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Strands Publishers

Results

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Final Result


​First Prize

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​Shipwrecked by Kira Dreyer Messell
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​Judge's Comment
A masterly achievement, using all the space and possibilities a short story allows. It stood out for the exploration of how fact and fiction works around a mindscape - be it of a character, or a reader. Employing a brilliant narrative craft, 'Shipwrecked' reveals layers of truth beneath what appears to be someone's imagination. There were a couple of places where I wanted to break the fourth wall from my part and enter the story to stop an innocent character from doing something that I knew could have devastating outcome. And I am glad the experience let me shed any pretension of sophistication as a reader.  
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(The first prize winner will receive $500 as cash award and the story will be published in the August 2017 issue of Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts and the Strands Four Elements Short Fiction Anthology titled 'Water'. )
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​Second Prize

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Drowning by Lesley Walsh
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Judge's Comment

A deeply moving story of our times told from multiple perspectives, exploring an unconventional narrative pattern. Voices that are desperate, and at times unreliable, within 'Drowning' maintain a sense of urgency till the last word. 
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(The second prize winner will receive $100 as cash prize and the story will be published in the Strands Four Elements Short Fiction Anthology titled 'Water'. )


​Third Prize

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​Rain by Douglas Bruton
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Judge's Comment

A brilliant depiction of the world of children that is in conflict with adult perceptions. 'Rain' allows you the luxury to witness the ease with which its young characters address their real selves as they go through a calamitous event. 
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​(The third prize winner will receive $75 as cash prize and the story will be published in the Strands Four Elements Short Fiction Anthology titled 'Water'. )


​Highly Commended

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Still Waters by David Butler
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Judge's Comment
​A lot of powerful, dramatic moments in this story of the gradual decay of life situations, and along with it, a relationship. 'Still Waters' holds a lot beneath it, which you would be inclined to figure out. 
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​Saycraft by Helen de Búrca
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Judge's Comment

Experimental to the core, 'Saycraft' is sheer poetry in prose, and that too, with footnotes. It's sure to have a spell on you, thanks to its unforgettable character, the enigmatic poetess Y. 
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​Seven and Seven by R.A. (Rebecca Morean)
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Judge's Comment

A unique story about someone's power to connect images to help others make sense of their lives. 'Seven and Seven' explores the redemptive nature of inventing a story for your life, even as it accepts the unshakable reality of personal grief.
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The Silence of Women by Sarah Evans
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Judge's Comment

An epic of sorts in the form of short fiction. 'The Silence of Women' is a story of a community regaining its honour as its women break their silence, exposing the complex web of lies that kept them slaves to a tyrant for too long.
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(All the Highly Commended stories will receive $30 cash award. All the seventeen shortlisted stories will be published in
​the Strands Four Elements Short Fiction Anthology titled 'Water'.)

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​Shortlist

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Harmony in my Head by Andrew French
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Andrew French is an experienced teacher, with a degree in History. He has been writing for most of his life but have only really found a process that works for him in the last 18 months, having completed three novels, working on a fourth, as well as numerous short stories. He has just completed an online creative writing course with the University of Iowa.

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Gargouille Witch by Billie Lamont

Billie Lamont is a horror novelist and short story writer. She was awarded a BA Hons in English and Film from Edinburgh Napier University in 2012 and received her MLitt in Creative Writing from Glasgow University in 2015. She organised and hosted Noctis, a specialised horror reading and exhibition event in April 2015 and has been published in Crooked Holster (2015) and From Glasgow to Saturn (2015).
She is currently based in Glasgow while writing her debut novel.

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Pickpocket by Charlotte Platt

Charlotte Platt is a young professional who writes mainly horror and urban fantasy in her free time. She has been writing since she was in her early teens and won the Marjory Linklater Award Second Place Prize in 2006 and was had a Highly Recommended story for the 2007 competition, while in secondary school. Originally from Lancashire, she spent her teens on the Orkney Islands and studied for her degree in Glasgow before moving up to Caithness for her current job. Outside of writing she enjoys music, dark comedy and pugs. 

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Still Waters by David Butler

David Butler is a multi-award winning novelist, poet, short-story writer and playwright. The most recent of his three published novels, City of Dis (New Island) was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, 2015. His second poetry collection, All the Barbaric Glass, was published in March 2017 from Doire Press. Literary prizes include the Maria Edgeworth (twice), ITT/Red Line and Fish International Award for the short story, the Scottish Community Drama, Cork Arts Theatre and British Theatre Challenge awards for drama, and the Féile Filíochta, Ted McNulty, Brendan Kennelly and Baileborough awards for poetry.

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Rain ​by Douglas Bruton

​Douglas Bruton throws words together. Sometimes they make sense and sometimes they even make stories. He sends those thrown-together words 'out there' and every now and then that makes sense, too. He has been published in many good places, including Northwords Now, Transmission, The Delinquent, Grasslimb Journal, The Blood Orange Review, The Vestal Review,Storyglossia, Ranfurly Review, The Smoking Poet, Interpreter’s House, Flash Magazine, Brittle Star Magazine, The Irish Literary Review, and by Fiction Attic Press, and in an Edinburgh anthology 'Umbrellas of Edinburgh' by Freight Books.

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Saycraft by Helen de Búrca

​Helen de Búrca was born in Ireland and lives in Geneva, Switzerland. Her work has been recognized by the Cúirt New Writing Prize, the Sunday Business Post/Penguin Ireland Short Story Prize, the 2016 Nivalis Short Story Competition, the “Dalkey Creates” Short Story Competition, the Wasafiri New Writing Prize, the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, Bare Fiction Magazine and the Lakeview International Journal of Literature and the Arts.

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Quick in the Water by Katherine Duffy

Katherine Duffy was born in Ireland. She writes both fiction and poetry. Her short story, Must-See, received the prestigious Hennessy Writer of the Year award in 2006 and other work has appeared in journals and newspapers. She has also won awards for fiction in the Irish language, including Splanctha!, a novel for young adults, and a number of short stories, one of which has been chosen for inclusion in the anthology Best European Fiction 2018, forthcoming from Dalkey Archive Press. Two collections of her poetry: Sorrow's Egg and The Erratic Behaviour of Tides have been published by the Dedalus Press. Website: www.kateduv.com    

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​Shipwrecked by Kira Dreyer Messell

Kira Dreyer Messell is a Danish writer currently living in Berlin, Germany. She has taught languages, literature and history in both Berlin and Kuala Lumpur, where she spent five years.
Kira holds an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Edinburgh. Her stories have been published in Red Rose Review, Empty Oaks Magazine, The Fat Damsel, Desi Writers Lounge Papercuts, Slink Chunk Press and Anak Sastra.

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Drowning by Lesley Walsh

Lesley Walsh was a journalist for over 20 years and is currently working in PR while studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Queen’s University, Belfast, in Northern Ireland. A mother of two originally from Toronto, Canada, Lesley writes across a variety of genres including picture books for children, scriptwriting, and fiction aimed at an adult audience. She has completed her children’s adventure novel, The Hunt for Iggy Sulcus, the first in a  trilogy, which she hopes to publish in the near future.

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1947 - Flood by Lisa Woods

Lisa Woods is a freelance writer based in rural Norfolk. She lives at Plover Cottage with five cocker spaniels, two cats and three hens. Her short stories include: Black Dog (First Prize - Wells International Short Story Competition 2010. The judge, Sarah Duncan, described the story as 'flawless with consistent narrative tone.'), and In Our Time (First Prize ­- Ely Writers Inaugural Short Story Competition 2015.) Further information on her stories can be found at www.welneywishes.co.uk
She has a BA (Hons) degree in Literature and Creative Writing and currently works as an English Lecturer at a local college.  

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Swimming Through by Maria Heath Beckett

​Maria Heath Beckett was born in North Yorkshire and currently lives in London, UK. Maria has been writing for many years and is now finishing two novels and a memoir and collating her first poetry collections. Some of her writing has been published in magazines and anthologies, such as Tumbleweed Hotel Volume 1 (ed. George Whitman) and In The Company of Poets (Torriano Poets). A poetry collection has been highly commended in a recent competition held by Mother's Milk Books.
Her narrative poem, Parnassus to New York, has recently been published in The Eternal Snow (Nirala Publications).

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The Well by Meera Rajagopalan

​Meera Rajagopalan is a writer based in Chennai, India. Her work tends to veer around issues of identity. She is currently a freelance writer and a communications consultant for the nonprofit sector. Her work has appeared in publications such as Arts Illustrated, The Times of India and Mint Lounge and anthologies in India and the U.S.

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For Fifteen Minutes by Paul Currion

​Paul Currion is a writer and consultant living in London and Belgrade. His fiction has been published in The White Review, Nature, Carve, Going Down Swinging and others: his non fiction has been published in Granta online, The White Review, Aeon, The Daily Telegraph and others.

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Why Choose this Place to Die? by Petra McQueen

​Petra McQueen is a writer and teacher, with an MA in Creative Writing. Her life-writing has appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, The Guardian and You magazine.  Her stories and poems have been widely published in the UK and abroad, most recently in 'Refugees and Peacekeepers' by Patrician Press.  She lives in the Essex, UK and is currently teaching Creative Writing at the University of Essex.

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Seven and Seven by R. A. (Rebecca Morean)

R. A. (Rebecca Morean) has published dozens of short stories and essays in Ploughshares, Kalliope, Mused, The Tishman Review, The Lost Coast Review, and more. A Salon contributor, articles have included issues relating to atheism, digital media, parenting, and education.  She served for years as president of the nationally acclaimed Antioch Writers' Workshop, and has published novels with St. Martin’s Press (mystery), Avignon Press (literary), and Escape Press (romance). A professor at Sinclair College, she also teaches creative writing workshops throughout the Miami Valley. Visit her at www.ramorean.com or abbeypenbaker.com

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The silence of women by Sarah Evans

​Sarah Evans has had over a hundred stories published in anthologies, magazines and online. Prizes have been awarded by, amongst others: Words and Women, Winston Fletcher, Stratford Literary Festival, Glass Woman and Rubery. Other publishing outlets include: the Bridport Prize, Unthank Books, Riptide, Shooter and Best New Writing. She has also had work performed in London, Hong Kong and New York.

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Forgive Me My Trespasses by Steve Wade

Steve Wade - A prize nominee for the PEN/O’Henry Award, 2011, and a prize nominee for the Pushcart Prize, 2013, Steve Wade’s fiction has been published widely in print and in digital form. His work has won awards and been placed in writing competitions, including being shortlisted in the Francis McManus Short Story Competition, 2013. His unpublished novel ‘On Hikers’ Hill’ was awarded First Prize in the UK abook2read Literary Competition, December 2010. His fiction has been published in over forty print publications, including Crannog, Boyne Berries, Zenfri Publications, New Fables, Gem Street, Grey Sparrow, Fjords Arts and Literary Review, and Aesthetica Creative Works Annual, 2011 and 2015. www.stephenwade.ie 



​​​Longlist

Alan McCormick

Alison Lock

Andrew French

Billie Lamont

Brian Kirk

Bryan Thomas

Carol Murphy

Charlotte Platt

David Butler

Douglas Bruton

Esther Jacoby

Helen de Búrca

Katherine Duffy

Kira Dreyer Messell

Laura Lucas

Lesley Walsh

​Lisa Woods

Liz Berg

Maria Heath Beckett

Meera Rajagopalan

Neil Campbell

Paul Currion

Petra McQueen

Rachel Fenton

Rebecca Morean

Ruth Geldard

Sarah Evans
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​Selma Carvalho


Steve Wade

William Burleson
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  • Home
  • Competitions
    • Strands International Flash Fiction Competition >
      • Results
      • Competition Judge
      • Submit
    • Water - Short Story (May 31, 2017) >
      • Results
      • Important Dates
      • Rules
    • Fire - Short Story (Nov 30, 2016) >
      • Results
      • Competition Judge
      • Important Dates
  • Contact
  • Call for Submissions
  • Lit Sphere
    • Novels >
      • Mrs. Saville by Ted Morrissey
      • Shueli's Star by Anna Sujatha Mathai
    • Poetry
    • Visual Art
    • Short Fiction
    • Creative Nonfiction
    • Reviews
    • Interviews