2025 Writing Award Shortlist

Late starter. Spent most of my time working in hospitals, bringing up a family, and in the occasional down times, running, reading and co-authoring science and medical papers - over 50 published, but none of major significance. Started writing fiction in May 2022 - currently writing fourth book

Lily Lu is a budding author of fantasy and science fiction stories.

Jane lives in New Zealand with her young family. She has a PhD in early modern English history, a BA (Hons) and an LLB (Hons) from the University of Queensland. She has published in academic journals, and is a volunteer baker for NZ charity Good Bitches Baking. Her work has received the Claymore

Story lover, planner and plotter. Author of 'As the Tree Falls', and winner of the 2025 Page Turner Writing Award. When I’m not wandering through imagined landscapes, I serve as a District Councillor and Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment, helping to shape the places people call home. Both

Karin is an autistic mathematician, and writer of science fiction, fantasy and thrillers. After twelve moves within the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the UK, she settled in the Garden of England (a.k.a. Kent). As a writer/reader, she is passionate about diversity – any kind – but, more than

Len Cobb is an emerging author and recovering structural engineer. He has completed two novels and is polishing two more. He's had a short story published and his work was longlisted in the 2023 Page Turner Awards. Len lives in Puerto Rico with his wife, two dogs, three guitars, and four

Jo is a writer with a passion for commercial fiction, and anything that makes her laugh. She lives in Cornwall with a bitey cat and her (thankfully less bitey) partner. Her work has previously been shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print unpublished novel prize.

Renda Knapp is a thriller writer who spent over 25 years delivering babies and delivering justice—on the page, that is. After earning her medical degree from the University of South Florida, she juggled surgical instruments, stethoscopes, and seven children before adding "novelist" to her already

I’m a queer writer and psychotherapist exploring the quiet places where fear and humanity meet. My writing lives at the intersection of horror and introspection, stories rooted in the tension between the visible world and the emotional undercurrents that shape us. I’m fascinated by how grief, memory

Kate is a conservation ecologist from New Zealand with a passion for writing and storytelling. Over the past decade, she has worked in various environmental roles from contracting to consulting to research. She holds degrees in various aspects of the natural and physical sciences, and is currently

I was born in the south but grew up in Virginia, returning briefly to North Carolina to complete my bachelor’s degree in business. I’ve spent my professional life to date in sales and marketing positions, and as an entrepreneur. Along the way, I discovered my passion for people is only exceeded by

A former English Teacher who hung up his chalk (well, whiteboard markers) to pen a few of his own words. Loves folklore-inspired horror, dystopian fiction and of course sci-fi; but more than anything - and unsurprisingly - loves a literary surprise, where genre and blurb are little more than cursory

British debut novelist who began his working life as a waiter, but since has had a varied career in financial services, documentary film production and the travel industry. Much of his writing experience has been within the business world, where he has been head of corporate communications, and

I have a Master of Science Degree in Instructional Technology with an emphasis on technical writing. In 2022, I was shortlisted by Jericho Writers for their annual Friday Night Live competition.

Len Cobb is an emerging author and recovering structural engineer. He has completed two novels and is polishing two more. He's had a short story published and his work was longlisted in the 2023 Page Turner Awards. Len lives in Puerto Rico with his wife, two dogs, three guitars, and four

Jane lives in New Zealand with her young family. She has a PhD in early modern English history, a BA (Hons) and an LLB (Hons) from the University of Queensland. She has published in academic journals, and is a volunteer baker for NZ charity Good Bitches Baking. Her work has received the Claymore