Glasgow Student Short Story Prize 2009

Judged by A.L. Kennedy
Edited by Elisabeth Ingram, Rebecca CF Bradburd and Jose Velazquez

Introduction

The Glasgow Student Short Story Prize was founded to support and promote new writing talent across Scotland’s largest city. The prize was free to enter and open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students studying at any University in Glasgow. 

I hoped that an accessible prize would encourage students of all subjects to write stories, and am delighted that the prize attracted submissions from all five major universities and academies in Glasgow. Shortlisted stories came from a diverse range of students studying Creative Writing, English Literature, Journalism, History of Art, Forensic Biology, and Law.

The prize had just one rule: a limit of 1000 words.  This restriction proves a serious challenge to any writer.  Crafting a powerful story in a tight space is one of the most challenging tasks a writer can face.  Every word must count, drive forwards, resonate.  Each writer on our shortlist wrote with precision and verve. The three winners of the Prize reveal an exceptional talent, creating daring prose that stands out amongst an already impressive group of stories.

Involvement in this prize illustrates the scale of writing talent in Glasgow. I’m happy that each of these authors will have their work published in From Glasgow To Saturn (the online literary journal of Glasgow University), and even happier that we are publishing this book: there’s no bigger a thrill as a writer than seeing your writing in print!

Special thanks are due to A. L. Kennedy, for her generosity and kindness to strangers. Strangers’ kindness has been a heartening and unexpected surprise throughout the Prize. Short story publishers and writers such as Nuala Ní Chonchúir made it possible, by offering substantial prizes and support to new and emerging short story writers. 

I must also mention the Dewar Arts Awards, who funded my course and writing this year, allowing me to create the prize and this anthology.

This beautiful book is largely due to the hard work of Cosmo Wallace.  Thank you, Cosmo. Thank you also to Rebecca Bradburd and José C. Velazquez, two dedicated co-editors of From Glasgow to Saturn, who read every entry to the prize, and worked with me to compile a fantastic shortlist.

A final thanks must go to every student who entered the prize. I’m proud to have read so many excellent short stories, and I’m confident that whether or not individual entrants won prizes or a place on the shortlist, they will continue to write and to make Glasgow a great place to be a writer.