The results are in!
We asked you to submit a short story, no more than 500 words, to win some fabulous prizes in our writing competition. Our winners have been selected and you can read the stories below! We want to thank everyone for their submissions and congratulate the winners. The entries were all outstanding and it was a tough decision for our judges to make.
Our winning story was chosen by a range of English & Creative Writing tutors from ACL Essex. The Author’s Choice was selected by local Essex Author Sarah Armstrong.
Author’s Choice
“I was delighted to have been selected as the author’s choice. I wanted to write something about an outsider where there is more to him than meets the eye (perhaps like myself) and I set it in the Black mountains in Wales as I go there every year when I visit my Uncle and there is something magical about this place. It is so very different to Essex!”
ACL’s Choice
“I have always loved writing and had been considering taking a creative writing course for a long time. I was looking at the different courses on the ACL website when I saw the short story competition advertised. I have never entered my writing anywhere before but decided to just have a go! The theme of ‘awakening’ immediately made me think about the way we interact with AI and technology so I wanted to bring that through my story. I feel very proud that it had a lasting effect on the judges and I can’t wait to start learning and keep writing!”
People’s Choice
“I’m absolutely made up to be the People’s Choice winner. To have your story appreciated by a wide number of different people is a true honour. I wanted to create a story that would make people smile while reading it, and then stop for a moment and think about it at the end, hopefully allowing us all to look at each other a little differently in the future.”
If you are interested in turning your ideas into readable and interesting fiction, view our creative writing courses.