London Competition ( The Winners)

The Competition was inspired by a good friend of mine, The Gentle Author. He has a daily blog called Spitalfields Life. He also produces the most wonderful books, all with London as their main theme. I managed to get hold of a couple of copies of his best- selling book “The London Album” and thought they would make great prizes for a London based competition.

The entries were, as expected, of the highest quality.

We had the hustle and bustle of the rush hour, we had romance, drama, horror and war. Some took us on a journey along the river, while others took Bus and Train. Some felt a strong connection with London from their relatives both past and present, while others relived times living on the inner city estates. We even had music!

Stories and Poems as diverse and intricate as the City itself. In fact, exactly what I was hoping for!

I read each entry at least twice. Some made me smile, some informed and educated me, some surprised me and one even made me shed a tear.

I know it sounds like a cliché but ALL of them deserved to win. But… there can only be one winner for each category. So here goes….

The winner of best Story goes to SimonF for the wonderful “Saturday Night Soldier.” A haunting tale of a man searching for the truth about his Grandfathers efforts in WW1 but frightened of what he might find. The discovery surprises him and draws comparisons with his own life.  But there’s also a very clever “voice” within this story that shows us a difficult father/son relationship. A strong and intricate piece of writing.

http://www.abctales.com/story/simonf/saturday-night-soldier-london

The winner of best Poem goes to Torscot for the brilliant “District Line”. Anyone who’s travelled on the Underground during rush hour will relate to this. The first four lines grab you by the throat and introduce you to the commuter’s world of mind numbing journeys. It’s a rollercoaster ride below the streets of London and it reveals secrets of broken dreams and false promises. Each section is divided by the familiar sounds of the announcer and finally they’re thrown out to face the world above.

http://www.abctales.com/story/torscot/district-line-london-competition

To each and every one that entered a very big “Thank you.”

Tomorrow I will comment on each entry and give feedback as usual. I really enjoyed judging this and look forward to doing another in the not so distant future.  Good luck to everyone with their writing….

If the two winners contact me via my Abctales page and let me know their address, I will send the prizes out this week.