We are delighted to announce the winners of The Vernal Equinox Competition 2021. See the list below. To read an entry click on the title. If there is no link it will be because the entrant either does not wish the piece to be published or has been contacted but not yet given permission. We hope to organise a virtual Awards Event on 4 September.
Results of Vernal Equinox Competition 2021
Flash Fiction (read judge’s report here)
First Prize
E.E. Rhodes Self/Less
Second Prize
Laura Muetzelfeldt Blackbird
Third Prize
Richard Hooton Boundless
Highly Commended
Sherry Morris You Don’t Like Your Dentist
Alexandra Paterson The Settlement
Commended
Alison Bell In This Sequestered Place
Gaelic (read judge’s report here)
First Prize
Iain Macrae/Ian MacRath Gàirnealachd
Second Prize
Marcas Mac an Tuairneir Ròs Geal
Highly Commended
Maggie Rabatski Galar
Poetry (read judge’s report here)
First Prize
Niki Brennan Chimera
Second Prize
Glen Wilson Untamed
Third Prize
Kate Young Summits and Spires
Commended
Ava Patel ‘Something Exists Forever’
Rachel Tennant Stenness Stones
Pete Russell 5-4-3-2-1
Marianne MacRae Rumination on The Past
Lydia Harris I am the spirit who fell on the nun who danced the Kyrie
Bill Dodd the hypothesis
Joan MacDonald Tribute to a craftsman
Mairi Jack Hypocrisy
Alexandra Paterson A walk when the rain stops
Anne Ballard Kintsugi
Rod Whitworth Duet
David Linklater ‘Estimating God’ since retitled Estimations
Ruth Aylett Your life in red plastic
Scots (read judge’s report here)
First Prize
James P Spence Fither’s Walk
Second Prize
Frances Smith Ne’er-Dae-Weil
Third Prize
Donald Adamson Chynged Days
Highly Commended
Donald Adamson ‘Ilin The Cheen’
Kate Gordon Frank
Commended
Kate Gordon Maw
Best Prose/Short Fiction Entry*
Craig Aitchison The Sangsters
*The judge elected to make this award, the placed entries all being poems
Short Story (read judge’s report here)
First Prize
Richard Hooton Subjugation: The play
Second Prize
Brenda Crane Lily Thistle and Rose
Joint Third Prize
Kate Blackadder My Sister’s Eyes
Alan Kennedy The Pagoda in His Mind