Creative Writing Competition Winners ANNOUNCED!
During the height of the UK’s lockdown, we embarked on a nationwide search to find the best short story penned by a U3A member.
The task was to write an original story, no more than 1500 words, around the theme of TIME.
Members responded in their hundreds, sending stories from every corner of the UK. Panels of regional judges received all the stories anonymously and selected winners within each area.
The search is over - We are proud to present 13 winning finalists in total; 10 regional winners from across England, including 2 joint winners from the East Midlands, plus winners from Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
We are delighted to announce the overall winner as Rosemary Burton, from Oxford U3A in the South East region with her story “The Clock”. Second place goes to Penny Holland from Horncastle U3A in the East Midlands with her story “There’s a time for everything”. Third place was awarded to Gillian Griffith from Much Wenlock & District U3A in the West Midlands with “Time to Leave”.
Their stories, alongside all other regional winning entries, are available to read below, accompanied with a brief note from each writer detailing the inspiration for their story and their writing background.
We are delighted to announce that each regional winner will receive a prize of the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook 2021. This guide, published by Bloomsbury is the industry recognised guide to getting published. We are also very pleased to offer U3A members a site-wide discount on Bloomsbury books (https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk) of 30%. U3A members should use code U3A30 at the checkout to obtain this discount. |
Rosemary Burton
Oxford U3A
South East & Top Three Winner
The Clock
Gillian Griffith
Much Wenlock & District U3A
West Midlands & Top Three Winner
Time to Leave
Penny Holland
Horncastle U3A
Joint East Midlands & Top Three Winner
There's a Time for Everything
Lindsay Whitehouse
Chelmsford U3A
East of England Winner
Doing Time
Deborah Barwick
Saltburn District U3A
North East Winner
Quercus Aeternitas
David Smith
Stokesley & District U3A
Yorkshire & The Humber Winner
Once Upon a Time
Sue Temperley
Littleborough U3A
North West Winner
Reflections of a Mirror
Erica Benson
Cupar U3A
Scotland Winner
Time and Tide
Jim Hamilton
Belfast U3A
Northern Ireland Winner
The Road to Kilbracken
Mike Woolley
Carton Gedling & District
Joint East Midlands Winner
Timeless Skies
Sunjai Gupta
Norwood; Dulwich & District U3A
London Winner
The Time Capsule
Lynne Carroll
Crediton U3A
South West Winner
Working Against Time
Janet Boreham
Crickhowell U3A
Wales Winner
Greenwich Mean Time