The Robert N Stephenson AHWA Short Story & Flash Fiction Competition has been run for another year. Once again we’ve had a stellar number of entries and the judges had a hell of a time trying to pick winners. I think there might even have been a fistfight at one point… wait, no, I’m being told that’s not actually true. Regardless, we truly appreciate the efforts of the writers who submitted their amazing work – you made the job of our judges genuinely hard.
Thanks also go to those judges – David Stevens, Pete Kempshall, Marty Young, Bernie Rutkay, Ronnie Smart, and Claire Fitzpatrick – who have done a great job under trying circumstances. This competition couldn’t go ahead without the awesome writers and these wonderful judges. And of course, massive thanks to our blood-soaked competition wrangler, the incomparable Anthony Ferguson. Apparently he’s the one who broke up the fistfight… oh, right, I’m being told that’s not true either.
So, without further ado, let’s celebrate the winners. They are:
Short story
Winner – “Test of Death” by Michael Botur
Huge congratulations, Michael.
And the judges give their Honourable Mention to “The Crossing” by Jeff Clulow. Congrats, Jeff!
Flash fiction
Winner – “Animal Parade” by Dani Ringrose
Huge congratulations to you too, Dani!
And the judges couldn’t split up the two deserving of an Honourable Mention, so they included them both: “Eggs” by P.S. Cottier and “Oily Man” by Sumitra Shankar
Big congrats to you two as well.
The two winners – “Test of Death” by Michael Botur and “Animal Parade” by Dani Ringrose – will receive a shiny winner’s plaque and paid publication in Midnight Echo 17, which is due for publication around the middle of 2022.
Here are our judges comments about the winners:
“Test of Death” – Original, dark and weird. Loved the characters and the whole concept. An entertaining blend of the grotesque, the humorous, and the crazed. A natural progression of insanity that somehow couldn’t be resisted.
“Animal Parade” – Visceral, demented, gritty, bizarre. I can hear the birds, smell the smoke from the fires and the antiseptic on the operating table.
Again, massive congratulations to the winners and HMs, and huge thanks to everyone who entered, our judges, and Anthony Ferguson for managing the whole thing. Horror is healthy!
