Our annual short story contest came to a close last night at our awards evening, and a wonderful time was had by all, both in person and online; many thanks to everyone who came along, whether you took part in the contest by submitting a story and/or reading and voting, or just to hang out with the group.
As always, this year we saw a remarkably high standard in everyone’s stories, evidenced by the fact that every single entry received votes in one or more categories. The totals were quite close in some categories, making it quite a neck-and-neck race, and as evidenced by the guessing game we tried to play last night, many of you took the chance to get out of your comfort zones and wrote outside your “usual” genres and topics, which is always a fun thing to try.
Now we bring you the results below, and if you were one of the entrants, you’ll find your critique assignments (and guidelines on how to put one together) on the #2025-story-contest channel on Discord.
2025 Short Story Contest Results
The Abandoned Sanatorium, Celine Boudier
Back in Time for Eclipse, Joseph Monk
Chiralison, David Whitmarsh 🏅
Distinction: “Best in Show”
First Place: “Best Use of Theme”The Cure, Jon Page
Entropy’s Share, Charlotte McCarroll 🏅
Distinction: “Best Plot” and “Best in Show”
Third Place: “Best Style”
Second Place: “Best Worldbuilding”The Gods of Guru, Stephen Oram
Distinction: “Best Use of Theme”
Joint Third Place: “I Don’t Know Why… But I Liked It!”Honey Heist, Jane Morecroft
Distinction: “Best Character Arc”, “Best Worldbuilding”, and “I Don’t Know Why… But I Liked It!”The Improbable Box, D.C. Kemmicks
Infinite Regress, B A Blacker
Jellybean and Snickerdoodle, Alex Forbes 🥇
Third Place: “Best Use of Theme” and “I Don’t Know Why… But I Liked It!”
First Place: “Best Plot”, “Best Character Arc”, “Best Style” and “Best in Show” – congratulations on being our second two-time winner! 🎉Laniakea, Roman Durkan
Painter, Husband, Composite Man, Henry Sanders-Wright 🥉
Distinction: “Best Plot”, “Best Style”, “Best Use of Theme”
Third Place: “Best Character Arc”
Joint Second Place: “I Don’t Know Why… But I Liked It!”
First Place: “Best Worldbuilding”A Place In Mind, Alexander Mo
Joint First Place: “I Don’t Know Why, But I Liked It”Rain, Richard Yu
Third Place: “Best Plot”
Second Place: “Best Style”Reversal: A Love Story, Martin McCallion
Distinction: “Best Character Arc”A Revocation, Malcolm Barclay
Distinction: “Best Worldbuilding”Song of the Dead Twin, James Clark
Spirits Spun of Clay and Fire, Jackie Kay 🥈
Distinction: “Best Style”
Third Place: “Best Worldbuilding”
Second Place: “Best Plot”, “Best Use of Theme”, “I Don’t Know Why… But I Liked It!”, and “Best in Show”A Sprinkling of Stardust, Karin J. Robinson
Joint First Place: “I Don’t Know Why, But I Liked It”
Second Place: “Best Character Arc”Unfinished Business, Matthew Read
Visitors, Isabella Ford
When the Dust Settles, Bex Clark
Distinction: “I Don’t Know Why… But I Liked It!”Where the Echoes Go, Isabel Harry
You can also download the slides from the presentation last night here.
Whether short stories are in your wheelhouse, or this was your first in a while, you all deserve a big round of applause for getting some writing done and finishing a project written to a brief and under the wordcount limit.
So huge congratulations to everyone, and good luck with the onward journey of your stories. We can’t wait to hear about your publication news down the line! 😉
New event format alert: Workshop Write-Togethers!
We are running a new kind of event, combining a write-together session with a workshop run by one of our members on a topic they have experience in. Our first event is next week, and there are spaces open!
Pitching & Querying
Come to our second home, the Constitution pub in Pimlico, for a workshop on querying and pitching to agents run by our very own Karin J. Robinson, followed by a write-together sprint session where you can work on your query letters or your writing projects. Grab a spot now!
That’s all from us this time. Stay tuned for news of an upcoming relaxed winter social in December, and we’ll resume critiques and other events in the new year.
In the meantime, happy writing!
With warm winter wishes,
The Spectrum Writers London Organising Team
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