Short story contest returns after successful debut

A short story contest is helping to "nurture" writers across Guernsey, organisers have said.

The Guernsey Literary Festival has launched its second short story competition following the first edition in 2025, which led to an anthology of the finalists' work being published.

This year's competition has the theme of "small treasures" with stories of up to 2,500 words written by people aged 18 or above eligible for entry, which closes on 16 November.

Ruth Thomason, who organises the short story anthology project, said the response to the first year exceeded expectations and she was "chuffed" to have built a community of writers off the back of the competition.

"We feel very close to our readers and also the whole of Guernsey as a community, and we want to nurture that creativity," Thomason said.

"Last year, we had established authors, but we also had people who have never had a story published before.

"It's really given them the encouragement to now go and write something a bit longer or write their own collection of short stories."

She added the competition's organisers had set up critique groups and other guidance would be available to entrants.

The main judge for this year's contest is bestselling author Louise Doughty, whose novels include Apple Tree Yard and Platform Seven.

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