The award ceremony for the Senior and Junior prizes of the competition took place on 27^th November at The Grand in Folkestone with over 90 people attending including young writers and industry professionals.

There were over 300 entries this year, on the theme of Space which was a subject dear to the heart of the awards’ founder, Reg Turnhill, former BBC space correspondent.

The Junior prize – the Turnill Prize of £1,000 – was awarded to Holly Cartwright aged 21, for her short story The Fallow Sons of a Failed Astronaut. The prize was presented by Ros McCarthy, Chair of Judges and Deputy Lord Ltnt, on behalf of Lady Howard who could not attend the ceremony.

The Senior prize – the Grand Prize of £250, courtesy of Michael Stainer – was awarded to Anne Petrie for her short story – The Architecture of a Norman Church, and presented by a representative from ALCS, who also gave a short address about work of the organisation, highlighting the importance of encouraging creativity amongst young writers.

Anne Petrie winner of Senior Prize (second from left) and Holly Cartwright winner of Junior Prize (far right)

The awards ceremony was opened by Martin Salmon, Folkestone town mayor, followed by a short talk from Lucy Popescu, editor of a collection of essays on refuges and migrants. The proceedings also saw a special commendation award to Alice Sargent, aged 16 from Carmarthenshire for her story on Syrian refugees entitled Not Enough Space in the World.

Barbara Hayes, Deputy Chief Executive of ALCS said: “The H G Wells Short Story Competition is an important event in the ALCS calendar. We are proud to sponsor this award as many of our members are short-story writers and it is important for us to promote creativity among young aspiring authors.”