Isle of Wight short story competition reveals winners

For the 14th annual competition, the theme was The Future, which gave the writers plenty of scope to get imaginative.

An awards ceremony was held at the Riverside Centre in Newport, to a full house.

Once again, the charity secured an enviable range of British talent, which this year included Chesney Hawkes, Richard Cadell, RC Bridgestock and Debbie McGee as the celebrity readers.

High Sheriff, Dawn Haig-Thomas, presented the awards to the three under 18 categories.

The Under 8’s winner was Olive Miller with her story, The Lost Teddy. Olive won a teddy bear and chocolates, donated by Waitrose and Wight Business Services.

Olive’s story was recorded by Richard Cadell.

Olive Miller and Dominic Finch (Image: Sight for Wight)

The eight to 11's winner was Penelope Harwood with her story, YEAR 3000.

Penelope won an Amazon voucher, kindly donated by Tesco. Penelope’s prize includes having her story printed by the County Press, in next week's edition.

Penelope Harwood with Chris Cane (Image: Sight for Wight)

The mystery judge said: "This story has a super opening and ending with chatty but quite philosophical asides to the reader about time itself.

"There are fantastic futuristic concepts which are plausible but scary. It’s a well-developed story showing good plot progression with skilled use of language (I liked ‘bamboozled’).

"There are some difficult notions introduced in a simple but thought provoking way."

The 12 to 17’s winner was Dominic Finch with his story, Clearing Mist.

Dominic won a voucher, kindly donated by ComiCoffee. 

Sight for Wight patron, Gioia Minghella-Giddens presented the prizes for the adults.

A certificate of merit was  awarded to Emma Harris-Silk  as her work showed extreme promise, creativity and flare.

Emma won a voucher from Isle of Wight Pearl.

The late Edana Minghella was a huge supporter of the charity since 2016 and a strong advocate for mental health. In honour of Edana, Chris Cane, competition organiser, created the Edana Minghella Award.

This award is for a story with depth, emotion, wellbeing and creativity.

Juliet Bell was the winner with her story, A Long Way Down. Juliet won a voucher donated by Ventnor Botanic Garden.

Gioia Minghella presents the Edana Minghella Award to Juliet Bell (Image: Sight for Wight)

• Read the stories at sightforwight.org.uk/news/short-story-writing-competition-2023/

The over 18’s winner was Marguerite Howick with her story, Having The Will To Change. Marguerite won a Waterstones voucher donated by Wight Computers.

The judge said: "A clever title and a well-constructed story, with credible characters and good descriptions of the contrasting backgrounds, which gradually blur as the story develops.

"The culmination of the plot is an excellent twist of poetic justice in the final sentence."

Winner Marguerite Howick's friend George collected on her behalf, from Gioia Minghella-Giddens (Image: Sight for Wight)

Competition organiser, Chris Cane, thanked everyone involved.

He said: “We were honoured to have such talented and famous readers again this year so a huge thanks to them for their help and support. This is one of our key fundraising annual events and so vital to continue to help raise funds for our members.”