Our judge Raffaella Barker wrote: The writing in this raw, brutal story is muscular, and energetic. Characterisation sings from the opening scene as we meet Mikey and Joey who, in their lives exist alongside violence, abuse and neglect and at the same time, in themselves and through their brotherly love, reveal their characters, both full of vulnerability, valour and love. The awareness spikey, flighty Mikey has of the pitfalls of the children’s home they are taken to is in marked contrast to the innocence of sensitive, timid Joey’s experience. Through skilful pacing, and sensitive reveals of plot and choices both forced and considered, the extract shows a novel unfolding with powerful plot and pacing. The sense of place and time, whether we are in the children’s family home with their mother, or the ring with their father, or a classroom where something terrible is happening, is utterly real, vivid and believable in every detail and intention, the book is structurally sophisticated, the two brothers rocket the narrative forward, their voices vital and central to action, reaction and ultimately denouement. I loved reading this, it took me into the heart of a world where every action and emotion is sized differently to the norm, and where the reader is immersed and changed through every scene. I wish the author great success with this book and hope to see the story of Mikey and Joey published. Also, SILK is a great title.

Katie Valentine

Katie Valentine lives in Essex and works as a user experience researcher in tech companies. She started writing seriously last year. Silk began as a short story – and kept growing. It is her first novel.

Our Judge Raffaella Barker wrote: This Swedish historical thriller is sure footed, dense with detail and written with the restraint that delivers proper suspense. Highly enjoyable characterisation, a central love story of satisfying complexity and a setting that informs the reader, revealing little known historical detail. Sweden and Nazi occupied Denmark in the second World War offer much to the curious reader, and much is delivered even in this short extract. Characters weave plausible stories about themselves only to slip up; others don’t appear where they should or do appear where they shouldn’t. Classic spy/thriller territory and handled with skill and consistent good writing. The plot is supported by a sound structure and well constructed sense of place and time. A good book, I hope to see it published.

Katharine Trigarszky

British-born Katharine is a freelance writer and editor who lives in the beautiful Swedish capital of Stockholm, a city that she loves to introduce to visitors. After embracing dual nationality, she has a fascination with stories of home, belonging, and identity, which is often reflected in her characters. Katharine’s writing has placed in several competitions, including Ascent Novel Prize, I Am In Print, BPA First Novel Award, and Marlowe & Christie. When she’s not writing historical fiction, Katharine works with independent non-fiction writers to polish their prose. She shares her home with her husband, two teenage boys (who somehow grow taller by the day), and an array of houseplants that she might or might not talk to if they’re ailing. She can be found on Instagram sharing insights into her writing and life in Stockholm.

Our Judge Raffaella Barker wrote: Eccentric characterisation and a developed sense of humour lead this narrative and bring the story of Imelda Winfield, a painter and also a cleaning lady, to readers who will find it hard to dismiss her. In the style of Richard Ossman, where the quotidien is used to great effect in providing a backdrop for unfailingly entertaining misbehaviours, this book sets up and explodes some beloved tropes about art world scandals, nuns with money trouble and dodgy millionaires. The writing is wry, funny and assured, the plot will need a little more upholstery work down the line, but this is an engaging book. A new heroine such as Imelda, coming as she does with her wry side kick Diane, is someone the reading world will enjoy. I wish this book well.

Katrina Tanzer

I moved back to the UK, having lived in Los Angeles for many years, and now reside in Kent. My main career was working as a personal assistant to individuals in the entertainment industry, but I’ve always wanted to succeed at writing books and very much enjoy the process of scribbling away. I have a very patient daughter, Heather, and great friends who are all used to me thrusting my words under their noses for their opinions. The Point of Wasps, seven drafts later, is my first novel.

Our judge Rue Baldry wrote: Tiger Hunt is a pristine account of one moment, which reveals elements of its context, past, and future without losing focus on the solid reality of that single place at that single time. Embedded in well-researched history and geography, this story examines masculinity in extreme times, while describing only a couple of men, a field, a few thoughts and even less dialogue. The two characters feel like a full cast, even though one is Ferguson: “a man of few words and most of them were ‘aye’”. This is the only word he speaks throughout, though it manages to mean something different every time he does. The writing is full of apt metaphors, memorable imagery which stays true to the narrator’s experiences, and witty bravado which nevertheless betrays fear. Information is withheld about the setting to start with, holding the reader’s attention while we get to know and care about the narrator. The story depicts well the combination of boredom with intense, under-expressed emotions which is found in wartime letters and diaries: “You have to swallow time like you swallow your breakfast rations. You have to be grateful for it, no matter how bad it tastes.”

Jon Reburn

Jon Reburn works as an administrative officer in the Civil Service. He was longlisted for the Cymera Prize for Speculative Short Fiction in 2025. His writing experience includes a CV for a professional football manager, promotional material for a drag queen and, rather less glamorously, business directory entries for mould removal companies. He lives in Glasgow with his wife and two young sons.

Our Judge Rue Baldry wrote: Five Lights has an immediately engaging first sentence: “The year I turned fifty I resigned from a job I had held for twenty-seven years and flew to Kenya with two suitcases and no clear idea of what I was looking for.” The rest of the opening paragraph gives us the entire set-up. This story conveys memorably the physicality of things like carrying water and being alone in absolute darkness. Its philosophical and psychological insights resonate beyond the experience of this middle-aged Taiwanese woman over one year, through which her life, like the darkness of power cuts, “stopped being a problem to be solved and became simply the place I was.” The lightly held conclusion, expressed without sentimentality, is one which I know to be true, without having noticed as I read that it was where I was being led.

Li Ying (Iris) Chiu

Li Ying Chiu (Iris) is a Taiwanese writer and retired English teacher. Her writing draws on twelve years of educational and community work in Kenya and Uganda, exploring human encounters across classrooms, cultures and unequal circumstances. She is currently completing a nonfiction book structured around five recurring objects—shoes, water, cloth, soil and light. Her prize-winning short story, Five Lights, reflects her belief that small moments, quietly observed, can illuminate the deepest forms of human connection.

Our Judge Rue Baldry wrote: What the Horse Remembers is a fully developed, well-structured story of grief and healing, with a soundly real setting and a touch of magic. The first page economically sets up both Elin’s life and the inciting incident of the horse’s arrival. Elin tells her, “You’re somebody’s problem” and, over the course of the story, she gradually takes it on as her own, before it becomes clear that Elin’s problems are also being solved by the horse. The prose and arc both have beautiful rhythm, propelled by seasons on a Welsh farm. This is a compelling portrayal of someone living alone within nature, through which she finds her way back to connections with people.

Sharon Hier

Our judge John Challis wrote: In ‘The Beautiful Enduring Shadow’ the poem becomes what John Berger referred to as ‘an assembly point’ where past and present meet. It is an authoritative, mysterious, and elegiac poem, yet feels filled with hope and possibility for what a poem can do and be. Here, ‘Language is the only bridge that does not sag / under the weight of the departed.’ It is an ambitious and exciting poem.

Julie Butler

I lived most of my life on the family property at Bingara NSW Australia where we had the family property for 140 years and ran horned Hereford cattle and Merino sheep. I retired o Walcha NSW in recent years.

I started writing poetry while at University Of New England in 1975. I graduated from university with a Bachelor Of Arts Degree. I love the challenge of writing and entering poetry competitions.

I have been published in literary magazines and anthologies in Australia, USA and India.

Won Australia wide competition in 1996 and prize was publication of book of my poems called “ Come Share My Silence.” Had poems regularly broadcast on ABC radio and commercial radio stations. Have had poems regularly published in FreeXpreSsion Literary Magazine since its inception.

Recent awards and publications include-

Poem shortlisted the Kyogle Writers Festival Poetry in May 2025

Won the R D Walshe National Writing For The Environment Prize in September 2025.

Poem published 2025: The Year In Poetry USA in September 2025.

2nd Prize The FAW Lambing Flat 2025 Poetry Competition in December 2025

Won 2nd Prize in The Writers Digest Chapbook Competition USA in January 2026. In this case a chapbook consisted of 25 poems judged as a whole.

Have poem currently longlisted in The Hunter Writer’s Centre Grieve Poetry Prize – this poem to be published in their anthology at end of September 2026.

Poem published in The Scarborough Summit Poetry Review USA in June 2026.

Poem published in The Poems Of Australia in July 2026.

Currently have poem longlisted in the Whitsundays Writers Festival.

Our Judge John Challis wrote: Written in the voice of an immigration officer, ‘Asylum’ is a startling and understated poem about the dehumanisation of individuals seeking asylum. Although brief, it manages to say much. The pared back rhymes – one, son, anyone – marry with the subject to suggest how humans can be reduced and demeaned in the eyes of systematic processes. It is a timely and necessary work.

Alison Stark

Alison Stark surprised herself by starting to write poetry in 2022. She lives in the Wolds of East Yorkshire with her adult daughter who has Down Syndrome. She is a medical doctor specialised in clinical genetics and this, together with her experience as a care-giver, influences her writing. She was selected in the Guernsey International Poetry Competition 2024, shortlisted for the Yeovil Poetry Prize 2025 and is thrilled to be placed in this year's competition. Her poems have been published in The Fig Tree, About Larkin and High Wolds Poetry Collections. Alison is working with the aim of publishing a first poetry pamphlet/collection.

Our Judge John Challis wrote: What seems, at first, to be an exercise in imagining a being into life quickly becomes a thoughtful account of a body resisting aging. The last line, with its attempt at self-reflective scorn, is loaded with a kind of love. ‘Dan’ is a surprising and original poem in which the creator considers their creation.

Kevin MacAlan

Kevin MacAlan lives in rural Ireland. He has an MA in Creative Writing, and has contributed to numerous journals in Ireland, the rest of Europe, the UK, and the USA. He was shortlisted for The National Poetry Competition and The Fish Poetry Prize in 2024, The Yeovil Literary Prize in 2025 for fiction, and the Fish Poetry Prize in 2026. He has been selected for Poetry Ireland’s Introductions Programme for 2026.

Our judge Julia Churchill wrote: Grania Read is a writer and farmer who lives and works in the Shropshire hills. Inspired by finding an injured racing pigeon in her garden, A Journey Of Pigeons is her first novel for children.

Grania Read

A recent graduate of the Creative Writing MA at BCU, she won the Cheltenham Poetry Festival prize and her poems can be found in Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal and Under The Radar (forthcoming).

Our Judge Julia Churchill wrote: A playful picture book with strong rhymes about a grouchy pelican who doesn’t like it when his beach gets busy. It’s got a great build and finish.

Jennie Saywell

Jennie Saywell is an animal-obsessed word nerd who lives in the countryside with her husband, two cats, and baby daughter. She spent more than a decade working in corporate communications, before being hooked by the silliness and fun of picture-book writing - as well as the creative challenge of making a memorable story using such a small number of words.

Her work has won the WriteMentor Awards competition, and has been recognised in the Ascent Children’s Book Prize and Cheshire Novel Prize kids’ competitions.

Our Judge Julia Churchill wrote: Vibrant, true feeling characters who have great fizz in an auction house set mystery that feels expertly told.

Wendy Osborne

Wendy Osborne is a writer from Winchester. She wrote her first novel aged eight – a Mr Men adventure that remains unpublished in her bottom drawer. She has worked as an actress, nurse and governess before turning to writing full-time. She came third in the Writers & Artists Short Story Competition, was short-listed for the Edinburgh Short Story Award and was long-listed in the Fish Publishing Short Story Competition. Her first mystery-adventure novel for children, The Mystery of the Devil's Eye, was inspired by her career working at a historic London auction house.

Our judge Steve Kay wrote: The reader is immediately thrown off guard with some heavy metaphors: a bar heaving “with outstretched arms. A lifeboat sinking.” Then the metaphor of a predatory wolf, playing with the wolf from the legend that the title hints at, and anticipating Gelert’s defence. I loved how the story surprises you at every turn. There is a bleakness throughout even where happiness is described, no sugaring, created by the sparse prose and terse style, and yet it becomes even more bleak at the end, but still retains that grain of the importance of the human condition, rounding it off nicely and giving that necessary “wholeness.” (I considered using the word dystopian but I feel that would be an injustice.) A great piece of writing.

Mauk Donnabhain

Mauk Donnabhain writes experimental fiction that tugs at the boundaries of creative expression, therefore winning the 2026 edition of the Yeovil Writing without Restrictions award is a great honour for him and a validation of writing that dares to be different.

His short story Drowndead was placed 2nd in the Flash 500 Short Story award in 2024, and he was shortlisted for the Stockholm Writers’ Festival First 5 Pages award in 2023. He has had work shortlisted for the Colm Tóibín International Short Story award (2020) and longlisted for the Minds Shine Bright competition (2023). In 2025 his short story Oyster made it to the second round of the Bridport prize.

He has had other work published in Crannóg, The Honest Ulsterman, Profiles Literary Journal, Trasna, The Galway Review, The Belfast Review, and others.

He is a queer, working-class writer. Originally from Donegal in Ireland, he currently lives in London.

Our Judge Steve Kay wrote: This is really funny. Packed with nerdy little punctuation jokes. It definitely ticks all the boxes of “inventive, different or fun.” It really appeals to the writer in me: the one that appreciates the beauty of a well-placed semi-colon (“Do one, Vonnegut!”) And a very amusing ending…

Jon Robins

Jon has always been an avid reader but in recent years has turned his hand to writing - and gained a new-found respect for those who excel in the craft. His favourite authors include Kazuo Ishiguro, Stephen King and Thomas Hardy. Originally from the Midlands, Jon recently relocated to London where he is enjoying working his way through all the bookshops in the capital. He is delighted that the most surreal story he has ever written won second prize in this contest.

Our Judge Steve Kay wrote: Very funny and superbly written. Meets the brief of “inventive, different or fun.” If it has a problem it is that it does not linger in the mind because of its levity. Is that a fair criterion on which to judge? How can something light and fun be judged against something punchy and gut-wrenchingly emotionally charged? But, then again, in troubled times, who can underestimate the value of laughter?

Helen Hooper

Helen is a writer, storyteller and professional learning designer with a particular passion for funny, voice-driven stories that come alive when read aloud. Her Yeovil Prize entry marks a slight departure from her usual audience, who are mostly under 6 years old.

For almost two decades, interactive storytelling has been at the heart of Helen’s career: she’s founded two award-winning active storytelling businesses, trained hundreds of early-years practitioners and now designs immersive learning experiences for adults.

Helen’s picture book manuscripts have received numerous accolades in international competitions, including the WriteMentor Picture Book Award in which she was runner-up last year and winner this year.

Instagram: helen_hooper_stories

Website: helenhooper.co.uk

LinkedIn: helen-hooper-learning