theory.

Whilst Katherine currently earns a living in management consultancy, which pays the bills but doesn’t nourish the soul, she has in the past been a museum curator, library assistant, lecturer in History of Art, sewing machinist and geriatric care assistant. In her spare time she volunteers with a second-hand book charity of which she is a founder member. She has two teenage sons and a husband who fortunately enjoys cooking.

Katherine is a member of the Irish Writers Centre, Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann, the Irish Writers Union, the Society of Authors, the Historical Writers’ Association, the Historical Novel Society and the Romantic Novelists Association, and reviews for Historical Novel Review. She is a manuscript assessor for The Literary Consultancy. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from Canterbury Christ Church University, and is represented by Annette Green Authors’ Agency.

Stephen Bywater

Cygnature Story Prize Judge

Stephen Bywater joined the merchant navy at sixteen before going on to study English at university. After graduating he taught in South and Central America for three years, returning to the UK to complete an MLitt at St Andrews. For the past twenty years he has taught English in Bedford, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. He is currently teaching English at a college in Cambridge He is the author of two novels, The Devil’s Ark and Night of the Damned (published by Headline/Hachette), and is currently working on his third.

Cameron Stuart

Cygnature Poetry Prize Judge

Cameron Stuart is a poet originally from, and now back residing in, Bedford. He attended the Poetry MFA at Saint Mary’s College of California, and has taught writing at SMC and Berkeley. He is the recipient of Judith Butler and Community of Writers scholarships.

Guy Russell

Bedford Short Story Prize Judge

Guy Russell was born in Chatham, UK, and has been a holiday courier, purchasing clerk, media analyst and fan-heater production operative. He currently works in Milton Keynes for the Open University. Work in No Spider Harmed (Arachne Press), Somewhere This Way (Fiction Desk), Brace (Comma Press), To Hull And Back 2018, Madame Morte (Black Shuck), Northern Stories vol. 3 (Arc), Troubles Swapped For Something Fresh (Salt), The Iron Book of New Humorous Verse (Iron), Liars League, The Rialto, The Interpreter’s House and elsewhere. Competition first prizes: HE Bates Award; Leicester Poetry Society; Ware Sonnet Prize; Cannon Sonnet or Not; Flash500. He occasionally reviews for Tears in the Fence and its blog.

Simon Wrigley

Bedford Poetry Prize Judge

Simon taught English in secondary schools (1973-1994) before becoming chair of the national association (NATE) 2004-2006. He advised on English teaching in schools in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, 1994-2013. In 2009, he co-founded and directed a national project for writing teachers: National Writing Project. He co-wrote Introducing Teachers’ Writing Groups, published by Routledge in 2015. From 2019 – 2021 he is serving on the Young Poets Stories Advisory Board as part of poetry writing development research led by Exeter and Nottingham Trent Universities. He runs a community writing group in Bedford, paints and sells his artwork to raise money for local charity:
Simon Wrigley Artwork