The HWA and the Dorothy Dunnett Society are delighted to announce the shortlist and winner for the 2022 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition! Six stories were shortlisted and the winner and highly commended entries were selected from these. Congratulations to all six shortlisted writers!
The 2022 Short Story Competition winner
Collapse by Chrissy Sturt
An immediately engrossing tale of a family in Southampton in 1940. A great sense of place and character and a full and satisfying story told with economy and grace.
Highly commended
Forever Mine by Bradford Gyori
A haunting tale of the American west with a fresh and persuasive voice which feels like an epic in miniature.
Homecoming by Ruth Moore
A dark and unsettling tale of a return after World War II. Superb writing and a shimmering tension which delivers an impressive twist.
Shortlisted
The Coachman’s Tale by Stuart Fortey
A convincing story of the household of Charles Dickens — moving and surprising.
The Whole of the Moon by John Irving Clarke
Gentle, hopeful, and musical encounter between a Falklands veteran and an unusual young woman.
The Tale of Mud-Mary by Valerie Thompson
A lovely lyrical story which conjures a whole 19th century community along a riverbank.
Huge thanks to our final round judges, Janet Angelini, Matt Casbourne, Katherine Clements and Norah Perkins, for selecting these exceptional stories from a very strong longlist.
We’ll publish all six of these short stories as an anthology later in the year, in time for the HWA awards celebration on 23 November, 2022. Collapse will also be published here in Historia and in the Dorothy Dunnett Society Magazine, Whispering Gallery.
Full details are on the HWA website.
See the longlist for the 2022 competition.
Past winners of the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Prize:
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
