CAMBRIDGE AUTUMN FESTIVAL
2024 SHORT STORY COMPETITION

Thank you to all entrants for your stories.
Announcement of the winners…

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The Cambridge Autumn Festival Short Story Competition 2024 is sponsored by our amazing sponsor Cooney Insurance Maurice Trapp Group.

This year, the story theme was “The Dilemma”.
First prize is $1000, second prize $500 and third prize $250.
Entries closed 5.00pm 31 January 2024.

Word limit was 1500 words. The competition was open to all ages and was free to enter.

Here are the winners, their winning stories and their biographies.
To read the stories, click on the story names.

First Prize Jan Mackenzie Harry Gone Away
Second Prize Deryn Pittar Living is hard
Third Prize Tristan Whitfield August

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BIOGRAPHIES:

First Prize Winner – Jan Mackenzie
I’ve been writing for a long time, had a few successes to keep me trying. Most times it’s a story that needs telling for my own good…I disappear into the story and it writes itself, but by the time I’ve proof-read it over and over, it seems like something that happened to someone else and it’s lost its power to hurt.
Having said that, I’m proficient with a pick and shovel and I’ve been in a flood or two, but I’ve never killed a wife-beater, nor buried one under a bathtub.

Second Prize Winner – Deryn Pittar
Playing with words has been a past time since my early twenties. I entered this competition because the premise of ‘an ethical dilemma,’ fitted a piece I wrote a year ago. Based on the emotions I experienced when my father was dying, I turned them to good use by slipping them, here and there, into the story, (not that this story is at all true).
I write over a range of genre, including fantasy, sci.fi., flash and short fiction, romance and contemporary fiction, plus an occasional poem. I love the challenge of creating a short story: saying a lot in a few words. It really hones my writing skills.

Third Prize Winner -Tristan Whitfield
Tristan Whitfield has had an interest in writing since he was a child, but since 2020, has pursued this interest more seriously, beginning with multiple attempted novels (half-finished to this day) before experimenting with shorter form content. With the support of his fellow literature club members, who he would like to thank here for their continued encouragement and enthusiasm for the craft, he began entering his work into national competitions.
The aspect of writing Tristan relishes most is in the exploration of ideas. He never knows quite where a story will end up until it’s finished, but he always hopes it arrives at a more nuanced place with the power to impact a reader. Tristan aspires to one day publish a novel, provided of course, he ever gets to finishing one.

 

 

 

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