Inaugural UoG Novel Writing Contest Winner Announced!

  8th December 2014

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Last week, the launch of Carnival: New Writing III was made even more exciting (if that was possible) by the announcement on the night of the winner of our inaugural UoG Novel Writing Contest.  For those playing catch-up, the contest is open to all students enrolled on our Creative Writing BA or MA courses, or studying with us for a PhD – as well as exchange students, joints, and even students taking a single Creative Writing module.  The shortlist of six entries was sent to our judge, literary agent Becky Thomas of the Fox Mason Agency, who selected her three finalists.  Of those, we’re very proud to announce that the 1st place winner, and recipient of the £100 prize, was PhD student Duncan Dicks.  Becky provided a professional industry critique for all three finalists, and here is an extract from her critique of Duncan’s novel, Matlock:

I loved the central character, the setting, the coming of age element, the mystery of the Mappe and the conflated emotions of those formative years…It felt very Kes or Son of Rambow to me. It was the most rounded of the entries in that I liked the premise and the writing.  I’d be very keen to see how this develops.

Congratulations to Duncan, as well as to fellow finalists Jane Durston and Hayley Barnes.  Many thanks to Becky for acting as our judge, and we are happy to announce that the contest will become an annual feature on our course.  Watch this space for details of the 2015 contest, as the submission window will be opening soon!