The Ifanca Hélène James

Short Story Competition 2011

Prize Event

Friday 14 October 7pm

The Gallery Room (HG005), University of Wales Trinity Saint David,

Carmarthen Campus, Carmarthen SA31 3EP

Everyone welcome

Directions to the event: http://www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk

The four winners of this year’s competition will be presented with their prizes at an event at University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Carmarthen on Friday 14 October 7pm. There will be readings from the prize-winning stories.

The winners are:

1^st prize (£100 and a bottle of champagne) – Lynne Voyce from Birmingham

Joint 2^nd prize (£50) – James Morgan from Carmarthen

Joint 2^nd prize (£50) – Annia Lekka from Greece

3^rd prize (£25) -  S. Kingsland from Southampton.

84 stories were submitted from around the world for this first year of the competition. The competition founders and this year’s judges were writers Robin Bloor, Karen Carmichael-Timson, Amanda Miles and Tracey Warr. Robin Bloor said:

“As a first-time judge I was not sure what to expect.  But I was not entirely surprised when individual judges – including me – quickly became ardent advocates of their own selections…There were some heated discussions, but a general consensus was reached at the end of the day, especially when it was decided to add a ‘Specially Commended’ category. This decision was forced on the panel by the consistent high standard of the entries and the hair’s breadth separation between different stories.”

Specially Commended certificates have been awarded to: Stephen Riddell from Dumfries and Galloway, Ian Burton from Bournemouth, Kath MacKenzie from Corby, Vera Franklin from Chichester, Sarah Helen Bennett from Ascot, and Cherry Potts from London.

The competition has been established in memory of Hélène James who died in 2010. Hélène was a writer, dancer, herbalist and homeopath who divided her time between Laugharne and Swansea in Wales and the Greek island of Alonissos. She was a vivid, humorous and generous person with a tremendous zest for life. She published two short stories in Shadow Plays (Cardigan: Parthian Press, 2010) and was awarded an MA Creative Writing by University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

We are grateful to University of Wales Trinity Saint David for their support of the prize-giving event.

See the winning stories and news of the 2012 competition on http://ifancahelenejames.wordpress.com