Short story competition 2025

We are proud to present the finalists for the u3a short story competition 2025-26. These top 14 stories were chosen from 525 entries - our highest number ever! 

We are delighted to announce the overall winner as Janet from Woking Area u3a in the South East with her story 'Woman in the tree walk'. Second place goes to Sarah from Hartley Witney u3a in the South East with her story 'Finding the key to lost memories' and 3rd place goes to Christina from Guernsey u3a in the South East for her story 'Little boy lost'.

All 14 of our finalists receive a copy of the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, edited by Alysoun Owen and published by Bloomsbury. First, second and third places will also receive a signed copy of The Ultimate Guide to Editing Your Novel by Sara Grant. The winner will receive three additional titles from Bloomsbury.

Read the top three stories: 

Read the stories from the other finalists, in no particular order:

Thank you so much to all 70 judges who undertook the mammoth task of judging so many entries this year. The competition could not run without you!

Thank you also to the final four judges who judged the shortlist, Marcia Humphries, Sara Grant and Helen Stewart.

And finally thank you to all entrants to the u3a national short story competition 2025-6. We hope you enter again next time.