We are delighted to announce the winners of  our most recent flash writing competition called Winter Chill.  

We set out to find some chilling stories or creative non-fiction of 250 words or fewer that thrill through mystery, crime or horror and these 9 authors came up with the goods:

Andrew Anderson – The Thin Blue Line

Daniel Harwood – The Dark Cherub

David Langdale – Hedgar’s Stakeout

Jane Lomas – Saving Amy

Sue Dawes – The Undertaking

David Fell – The Meet

Carrie Dunne – Nanna’s Christmas Spirit

Sara Hodgkinson – Hanging with the Cool Kids

Maria Precedo – A Significant Find

You will be able to read their stories when the limited edition illustrated anthology is published by Sampson Low in early May.   We want to thank Alban Low for creating the artwork for the competition and look forward to discovering what he has in store for our authors when he illustrates the anthology.

If you want to try your hand at writing concisely, then there’s another opportunity, this time on a less frightening topic.  We have just launched “Canopy” in which we are encouraging you to write poetry or very short stories inspired by trees and nature and the writings of four literary giants: John Clare, Gilbert White, William Wordsworth and John Evelyn, each of whom has an anniversary in 2020.  Find out how you can enter here

Sales of “Canopy” will go towards funding future Urban Tree Festivals, and winners of the “Canopy” writing competition, not only win copies of the limited illustrated anthology, but also get an invite to read their work at this year’s Urban Tree Festival finale on Sunday 24 May at Bell House in Dulwich, South London.

Need some creative writing tips, look no further, listen to these from our anthology editor Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone by downloading this audio-guide.