It's time to announce the winner of our Short Story Competition 2025!
After a few weeks of deliberation, a decision has been made.
Here are the names of the winning and runner-up entries as selected by our judge, Vanessa Onwuemezi, followed by Vanessa’s thoughts on each of the stories.
Third place:
A Spot of Rust by Elizabeth Verwey
What Vanessa said: A really compelling story with a great opening and lots of potential. It feels very grounded, with a sense of humour. The author has balanced the seeming triviality of the rust on the pan and the wondering about a love affair, with the very real life and death situation.
Second place:
Bullet Time by Katy Edwards
What Vanessa said: It was an interesting choice to have the 'kid' as the narrator. Overall this was a well imagined story with the theme of wonder really coming through.
Winner:
Natural Wonder by Elaine Waterhouse
What Vanessa said: This is a great story and the writer has done a lot with few words. There's a nicely taut juxtaposition between her online life and her real life, and her inner life which is a well-written tension throughout the story.
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Huge congratulations to our overall winner, Elaine, who receives the fantastic prize of a place on an Arvon Foundation Writing Retreat (worth £850), our runners-up Katy and Elizabeth, and also to each of the writers that made it onto the shortlist.
You'll be able to read each of the runner-up entries and this year's winning story in full by clicking on the story titles below.
And for those of you that weren't selected for this year's longlist, do keep an eye on the site for further opportunities. We run a variety of different competitions and prizes throughout the year, so be sure to check back to our Competitions page.
Thank you for sharing your stories with us,
The W&A Team
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Read our winning story, Natural Wonder
Read our runners-up stories, Bullet Time and A Spot of Rust
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