The Historical Writers’ Association and the Dorothy Dunnett Society are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2020 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition is Alice Fowler for The Race.
The HWA/DDS Short Story Competition 2020 winner and highly commended entries are:
The winner
The Race by Alice Fowler
The Race had us rooting for it from the starting line. The use of a race to discuss social issues and racism is sheer brilliance and the author’s mastery building atmosphere that tracks with the story’s mounting tension had us gripped. The competition was tough this year, but this short story won by a nose.
Highly commended
Pounds, Shilling and Pence by Valerie Thompson
What does it mean to be complicit? In a period of time in which many of us are asking ourselves this very question about the status quo and our role in perpetuating institutionalised racism, this clever story portrays a case of a commitment to social justice and its limits.
Mavourneen by Annie Friedlein
This story gives voice to the muse of artist James Tissot, and behind his gauzy portraits Friedlein discovers a woman with her own story and perspective. The writing is perfectly pitched, full of the telling details, images and textures. The story conveys a depth of emotion which goes beyond the words on the page to produce the alchemical shiver of great art.
The other shortlisted stories are:
Lakshmi Will Return by Padmini B Sankar
The Pavilion of Enlightenment by Alison Lloyd
The Sentinel Bird by Jacqui Scholes-Rhodes
All entries were judged anonymously.
The six shortlisted stories will be collected as an anthology and the writers of the winning and highly-commended stories will be offered professional craft and career mentoring.
The writer of the winning story will also receive £500 along with publication in Historia and in the Dorothy Dunnett Society’s magazine Whispering Gallery, along with our hearty congratulations.
Imogen Robertson, chair of the HWA, says: “Many congratulations to the writers of these remarkable stories!
“We’d also like to thank our fantastic final round judges – Matt Casbourne, Pamela Gordon, Antonia Hodgson and Norah Perkins, and our first round judges, who had the impossible task of reading over two hundred stories to reach our longlist of 25: Janet Angelini; Lesley Burnie; Elisabeth Gifford; Kate Jewell; Jean Lang; Barbara Milner; Betty Moxon; Maggie Richell-Davies; Michael Ridpath; Annie Whitehead; and Nancy Wright.”
See the 25 stories longlisted for the 2020 HWA/DDS award.
Read the winning stories from previous years:
The Daisy Fisher by Kate Jewell (2019)
Nineteen Above Discovery by Jen Falkner (2018)
A Poppy Against the Sky by Annie Whitehead (2017)
Find out more about awards given by the Historical Writers’ Association.
