Short Story Competition Shortlisted and Winning Entries 2023

Published on 20 May 2023

We are excited to announce the shortlisted and winning entries in the 2023 Short Story Competition here at Upper Hutt Libraries!

We had a fantastic turnout of entries for this competition and were impressed by the writing talent that we have here in Upper Hutt. Thank you to everyone who shared their writing with us and submitted an entry this year – we are looking forward to read more from you next year.

Huge congratulations to the winners and shortlisted writers!

ADULT CATEGORY

Winners

1^st "The Carpet"(DOCX, 14KB)  by Alex Heke

2^nd "The Cardboard Desk"(DOCX, 16KB)  by Emily McDowell

3^rd “A good cup of coffee"(DOCX, 23KB)  by Pheme McInnes

Shortlisted

• "A place called home(DOCX, 30KB)" by Elaine Casey
• "Tea leaves in fallen snow"(DOCX, 22KB) by Kat Joseph
• "Trapped"(DOCX, 17KB) by Ali Banks
• "Te Awa Kairangi"(PDF, 80KB) by Tanya Surrey
• "Life in Colour"(PDF, 49KB) by Natalia Harding
• "11.20am Glass of Whisky"(PDF, 71KB) by Laura Benton
• "First Day, Last Day"(PDF, 60KB) by Laura Malin-Curry

TEEN CATEGORY

Winners

1^st "Cordelia"(PDF, 70KB)  by Kathryn Eagle

2^nd "Until next time"(DOCX, 34KB)  by Sarah Du Toit

3^rd "Issac"(DOCX, 18KB)  by Audrey Knol

Shortlisted

• "A Queer Manifest"(PDF, 50KB) by Greivance Donnelly
• "Elbe"(PDF, 9MB) by Edison Yang
• "Dear Olivia"(PDF, 45KB) by Thomas Doyle
• "Poems"(PDF, 42KB) by Layla Martin-Smith
• "And time marches on"(PDF, 54KB) by Anastasia Bradley
• "The Plant People"(DOCX, 83KB) By Conrad Vaastra
• "A slice of Life- Thickets and thieves"(PDF, 2MB) by Sage Snow

CHILDREN AGE 8-12 CATEGORY

Winners

1st "Life"(PDF, 25KB)  by Rhea Wilson

2nd "City of Wind"(PDF, 42KB)  by Igor Cherniavstev

3rd "A Christmas Story"(PDF, 44KB)  by Pollyanna Potts

Shortlisted

• "Lessons learnt at Library"(PDF, 243KB) by Amrita Balaji
• "The Painting in the Garage"(PDF, 121KB) by Lucy Pattinson
• "Treading the dark sands"(PDF, 43KB) by Thomas Vaney
• "The Uncovered Truth"(DOCX, 17KB) by Evadine Smith
• "The fury and the might of the enemy"(DOCX, 20KB) by Bill Kelly
• "Killer in the sand"(DOCX, 77KB) by Abigail Upshon
• "Cat’s Diary"(DOCX, 111KB) by Alicia Johnson

CHILDREN AGE 4-7 CATEGORY

1st "The Beach Treasure Adventure"(PDF, 8MB)  by Flynn McCawe

2nd "Tiara's Bracelet"(PDF, 20MB)  by Luna Rama

3rd "Spiderman and Chubbs"(DOCX, 21KB)  by Reuben Prestney 

Shortlisted

• "The Dragon and Two bunnies"(PDF, 14MB) by Dev Rama.
• "Humbug’s Adventure"(PDF, 40KB) by Marcus Saker
• "Crazy Aunty"(DOCX, 52KB) by Mabel Betteridge
• "The Day the Dark Rose"(PDF, 2MB) by Atticus Briggs