Sean Lusk’s Final Score won the 2025 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition. It’s with great pleasure that we publish it here in Historia. The competition judges called it: “A brilliantly-crafted and poignant story set in the wake of WWI. The dry, courageous narrator delivers a heart-rending and thought-provoking story of a veteran playing piano […]
The 2025 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition winner and shortlist
It gives us great pleasure to announce the winning and shortlisted stories in the 2025 Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition. The winning story in the 2025 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition The winner of the 2025 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition: Final Score by Sean LuskThe judges say: “A […]
The HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition longlist for 2025
We’re delighted to announce the longlist for the 2025 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 2025 longlist: Iko of Benin, King’s Diver by […]
St Kilda Bird Song by KF MacCarthy (the 2024 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story winner)
St Kilda Bird Song by KF MacCarthy won the 2024 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition. Our judges said: “A magical and immersive story of a late 19th-century teacher on the remote island, told from diverse perspectives with fluency and confidence. A very special piece of writing about a remarkable place.” The 2025 Short Story […]
Hecate’s Daughter by Jo Tiddy (the 2023 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story winner)
Jo Tiddy’s story, Hecate’s Daughter, won the 2023 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition. “A clever story, written deftly and colourfully, showing the cruelty and ignorance (and small kindnesses) of the period,” the judges said. “[We] adored this original and subversive take on a well-worn tale, told in such a vivid and powerful voice that […]
The HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition 2023 longlist
We’re delighted to announce the longlist for the 2023 Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition. “These are all rich and ambitious stories which demonstrate the wealth of material history offers to readers and writers today,” says HWA Chair Imogen Robertson. “The judges were very impressed by the excellent writing on display this […]
Collapse by Chrissy Sturt (the 2022 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story winner)
Collapse by Chrissy Sturt won the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition in 2022. In the words of the judges, it’s “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.” To celebrate the 2023 HWA […]
His Mother’s Quilt by Naomi Kelsey (the 2021 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story winner)
Naomi Kelsey’s His Mother’s Quilt won the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition in 2021. It’s a dark, gothic-tinged story of oppression and loss with supernatural undertones, which the judges praised for its “tense, delicate writing. Lace woven with steel threads.” To celebrate the opening of 2022’s HWA DDS competition to entries, we’re publishing Naomi’s […]