‘CORVIDAE’ - WINNER OF THE MOGFORD SHORT STORY PRIZE 2019
I won the Mogford Short Story Prize 2019.
My 2,500 word story, ‘Corvidae’, was selected from 1,019 entries from writers all over the world as the winner of the £10,000 Mogford Prize for Food & Drink Writing 2019.
‘Corvidae’ was chosen by Prize founder Jeremy Mogford, and guest judges; Julian Barnes, English Author and Man Booker Prize winner, and Tim Hayward, FT contributing writer and winner of the Restaurant Writing Award at the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2018.
I am beyond thankful to all the judges, and to Jeremy Mogford for creating this award.
You can listen to the story here, on The Story Player. It is read by Sara Wilson-Soppitt. I can’t thank Melanie Whipman enough for this recording, it is done with so much care and attention to detail.
You can read the story online, here.
The shortlist consisted of Tahira Yaqoob with ‘Café Beirut‘, April Pierce with ‘The Afterparty‘, and John Simpson with ‘The Last Night at the Palazzo‘. Yes, that John Simpson. Three novels , fifteen books, BBC war correspondent, CBE John Simpson.
So. Fair to say, I expected to lose and was looking forward to a lovely few days in Oxford, and an evening fetching John Simpson champagne and diamond tacos (or whatever winners eat) from the bar.
My base for the night was The Old Parsonage Hotel in Oxford.
I was excited to find The Old Parsonage had a library. Plus, my room had a huge bathtub, with tiny little toiletries scented with slightly alarming things like ‘cornish hedgerows’. Heaven.
The prize giving took place at Quod in Oxford, on the 3rd April 2019. I wore my best lobster earrings and scuttled off to the restaurant.
Emotional Support Lobsters safely attached to skull, I arrived at Quod and met the other shortlisted writers, Jeremy Mogford, and past winners and judges of the prize.
Everyone rocked without exception, and there was prosecco, which always helps. I can’t enthuse enough about how lovely Oxford is, and going to Quod or Gees will only make it 8 billion times more sparkling.
It was a surprise to win. I think you can tell that from the expression of paralysed horror in my face.
I was then handed a microphone and instructed to give a speech. I am 99% certain I mimed lobsters and cornish hedgerows for five minutes, so, my apologies for that, to anyone present.
I hope I did manage to convey my huge gratitude to Jeremy Mogford and family for a magical evening in Oxford. Primarily, this is gift of time to write. £10,000 is an insane prize. It was paid time to finish writing my first novel.
I was presented with not only an award, but a beautifully bound chapbook of my story. ‘Corvidae’, which will be gifted to all guests in The Old Bank and Old Parsonage in Oxford, over the coming years. I also have the full shortlist and past winners (7 years worth!) to read this week.
I arrived back to my room to find a bottle of champagne waiting for me, and I had my first of 37 mildly drunken hedgerow themed baths.
It was perfect.
Huge congratulations to all the shortlisters and longlisters, the competition was intense and the talent gigantic.
Making the longlist was a considerable achievement given that the competition attracted 1,019 entries from 58 countries around the world.
This year the Mogford Prize attracted entries from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Territories, Trinidad and Tobago, Columbia, Guyana, Bermuda, Jamaica, Georgia, Iran, Monaco, Myanmar, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Georgia.
The full longlist includes these amazing writers -
Carol Adlam; Jayne Boxall; Giles Cooper; Julia Davey; Georgios Goris; Helen Harradine; Bruce Meyer; Geoff Palmer; Fiona Parker; Jennifer Parrott; Tim Pears; April Pierce; Simon Pritchard; Nell Rees; John Simpson; Craig Tiedman; Vijay Varman; Elizabeth Sinclair; Sudhakar Soman; Hugo Vickers; Kent Walley; Alexis Wolfe; Krystyna Wysocki; Tahira Yaqoob.
It is a huge honour to be a part of such a prestigious prize.
