2020 Summer Competition Results

Lockdown inspires rich tapestry of heartfelt stories 

Winning writers clockwise from top left: Harvey, Edward, Lorraine,John and Sonya

Lorraine with Summer Competition Trophy

The latest Slough Writers competition has produced a surprising collection of short stories. Based on the theme of the spring lockdown, members wrote about loneliness, anxiety, frustration, death, boredom and the rediscovery of love and beauty.

First place went to Lorraine Forrest-Turner for Chinchilla Rats at Machu Pichu. Like the chinchillas returning to Peru's biggest attraction during lockdown, a tired marriage gradually reignites when life's intrusions are taken away.

Runner up was Sonya Weiss with Ellie, a beautiful telling of a little girl searching for her sick mummy in a place full of people too preoccupied to notice her.

Edward Harte took third place with the vividly descriptive A History of Nordic Dreams. Unaware he is on a ventilator, a Covid patient tries to make sense of a curious time spent with friends in Stockholm.

Two stories were highly recommended Lockdown by John Brown and Mrs Reynolds Moment by Harvey Martin. The competition was adjudicated by Robert Kibble and judged by the participants.

[Report by Lorraine Forrest-Turner]