2024 Writing Award Finalists

Scott Rye is a decorated veteran who served throughout the Middle East and Africa. The author of two non-fiction books, Scott has worked as a newspaper correspondent, magazine editor, advertising copywriter and was a partner and Chief Operating Officer of an ad agency before founding his own crisis

Lara is a a part-time marketing manager, with a PhD in 20th-century literature and a passion for medieval history. She left a corporate career to fulfill a childhood dream: turning some of the great events and characters of medieval European history into the subject matter of contemporary stories

John Winn Miller is a former award-winning investigative reporter, foreign correspondent, newspaper editor and publisher, screenwriter, indie movie producer and novelist.

I’m a lawyer who started writing about seven years ago. I'm currently working on Seven Sins, a locked room murder mystery set in a City law firm, inspired by my time as a corporate finance partner in two such firms. My elevator pitch is: Seven suspects. Seven sins. Which one is deadly? My previous

I've been writing fiction for five years and I've just finished my first novel which began as a story told around a campfire, imagining walking into the woods and out into a different time. What might happen? Who would you meet? What would you do? At first, it was an an exciting story to tell the

I've been writing fiction for five years and I've just finished my first novel which began as a story told around a campfire, imagining walking into the woods and out into a different time. What might happen? Who would you meet? What would you do? At first, it was an an exciting story to tell the

Hello! I’m Arianna Kiriakos, and I've been writing as long as I can remember. I completed my first novel at thirteen, and basically haven’t stopped since. I aim one day to be a traditionally published author. My work tends to lean into mysteries with sassy characters and historical or travel

Amanda Huskisson writes Y.A. fantasy under the pen-name Louise Neville. Her work has been long and shortlisted in various novel competitions, including Retreat West, Words With Jam and Flash 500. She deals with author outreach for Strong Women – Strange Worlds, a U.S. based online group who organise

A Massachusetts native, Abby Sandman was on skis before she could walk, and this early tendency towards adventure has carried her from the canyons of Peru to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. She is an associate editor for Indagare Travel, where she writes for the company’s tri-annual magazine and

A Massachusetts native, Abby Sandman was on skis before she could walk, and this early tendency towards adventure has carried her from the canyons of Peru to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. She is an associate editor for Indagare Travel, where she writes for the company’s tri-annual magazine and

I'm a 56 year old violinist and string teacher, the daughter of a german-jewish holocaust refugee. I grew up in St Andrews, Scotland, where my Dad was a history lecturer in the university. Thereafter, I studied and lived in Sheffield until 2000. For the past 23 years I've been a resident of

I'm a trilingual storyteller, international journalist, and fiction novelist with a love of ancient history, astronomy, fantasy, and beautiful words that make you swoon.

I'm a trilingual storyteller, international journalist, and fiction novelist with a love of ancient history, astronomy, fantasy, and beautiful words that make you swoon.

I live in the Philadelphia suburbs with my wife, daughter, and mischievous yellow lab. I am a high school social studies teacher with a background in United States government and a great affection for Revolutionary-era history. I wrote this book because in this age of international politics and

Brian Finney has won awards for his biography of Christopher Isherwood and for his debut suspense novel, Money Matters. His writings have appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times, The LA Weekly, The Irish Times, The Chicago Tribune, The San

Hi! I'm Amanda and I live in London, UK. :) Having spent ten years working as a Barrister in Criminal Law, I live and love all things crime! Hence all my books have a strong crime element, based on murder cases I prosecuted and are embedded with twists and conspiracies. As I have teenage children

After a career in communications and as a copywriter and editor in the corporate and science sectors in Australia, I published my first novel 'More Than I Ever Had' an historical fiction based on a true story. Since then, I completed a second manuscript in the women's suspense genre, and am now

Sue Abell, writing as MS Abell and Sabella MaKamish, has been writing since early childhood – short stories, novels and even a play. Her style of writing is organic … rarely does a novel form from an outline. Most often, her novels come from the dreams she has while sleeping. Sue lucid dreams: she

Sue Abell, writing as MS Abell and Sabella MaKamish, has been writing since early childhood – short stories, novels and even a play. Her style of writing is organic … rarely does a novel form from an outline. Most often, her novels come from the dreams she has while sleeping. Sue lucid dreams: she

Sue Abell, writing as MS Abell and Sabella MaKamish, has been writing since early childhood – short stories, novels and even a play. Her style of writing is organic … rarely does a novel form from an outline. Most often, her novels come from the dreams she has while sleeping. Sue lucid dreams: she

Sue Abell, writing as MS Abell and Sabella MaKamish, has been writing since early childhood – short stories, novels and even a play. Her style of writing is organic … rarely does a novel form from an outline. Most often, her novels come from the dreams she has while sleeping. Sue lucid dreams: she

Leaving Palmer’s School in 1953, I served two years in the R.A.F. and thereafter became too involved in building a career to allow myself the time to develop my talent for scribbling (although I did write a sales manual!). After a 40 year career, first in retail in UK, later in chemicals in UK and

Anne Lacourrege was raised in New Orleans. There has always been the desire to do creative writing and this was Anne’s first attempt. My father was the inspiration for this story. He was such a happy, go-lucky guy that loved life. Unfortunately, he ended up with Alzheimer’s. With those sad days of

Daniel Westlund is a cybersecurity engineer who lives in Texas. He wrote the novel Stolen Shroud, which won some indie awards, such as the IndieReader Discovery Award.

Writer, romantic, cynic, surgeon

I'm an illustrator and designer with 20 years of working in the creative industry and developing creativity in myself and others, and I adore children's books - for their humour, colour, energy and escapism. Yes, at 40 years old my treat is to buy them for myself. Despite evidence to the contrary (a

Originally from Sydney, Australia, I have spent most of my adult life in Switzerland, working as a physio with disabled children, raising a family, and studying. I received a BA with First Class Honours in Literature and Classical Studies from The Open University in 2001, and an MA from Bath Spa

Originally from Sydney, Australia, I have spent most of my adult life in Switzerland, working as a physio with disabled children, raising a family, and studying. I received a BA with First Class Honours in Literature and Classical Studies from The Open University in 2001, and an MA from Bath Spa

Physician, psychiatrist, podcaster, and author Richard Gillett received his medical degree from Cambridge University, England, and is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He has published three popular books on psychology. "Overcoming Depression" (Penguin), translated into six languages;

I have been writing full time for ten years, first gaining a distinction in a creative unit as part of an English Literature degree with the Open University and then completing various writing courses, most recently How To Edit Your Novel with Jericho Writer's Debi Alper. I am a member of a virtual

Celeste Lovick is a Canadian author and singer-songwriter residing in Norfolk, England with her husband and son. Her first novel, 'Medicine Song', was self-published in 2017 and was inspired by her experiences performing at greenfield festivals over the years. She has released four solo albums of

My first attempt at serious writing was a play in Spanish in my sixth form at school. Much later, I wrote stage plays for my local amateur dramatic society, Cobham Players, in Surrey, for which I have acted as Chairman. In the last few years I have self-published two books of historical fiction.

Like my ridiculous character Brian Medlock, I am a gay scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. After training as a surgeon, I invented the personalization technology used by WebMD, and I recently sold my conversational AI company Conversa to American Well. Medlock’s theory of persistence is actually

Patrick Eades is a writer from Sydney, Australia. Growing up, he spent his free time reading, on sporting fields, and getting up to mischief in the National Park. After school, Patrick found himself in a variety of jobs. He was a baker, pizza delivery driver and shelf stacker before realising he

I write women’s upmarket and historical fiction. As a former retail executive specializing in e-commerce, for years I’ve channeled my story-telling passion into writing thousands of words in the form of published articles, white papers, website and social media content, marketing materials

I find wonder in how our world works through studying the past to predict the patterns of our future. This might be due to my first passion and career as a weather forecaster, but it certainly does make life more interesting when I’m not hunched over my computer, madly typing to pin down my

BIOGRAPHY: My name is Rosie Beattie and I have worked as an English and Drama teacher for the majority of my career which has definitely informed my writing. I also have a background in theatre having worked as both an actor and director. I have a keen interest in film and have enjoyed writing LEMON

I have always written and though I have never been published, I’ve been placed in many writing competitions: most recently I have been longlisted in the CWA’s Debut Dagger, The Yeovil Literary Prize, Flash 500 Novel Comp, The Joan Dempsey First Chapter Contest and shortlisted in The Retreat West

I have published short fiction and poetry, and I have been short- and long-listed for the Fish Short Story Prize. As an undergraduate I majored in English literature, though I currently work in technology.

Caroline Turriff is an award nominated social affairs journalist who was shortlisted for the Amnesty International Media Awards for a report on race and police brutality she did for BBC TV's Newsnight which was also broadcast on BBC1, Radio 4, Radio 1 and run by the Guardian, Mail and Metro

Gianaclis (gee-on-a-klees) is a multi-award winning non-fiction author who was raised in the wilds of Oregon talking to trees and escaping work in the garden to read books. She writes upmarket speculative fiction with themes of family, platonic love, and nomance. After a few NaNoWriMo’s and buckets

Franco British, aged 48, I have been, since the age of 21, a painter under the name Delphine Hogarth Lafaye. I work with different galleries in the UK and the states and always wrote texts to explain my paintings and my process. In my world, writing and painting go well together. This time, I left

I am a retired professor of Victorian Literature who has written two single-authored books, produced several editions, edited or co-edited several essays, and written numerous articles. During the course of my career I worked with a writing therapist, Cynthia MacDonald, a poet and therapist who was

Adrian Cowderoy was born at Hyde Park Corner, London. His early experiments with writing were inspired by a school alumnus, W. Somerset Maugham, and an English teacher who allowed him to write fiction instead of essays. Adrian’s career has influenced his writing. He has worked on a communal farm in

Wheston Chancellor Grove holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, VT. He also earned an MSW. He is the author of Who Has Known Heights, a bildungsroman (2017), and The Lost Art of Love (2023), available on Amazon. The Lost Art of Love is a 2024 Indie Book Awards Finalist. His short

My work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, Writer’s Digest and Family Circle. A Pushcart Prize nominee, I won the Grand Prize in the annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition and received a Finalist Award in Prose from the Illinois Arts Council. I graduated with a

My work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, Writer’s Digest and Family Circle. A Pushcart Prize nominee, I won the Grand Prize in the annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition and received a Finalist Award in Prose from the Illinois Arts Council. I graduated with a

I have had two novels published with independent presses: Work For Four Hands (Starborn Books) and A Diamond in the Sky (Honno). New Books Magazine, now nb.magazine, said of Work for Four Hands: ‘A wonderful, cleverly written novel.’ Oxford Magazine said of A Diamond in the Sky: 'Pelling has an

Kristen Dobson was born in Ontario, Canada and graduated college in 1996. For the past thirty years she has worked as a massage therapist while continuing to pursue writing in her free time. Over decades, she has had the unique privilege of delving into peoples stories, while gaining an in depth

British Army veteran and former English Teacher; now writing Horror and Sci-Fi novels. I love folklore-inspired horror and splicing together terror and sci-fi fiction. @HThomaswrites