2023 Writing Award Shortlist

I am a graduate of the Curtis Brown Creative Novel-Writing Course, winner of the 2021 Blue Pencil Agency Pitch Prize and have been long listed for Mslexia Novel Writing competitions. The Hollow Mountain is my third novel. I trained as a pharmacist, ultimately heading up a department supporting

Diane Corso is a San Francisco Bay Area blogger at The Corso Papers, where she enjoys writing about bad (and good!) horror films. Her latest novel, Broken Things, placed second in the Horror/Paranormal category of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Contest for 2023. She recently guested on

Megan Catana (formerly Schikora) lives in the US. Her work won third place in prose in the 2020 New South Writing Contest and was nominated by Flash Fiction Magazine for the 2019 Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. Her short fiction and creative nonfiction can also be found in The Rumpus, The

I am an author, playwright, and freelance writer loving life in the American Southwest. Surviving and fleeing my upbringing in the Chicago area under the tutelage of white supremacist parents, I wandered until I found my true home here, inspired by the mystical landscapes, unique cultural history

I'm a writer, actor, and story coach from Edmonton, Canada. After working for years in a technical field, the company I worked for went under. Seeing it as an opportunity rather than a drawback, I decided to follow my passion of writing and film fulltime. With numerous produced screenplays and

I have been awarded second place in the final judging of Hastings Litfest, (a submission from a previous crime thriller), and ‘Sins of the Fathers’ reached a longlist of 20 in the Bridport Prize. (1629 entries). It also achieved a Highly Commended 4th place in the Yeovil Novel Prize, the longlist of

Gustav Temple has been editor of The Chap, a British men's style magazine, for 20 years. This career has allowed him to develop strong writing and editing skills within journalism, while he has also been busy writing fiction in his spare time. As well as Hotel Quarantine, his submission to The Page

Alida Winternheimer is an award-winning writer, editor, and teacher. The creator of the Story Works Round Table podcast, the Story Works Fiction online school of creative writing, and developmental editor and writing coach at Word Essential, she has published two craft books, and multiple stories

Ben Alvord has been writing across many different mediums since he was a kid. He's worked in screenwriting, slam poetry, live storytelling, sketch comedy and his original love, fiction. Ben lives in the Hudson Valley of New York with his wife and pitbull mix. When he's not writing, he's working his

I grew up in Great Britain on the borders of Wales in a Tudor house on the banks of the River Wye. As LP Fergusson I write serious historical fiction dealing with the Second World War and the War of Spanish Succession. As Loraine Fergusson I write cozy mysteries inspired by my time working in one of

I am a senior acquiring editor of middle grade and young adult fiction for Jolly Fish Press and Flux, the author of several children’s nonfiction books, a 2019 Pitch Wars mentee, and a graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at Antioch University L.A.

I began writing THE ARTIST while living in France, surrounded by lemony light, history-soaked streets, and the smells of foods I will forever associate with summer: apricots, artichokes, peaches. I absorbed a lot of art, I read a lot of books about art, and somehow I ended up down the rabbit hole of

From a young age, Timothy Jay Smith developed a ceaseless wanderlust that has taken him around the world many times. En route, he’s found the characters that people his work. Polish cops and Greek fishermen, mercenaries and arms dealers, child prostitutes and wannabe terrorists, Indian Chiefs and

I was born in Wisconsin, raised in Southern California, then moved back to Wisconsin, where I’ve lived for the last 35 years. Having four seasons instead of two has been one of the many benefits of living in Northwestern Wisconsin. So is living in the country, because I get to enjoy its beauty and

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

Mikey Jackson is a versatile scriptwriter and novelist from the seaside town of Worthing, near Brighton, United Kingdom. His debut play Cruel was performed at the Etcetera Theatre, London in November last year. His TV drama spec script Seven Magpies earned him a place as a finalist in the Amazon