Winners of QuietManDave Prize 2022 for flash fiction and non-fiction are revealed
The winners of the QuietManDave Prize 2022 have been revealed as Kathryn Aldridge-Morris and Sara Hills.
The short-form writing prize was named to honour the memory and achievements of the much-loved Manchester writer and critic Dave Murray, who passed away in 2019.
Kathryn Aldridge-Morris took home the top prize for the Flash Fiction category with her story Double Lives. Sara Hills was awarded with first place in the Flash Non-Fiction category with Door Slam, 1980.
The winners were revealed at an awards ceremony last week (October 27) at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Grosvenor East building where both winners were awarded £1,000 prize money.
The QuietManDave Prize is run by the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan, in conjunction with the Manchester School of Theatre.
Aldridge-Morris said: “I’m thrilled and honoured to have two stories shortlisted for the Quiet Man Dave 2022 award which commemorates such a loved writer. Flash fiction is so often overlooked as a genre, and this prestigious award and ceremony are hugely affirming to writers who love the short form. I’d like to thank Dave Murray’s family, the judges and organisers for such a wonderful experience.”
Hills said: “It’s a huge honour to have a story shortlisted in the QuietManDave Prize - an award that has quickly become so highly respected within the flash community as a celebration of the legacy of the much-loved Dave Murray. This year’s shortlists contain such gorgeous and moving work by extremely talented writers, and I’m immensely grateful to the judges for listing my flash nonfiction piece among them.”
Aldridge-Morris and Hills were chosen as winners by a panel of judges chaired by Shane Kinghorn, who is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Contemporary Performance at Manchester Metropolitan and has previously worked in London as a director and dramaturg, alongside Syrian born author Dima Alzayat, and short story writer, essayist, and poet Kate Feld.
Running every two years, the prize celebrates new and emerging short-form writers and through sponsored entries, aims to encourage those who are new to writing or entering competitions. The prize was developed in recognition of Murray’s achievements and his passion for writing, something which he embraced later in life.
Winners
Winner of the Flash Fiction prize Aldridge-Morris is an emerging flash fiction writer living in Bristol. Her flash narratives have been published in many literary journals and anthologies, including New Flash Fiction Review, Pithead Chapel, Bending Genres, Janus Literary, and Ellipsis Zine.
She has been shortlisted and highly commended in the prestigious Bath Flash Fiction Award, shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, and won the flash fiction contest organised by Welsh publisher Lucent Dreaming.
Hills, winner of the Flash Non-Fiction prize, is the author of The Evolution of Bird, which won the 2022 Saboteur Award for Best Short Story Collection. Her stories have been selected for Wigleaf’s Top 50, the BIFFY 50, and The Best Small Fictions, as well as being widely published in a number of anthologies and magazines.
Runners-up
Second place in the Flash Fiction prize was awarded to What Happened by Stuart Cavet, a former international lawyer who has taken a career break to pursue writing full time, while taking home third place is writer Niamh Mac Cabe with her piece A Marram Grass Cradling.
Cavet said: “I cannot thank the family of Dave Murray and the writing school at Manchester Metropolitan University enough for funding and organising the competition. As an amateur and aspiring writer, I rely upon competitions such as this and the efforts of all those who make them possible. I am also especially delighted to play a part in honouring Dave’s memory.”
Mac Cabe said: “It’s thrilling to be among such talented writers on the shortlist, and I thank judges Dima Alzayat, Kate Feld, and Shane Kinghorn, for placing me there. I know that Dave Murray, and now this prize in his honour, has encouraged many to take up the unique form of Flash writing, and I look forward to seeing shorter-form writing continue to grow.”
Taking second place in the Flash Non-Fiction category is retired university lecturer in Education Peter Scales, - who undertook a MA in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University in retirement - with his piece A House Fire, while working-class writer and performer Ruby Martin was awarded third place with A Review of Big Boys in One Impossible Act.
Scales said: “It’s a great honour, and a wonderful surprise, to be shortlisted in the QuietManDave prize. This is the first flash non-fiction piece I have submitted and this award is a real incentive to go further. Thank you.”
Martin said: “The QuietManDave prize is one of the most exciting literary prizes around, allowing people to play and innovate with the form of non-fiction, which is why I am so delighted to be nominated alongside so many other talented writers. This review holds a special piece of my heart and I’m so glad that the judges appreciated it as much as I did.”
Continuing in the success from its first year, the prize this year received 500 entries across both the Flash Fiction and Flash Non-Fiction categories.
Professor Jess Edwards, Head of English at Manchester Metropolitan University, added: “One of the Manchester Writing School’s key missions is to encourage new writing and we are delighted to continue working with Dave Murray’s family to run this competition, which shares that goal and commemorates his support for the literary arts. As well as congratulating our winners, I am thrilled that we have been able to share the work of so many writers as part of the QuietManDave Prize, and hope that anyone reading the fantastic selection of new fiction and non-fiction on our shortlists is inspired to write.”
Profiles of the winners and their pieces, along with the other shortlisted pieces can be read in full for the Flash Fiction and Flash Non-Fiction categories.
