I’m not very good at tooting my own horn but I’ve realized that I should use this platform to announce some very good news. I recently received second place in thewoolf.org‘s recent short story competition. This counts as both my first publishing credit and my first paid gig (gotta love prize money) so I’ve been feeling pretty good for the past few weeks.

Rather than ramble on, I’ll let the official press release from The Woolf do the talking. Thanks for reading and make sure you check out the work from the other finalists.

 

LOCAL TALENT SHINES IN THE WOOLF’S SHORT STORY COMPETITION

The three winning stories in the inaugural Woolf Short Story Competition were announced simultaneously with the launch of the Spring 2018 issue, on March 1. In her Judge’s Report, Geneva-based writer Anne Korkeakivi commented that reading the shortlist of ten stories was “a privilege and pleasure” and that “with such a panoply of excellence to choose from … singling out a first-, second-, and third-place winner is a little heartbreaking.”

Writing to the theme of ‘Raw’, we celebrate the ten shortlisted writers: K.C. Allen, Jennifer Copley, Ben Francis, Delaney Green, Louise Mangos, Yves Oban, Kate Paine, Jihoon Park, J. Rushing and Gladys Yegon

while congratulating

Kate Paine on being awarded first place for ‘Melting Ice’

J. Rushing in second place for ‘Wounds’

K. C. Allen in third place for ‘Of Baking and Blackbirds’.

The three winning stories can be read in their entirety on The Woolf.org, via the links above.

Korkeakivi described Kate Paine’s winning story as “appearing at first simple, almost comic … ends up anything but”. It has “incisive descriptive language … so deftly fused to the story’s theme and voice. I couldn’t stop thinking about ‘Melting Ice’, which is one of the best things that can be said about a work of fiction and why I am awarding it first place.”

Reflecting the international nature of Switzerland’s population, our winners are Australian, American and Swiss.

Kate Paine is an Australian musician, teacher, and writer living with her husband and daughter in a little house near the lake in Meilen, Kanton Zurich. She finds music and writing go together beautifully. She is undertaking a Ph.D. in creative writing through Deakin University in Australia.

J. Rushing is an American writer and former teacher who traded the microbreweries and Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest for raclette, chocolate, and the Swiss Alps. He and his wife live in Baden.

K.C. Allen globe-trotted for years, living and working in multilingual and multicultural environments before returning to her birthplace – Switzerland – some twenty years ago. Fascinated by words in general, she works in and out of various foreign languages in marketing and communications.

The Short Story Competition moved through four stages. It was launched in The Woolf on September 1, 2017, with a submission deadline of December 1, 2017. A long list of 21 entries was announced on January 10, 2018, and the short list made public on February 1, 2018. Submitted entries were read and judged at all stages of the competition without author names or identifying information. The three winners were announced last week in The Woolf Spring 2018 Quarterly.

The Woolf co-editors Libby O’Loghlin and J.J. Marsh are delighted with the response to the first competition, which saw entries come from all over the world. They plan to run the short story competition annually and will also be announcing a poetry competition later this year.

For more information about The Woolf writing competitions, The Woolf Quarterly or our winning writers Kate Paine, J. Rushing or K.C. Allen please contact Catherine Szentkuti, Publicist, at catherine@thewoolf.org.