Worthing's lockdown writing winners announced

Worthing WOW has confirmed the winners of its Write Time writing competition.
Patricia Feinberg StonerPatricia Feinberg Stoner
Patricia Feinberg Stoner

Head judge Judy Upton said: “From emotional diaries to witty murder mysteries, amateur and professional writers across Sussex put pen to paper to explore their feelings about the lockdown and to share their love of the written word. I was hugely impressed by the breadth of subject matter and the truth, emotion and detail in all of these lockdown tales.”

First prize was won by Covid and Mrs Arbuthnot by Patricia Feinberg Stoner from Rustington; second by The Big Shop by Julia Macfarlane from Bognor Regis; and third by New Normal by Esther Reynolds from Staplefield.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Competition organiser Melody Bridges said: “The competition entries were carefully read by a panel of readers, as well as assessed by the head judge without their names so that the authors’ identities have not been revealed – until now!”

Worthing WOW is a registered charity that exists to promote arts, culture and heritage in Sussex. They have created a platform for work, celebrating creativity and encouraging artistic expression. During lockdown they ran the Write Time competition in order to encourage creative expression locally.

The winning writers respectively have won £100, £75 and £50.

Melody added: “I am hugely impressed with the quality of the entries that we received. When we first launched the competition back in June, the country was in lockdown. It has been clear that the COVID crisis has brought out mixed emotions in many. For some, time doing DIY and playing with children has been a blessing. But for others there has been illness, stress and money worries. Worthing WOW aims to inspire writing and creativity and we thought what better way to explore the myriad of emotions at this strange time than setting a writing competition?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I was not prepared for the high quality of writing, nor the touching emails that accompanied the letters. Some people wrote that this was a true diary of their experiences, others that they were very worried about loved ones, and also there were those who said that if they won the prize money they would donate it to the NHS. One even said that they would like to donate the prize money to their place of work – a care home.

“It seemed really important to separate the stories that were sent in (both fiction and non-fiction) from the names and so I took care to take them off the writing before sharing them with the reading panel and the head judge, playwright Judy Upton.

“The winning story by Patricia Feinberg Stoner is a wonderfully funny story about life in a small village. It was an antidote to many of the more serious stories and was beautifully written. The second place story by Julia Macfarlane (The Big Shop) and the third place story (New Normal) by Esther Reynolds are moving accounts of responses to the crisis and the way it has touched people’s lives.

“The trustees of Worthing WOW are thinking about ways in which we can share some of the stories in another format – perhaps a small book or via story recordings as the quality of writing was so high and has really captured personal stories and is a picture of life in lockdown. We will certainly offer further writing competitions in order to help our community express themselves.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

*************

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.

Gary Shipton

Editorial Director

Related topics: