Edge Hill Short Story Prize

Last updated

Edge Hill Short Story Prize
CountryEngland, British Isles
Presented byEdge Hill University

The Edge Hill Short Story Prize is a short-story contest held annually by Edge Hill University.

Contents

Background

The concept for the prize was developed by Professor Ailsa Cox following a 2006 short-story conference at Edge Hill. Candidates must be born or normally reside in the British Isles (including Ireland), making the prize the only United Kingdom award to recognize a single author, published short-story collection. [1]

The prize has three categories: the main literary award of £10,000, the Debut Collection Prize of £1000 (awarded to one of the shortlistees with a debut collection), and the PGR Creative Writing award of £500, for a story written by an Edge Hill student undertaking postgraduate research in creative writing. [2] Rodge Glass, previously senior lecturer in creative writing at Edge Hill, edited an anthology of selected stories from winners and shortlisted authors to celebrate the award's first ten years. Titled Head Land: 10 Years of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, it was published in 2017. [3]

Judging

Each year, the judging panel consists of three individuals who are supporters of the short story through writing or the creative industries, or have connections with the university.

YearJudge 1Judge 2Judge 3
2007Andrew Cant A.L. Kennedy Ailsa Cox
2008 Hilary Mantel Duncan MinshullProfessor Rhiannon Evans
2009 Claire Keegan James WaltonMark Flinn
2010 Chris Beckett Katharine Fry Professor Tanya Byron
2011 Jeremy Dyson Stuart Maconie Marcus Gipps
2012 Graham Mort Suzi FeayProfessor Rhiannon Evans
2013Lesley McDowellJim Lee Sarah Hall
2014 Kevin Barry Carys BrayKatie Allen
2015Chris Power Rachel Trezise Ailsa Cox
2016 Kirsty Gunn Cathy Galvin Billy Cowan
2017Thomas Morris Cathy Galvin Rodge Glass
2018Alice O'KeffeePaul McVeighDaisy Johnson
2019Elizabeth BainesTessa HadleySam Jordison
2020David SzalaySara HuntZayneb Allak
2021Shelley DayElise DillsworthKim Wiltshire
2022Kevin BarryArzu TahsinSarah Schofield
2023Saba SamsLucy LuckAndrea Ashworth
2024Bernie McGillSam ConaghanHarriet Hirshman

Winners

Colm Toibin was the first winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize in 2007. [4] His winning collection, Mothers and Sons , explores the family relationships of several individuals during significant times in their lives. [5] The following year Claire Keegan won the prize with her collection entitled Walk the Blue Fields. [6] The collection's stories illustrate the yearning of the human heart against the backdrop of a nation wrestling with its past. [7] The 2009 prize was awarded to Chris Beckett for The Turing Test. [8] This science fiction collection captures readers' attention with tales about robots, alien planets, genetic manipulation, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. [9] Jeremy Dyson won the 2010 prize for his third short story collection The Cranes that Build the Cranes. A compilation of ghoulish stories, The Cranes that Build the Cranes is full of black humour and dark stories that received significant praise from critics. [10] In 2011 judges awarded the prize to Professor Graham Mort for his collection entitled Touch. [11] The stories in Touch are set in a variety of backgrounds including Africa, France, and northern England, and they convey an understanding and respect of the natural world and human relationships. [12] Sarah Hall's The Beautiful Indifference won the prize in 2012. [13] The collection includes erotic and disarming stories that span across centuries and diverse landscapes, all emphasizing the importance of survivalism. [14] Dark Lies the Island by Kevin Barry was awarded the prize in 2013. [15] This collection explores the tragedies and comedies of everyday life, and includes moving tales of misspent love and crimes gone wrong. [16] The 2014 prize was given to John Burnside for his collection entitled Something Like Happy. [17] Stories in Something Like Happy are often set in coastal towns during the winter, and include tales of menace, violence, and hallucinations. [18] The 2015 prize was awarded to Professor Kirsty Gunn for Infidelities. [19] The collection centres on stories of infidelity and includes tales of lust, love, resentment, and regret. [20]

YearAuthorShort Story Collection
2007 Colm Toibin Mothers and Sons
2008 Claire Keegan Walk the Blue Fields
2009 Chris Beckett The Turing Test
2010 Jeremy Dyson The Cranes that Build the Cranes
2011 Graham Mort Touch
2012 Sarah Hall The Beautiful Indifference
2013 Kevin Barry Dark Lies the Island
2014 John Burnside Something Like Happy
2015 Kirsty Gunn Infidelities
2016 Jessie Greengrass An Account of the Decline Of The Great Auk, According To One Who Saw It
2017 Daisy Johnson Fen
2018 Tessa Hadley Bad Dreams
2019 David Szalay Turbulence
2020Shelley DayWhat Are You Like
2021 Kevin Barry That Old Country Music
2022Saba SamsSend Nudes
2023Bernie McGillThis Train Is For

Award ceremonies

Winning authors are announced and honoured at an award ceremony each year. Furthermore, Edge Hill University hosts a public reading, during which the prize recipient reads from the winning collection.

YearAward Ceremony Location
2007 Royal Exchange, Manchester
2008 The Bluecoat, Liverpool
2009 The Bluecoat, Liverpool
2010Blackwell's Bookstore, London
2011Blackwell's Bookstore, London
2012 Free Word Centre, London
2013Waterstones Piccadilly, London
2014 Free Word Centre, London
2015 Free Word Centre, London
2016 Free Word Centre, London
2017Waterstones Piccadilly, London
2018Waterstones Piccadilly, London
2019Waterstones Piccadilly, London
2020Online during Covid lockdown
2021Online during Covid lockdown
2022London Review Bookshop, London
2023London Review Bookshop, London
2024London Review Bookshop, London

Citations

  1. "Eligibility". Edge Hill University. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  2. "Short Story". Edge Hill University. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  3. "Head Land: Ten Years of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize". Freight Books. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  4. Flood, Alison (6 May 2009). "SF author up against Booker winner for short story award". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  5. "Mothers and Sons". Colm Toibin. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  6. "Keegan wins Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2008". Curtis Brown. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  7. "Walk the Blue Fields". Faber & Faber. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  8. "The Turing Test". Chris Beckett. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  9. "Surprise win as Chris Beckett triumphs in Edge Hill Short Story Prize". Midaspr. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  10. Krieger, Candice (12 August 2010). "Jeremy Dyson snatches a prize for his ghoulish stories". The JC. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  11. "Graham Mort". British Council Literature. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  12. "Poet scoops Edge Hill University Short Story Prize 2011". Edge Hill University. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  13. Mullen, Adrian (23 July 2012). "Author Sarah Hall lands Edge Hill University Prize". The Westmorland Gazette. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  14. "Sarah Hall wins Edge Hill Prize". Conville and Walsh. 14 July 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  15. "Edge Hill University Short Story Prize 2014". Nawe. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  16. "Dark Lies the Island". Gray Wolf Press. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  17. "John Burnside". University of St Andrews. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  18. Hanks, Robert (29 January 2013). "Something Like Happy by John Burnside review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  19. "Professor Kirsty Gunn wins major short story award". University of Dundee. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  20. "Kirsty Gunn wins the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2015". Conville and Walsh. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2016.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kessel</span> American author

John Joseph Vincent Kessel is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He is a prolific short story writer, and the author of four solo novels, Good News From Outer Space (1989), Corrupting Dr. Nice (1997), The Moon and the Other (2017), and Pride and Prometheus (2018), and one novel, Freedom Beach (1985) in collaboration with his friend James Patrick Kelly. Kessel is married to author Therese Anne Fowler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colm Tóibín</span> Irish novelist and writer (born 1955)

Colm Tóibín is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Dyson</span> British screenwriter (born 1966)

Jeremy Dyson is a British author, musician and screenwriter who, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, is one of the League of Gentlemen. He also created and co-wrote the West End show Ghost Stories and its film adaptation.

<i>The Master</i> (novel) 2004 novel by Colm Tóibín

The Master is a novel by Irish writer Colm Tóibín. His fifth novel, it received the International Dublin Literary Award, the Stonewall Book Award, the Lambda Literary Award, the Los Angeles Times Novel of the Year and, in France, Le prix du meilleur livre étranger in 2005. It was also shortlisted for the 2004 Booker Prize.

The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first published in the United States during a calendar year. The founder of the prize is Julie Lindsey, and the director is Larry Dark. He was previously series editor for the annual short story anthology Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards from 1997 to 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edge Hill University</span> English public university

Edge Hill University is a campus-based public university in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. The university, which originally opened in 1885 as Edge Hill College, was the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in England, before admitting its first male students in 1959. In 2005, Edge Hill was granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers by the Privy Council and became Edge Hill University on 18 May 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Burnside</span> Scottish writer (1955–2024)

John Burnside FRSL FRSE was a Scottish writer. He was one of four poets to have won the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for one book. In Burnside's case it was for his 2011 collection, Black Cat Bone. In 2023, he won the David Cohen Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Yu</span> American writer (born 1976)

Charles Chowkai Yu is an American writer. He is the author of the novels How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe and Interior Chinatown, as well as the short-story collections Third Class Superhero and Sorry Please Thank You. In 2007 he was named a "5 under 35" honoree by the National Book Foundation. In 2020, Interior Chinatown won the National Book Award for fiction.

Douglas A. Martin is an American poet, a novelist and a short story writer.

The David Cohen Prize for Literature is a biennial British literary award given to a writer, novelist, short-story writer, poet, essayist or dramatist in recognition of an entire body of work, written in the English language. The prize is funded by the John S. Cohen Foundation and administered by Arts Council England. The writer must be a British or Irish citizen. The winner is chosen by nomination and entries are not required. The prize is valued at £40,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Johnson (writer)</span> American novelist and short story writer (born 1967)

Adam Johnson is an American novelist and short story writer. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2012 novel, The Orphan Master's Son, and the National Book Award for his 2015 story collection Fortune Smiles. He is also a professor of English at Stanford University with a focus on creative writing.

Kevin Barry is an Irish writer. He is the author of three collections of short stories and three novels. City of Bohane (2011) was the winner of the 2013 International Dublin Literary Award. Beatlebone (2015) won the 2015 Goldsmiths Prize and is one of seven books by Irish authors nominated for the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award, the world's most valuable annual literary fiction prize for books published in English. His 2019 novel Night Boat to Tangier was longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize. Barry is also an editor of Winter Papers, an arts and culture annual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Catton</span> New Zealand novelist and screenwriter

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her award-winning debut novel, The Rehearsal, written as her Master's thesis, was published in 2008, and has been adapted into a 2016 film of the same name. Her second novel, The Luminaries, won the 2013 Booker Prize, making Catton the youngest author ever to win the prize and only the second New Zealander. It was subsequently adapted into a television miniseries, with Catton as screenwriter. In 2023, she was named on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.

<i>The Empty Family</i> 2010 collection of short stories by Colm Tóibín

The Empty Family is a collection of short stories by Irish writer Colm Tóibín. It was published in the UK in October 2010 and was released in the US in January 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiphanie Yanique</span> American novelist

Tiphanie Yanique from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, is a Caribbean American fiction writer, poet and essayist who lives in New York. In 2010 the National Book Foundation named her a "5 Under 35" honoree. She also teaches creative writing, currently based at Emory University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Rubery Book Award</span>

The Rubery International Book Award is the largest cash award for books published by independent publishers and self published authors in Great Britain. The London Review of Books described it as "independent publishing's response to the Booktrust and the Orange Prize. The Alliance of Independent Authors describes the award as: 'holders of the respected Rubery Award [...] should be considered to have a quality endorsement.'

Alix Hawley is a Canadian novelist and short-story writer. Her novel, All True Not a Lie In It, won the amazon.ca First Novel Award in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirsty Logan</span> Scottish writer and poet

Kirsty Logan is a Scottish writer.

Daisy Johnson is a British novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel, Everything Under, was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize, and beside Eleanor Catton she is the youngest nominee in the prize's history. For her short stories, she has won three awards since 2014.

Laura Jean McKay is an Australian author and creative writing lecturer. In 2021, she won the Victorian Prize for Literature and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for her novel The Animals in That Country.