2022 Writing Award Finalists

A Welsh poet and author from the Rhondda Valleys, Philip M John graduated from the University of South Wales in 2014 before working and living across the border in Bristol. He has since returned to Wales and now resides in Monmouthshire. Philip has published four volumes of poetry – Home Truths

From corporate to creative... Having swapped the FTSE for freedom, I'm now pursuing my passions as an aspiring writer, eager traveller, and self-employed business and marketing consultant. My novels, written with screenplay adaptation in mind, draw on the reality of today - the intoxicating highs

Kim Gottlieb-Walker is an American photographer and writer living and working in Los Angeles, CA. Over the past 50 years, she has built a distinctive portfolio that includes some of the most notable musicians and personalities of the '60s and '70s. A graduate of UCLA with honors in Motion Picture

Masha Shukovich (she/they) is a writer, poet, storyteller, folklorist, teacher, independent scholar, and intuitive chef with ancestry and indigenous roots in the Balkans; the Mediterranean; and West, Central, South, and Northeast Asia (Siberia). She is a mother, demigirl, neurodivergent person

Annie R McEwen is a career historian. She’s lived in six countries, under every roof from a canvas tent to a Georgian Era manor house, and driven herself to work in everything from a vintage Peugeot to a donkey cart. It's perfectly natural for her to create stories of desperate love and powerful

Mikey Jackson is a versatile scriptwriter and novelist from the seaside town of Worthing, near Brighton, United Kingdom. The first ten pages of his novel Disordinary made the final shortlist in the Page Turner Awards 2024. His debut play Cruel was performed at Etcetera Theatre, Camden Town, London

Erin L. Swann is an avid home cook who has taught visual art for eighteen years in Central Maryland. She recently became an online writing instructor for Authors Publish and has given several free online lectures through them as well. Her work appears in numerous anthologies and publications

Steve conveys perspectives and emotions in poems and songs. His draft memoir, Galvanized, tells how he overcame timidity as an air cavalry officer in the Vietnam War. A tuxedo cat from a shelter encourages him from a perch over his PC keyboard. Steve assists disabled veterans in getting government

After gaining a degree in Anthropology, Sophie went into television production directing her first documentary for Channel 4 when driving from London to Johannesburg. Having produced an INSET series for BBC Education, she set up wildlife films in Botswana and a BLUE PETER exploration of South Africa

I won the Moth Story Slam this past July with the subject of Denial. Seems like denial is pervasive these days. Contestants had 5 minutes to tell their tale, without notes, in front of a packed audience at the Parkway theater in Minneapolis. I highly recommend writers find the Moth Story Slam in

Greetings. My name is Elizabeth Larson, and my pen name is Elise Lowing. I am an aspiring writer who loves a great story. I am particularly interested in writing middle-grade and teen novels, as I feel that is a time in life when they need the most inspiration. I want to write stories that inspire

Leslie Liautaud is an American playwright and novelist. Her award winning immersive play, SOUTHERN GOTHIC (2018), premiered at Windy City Playhouse in Chicago, IL. Her plays MIDNIGHT WALTZES (2006), HE IS US (2008), THE WRECK (2009), THE MANSION (2012) and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: THE MILLENNIAL

Hi, I'm Morag Higgins. I am passionate about writing and have in the past written articles for equestrian magazines (I am a horse trainer to trade). I have published several equestrian training books but my real passion is for fiction. My first published book was Bruja. The true story of my first

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

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

Stevie Turner is a British author of Romantic Suspense, Humour, Paranormal, and Women’s Fiction (family dramas). She won an inter-schools' essay competition at the age of 11, and this gave her encouragement to write further. She has now written 15 novels, 2 screenplays, 6 novellas, 1 memoir, and 18

I am Anglo-Irish and have variously been a musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist and in a band supporting acts such as Elton John, Rod Stewart, Gerry Rafferty and many others. I co-wrote a Celtic rock opera for the Edinburgh Festival. As well as this, I have been a journalist, editor and PR

Steve Rush’s experience includes tenure as homicide detective and chief forensic investigator for a national consulting firm in the field of forensic and environmental pathology and medicine. Once hailed as, “The best forensic investigator in the United States” by the late Joseph L. Burton, M.D

B. Romero is a writer, teacher, student, wife, mother, activist, and everything in between. Writing has been her passion since a young age and she is also a lover of all things horror. When she is not writing, B. enjoys reading, gaming, and watching horror movies. During school hours, you can catch

Patricia Donovan is the author of four novels, including The Remarkable Miss Digby which in 2022 was shortlisted for a NZ Booklovers Award. Her latest book, Rita Vegas, continues her notable exploration of genre. Donovan says that while her novels span numerous genres, they share a common theme: a