We’re delighted to announce the longlist for the 2024 Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition: 25 impressive pieces of historical short fiction which go through to the next round of judging.
Congratulations to all the longlisted authors!
The HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition 2024 longlist:
Friends by Erika Banerji
Forgotten by Mary Byrne
The Silence of the Gulls by Anne Byrne
Purity by Joseph Dragovich
The Starlings’ Call by Emma Fielder
Those Unheard by Nanci Gilliver
The King’s Question by Clare Hawkins
Mother’s Fury by Laura Karim
After Jutland, 1916 by Liz Kershaw
Mother and Mary by Colette Lawlor
Sentry Duty by ME Lawrence
St Kilda Bird Song by KF MacCarthy
The Pioneer Spirit by Colleen MacMahon
The Archbishop’s Confession by Alice McVeigh
No Competition by Elaine O’Connor
Bonfire Night by Muiread O’Hanlon
Lunardi’s Ascent by Tony Oswick
The Skull of Lady Alice FitzJohn by Jack Sanger
Hands by Amber Sayer
It All Depends on Portland by Marlene Shinn Lewis
Nebraska by Cath Staincliffe
Canaries by Martin Tulton
Venus with Pistachios by Josie Turner
Sugar Moon by BJ Weary
The Promised Land by Emily Zinkin
HWA Chair Imogen Robertson says: “Thank you so much to all the writers who submitted stories this year. As always, the standard was very high, and the judges were deeply impressed by the range of periods, places and people brought to life by the entrants.
“We read adventure, romance, mystery, and enjoyed delicate portraits of forgotten characters. It was a great experience, but very difficult to narrow the list down from over 200 to just 25.
“I do hope that those not on the list this year will enter in future, and best of luck to the judges, who have to pick only six stories for the shortlist.”
The shortlisted, highly commended, and winning short stories will be announced on 2 October on the awards page of the HWA website, here in Historia, and live on Twitter/X. Keep an eye out for this year’s hashtag: #HWADDSS24.
All six stories will be published in an anthology at the end of this year, and their authors will be invited to the HWA’s annual awards party on 20 November, 2024.
If you want to publicise a longlisted author, feel free to use one of our visuals (and remember #HWADDSS24 so it gets noticed):
Past winners of the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Prize:
2023: Hecate’s Daughter by Jo Tiddy
2022: Collapse by Chrissy Sturt
2021: His Mother’s Quilt by Naomi Kelsey
2020: The Race by Alice Fowler
2019: The Daisy Fisher by Kate Jewell
2018: Nineteen Above Discovery by Jennifer Falkner
2017: A Poppy Against the Sky by Annie Whitehead
