Last time I announced a Bridport shortlisting, it brought an utterly astounding amount of traffic to the blog, so I’m hoping for great things this time as well.
Anyway, I heard on Friday that I’d made the shortlist for the short story section of the Bridport Prize for “The Joy Inside”. Now this news should be tempered by the fact that there are apparently around a hundred stories on that shortlist. However, there were over six thousand entrants (hence, presumably, all that blog traffic), so I’m still massively chuffed to have made it that far.
I’m also massively chuffed for the story in question, which is probably one of the most peculiar things I’ve ever written. I still don’t quite understand it, but there seems to be a logic to it, even if it hasn’t yet made itself apparent. I’m also quite pleased that it made it to the shortlist when it’s only just under a thousand words in length. One of the things I’m finding myself doing more and more when reading short stories is muttering “cut, cut, cut” to myself, and it’s nice to see that shorter stories are being taken seriously in the big competitions.
Now to find somewhere cool to submit it to for publication – or do I give it another try somewhere else?
And a big hello to anyone new who’s come here searching for “Bridport Shortlist”. Do have a look around. Especially this post.
Hi Jonathan,
First congratulations! But they say the shortlisted will be notified on the end of the month, so how did they inform you, before announcing the winners publicly. Can I assume the system is not fair?
Mox
Hi Mox,
Thanks! And thanks for dropping in. The Bridport people announced on Friday that all the 13 winners have been informed, and that the shortlistees would also be informed over the next few days. So it’s not unfair – it’s just that the ones who have been shortlisted get told first.
I was going to be massively cool about it and not say anything, but then I noticed that several other people on Twitter had announced their shortlisting, so I thought I might as well announce mine as well. The winners all seem to be keeping schtum, though 🙂
Jon
Well done, Jon!
Thanks, Martha!
Oops, sorry, that was a bit shorter than it should’ve been — my baby just fell over. Also meant to say congrats, and look forward to reading it at some point (you have to resub it now that you’ve told us how peculiar it is, v curious!)
Dear me – I hope she/he is OK 🙂 Yes, I’m even more keen to get it published now myself, although I haven’t quite decided where to sub it.