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Sentinel Literary Quarterly Short Story Competition July 2010
Judges report
By Laura Solomon
Dear Nnorom,
I was honoured to be asked to judge the
July 2010 Sentinel Literary Quarterly short story
competition. Overall the standard of entries was very high
with hidden gems. The entrants have obviously put real
effort into their stories and there was a lively range of
topics covered. I am sending this preliminary report,
just to let you know I am done with the stories and to let
you know the winning stories. Expect a detailed report in a
couple of days.
First Prize
I particularly enjoyed 'Maria', which
was very well written and an excellent portrayal of an
elderly Italian woman.
Second Prize
'Wages' appealed to me with its
evocation of guilt and damnation. You follow the narrator's
painful recall of her actions and loss, and her
justification of her 'punishment' as something deserved, but
it is in the end a spiritual battle marked with her
resentment of God, the punisher.
Third Prize
This goes to a futuristic entry – 'It
All Comes Back' which was a very original story.
Highly Commended Stories
My choice of three highly commended
stories are: 'Misunderstanding,' 'Passions Worth Dying
For' and 'Burning Things.' They showed a lot of
promise and could easily have been in the top three with a
bit more editing.
The rest of the entries were all very
interesting and every one was worth reading.
Laura.
Editor's note: Unfortunately, Laura Solomon was
unable to send the detailed report because a day after
sending the above e-mail, she fell off her bike and
fractured both her elbows and sprained both her arms. We
wish her a speedy recovery. If she is able to give us that
full report anytime in the future, we will publish it.
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