Thanks to all those that entered the competition and to the judges for their hard work. I am pleased to announce the shortlisted 7 authors in each category. Each author will have their story or poem published in the competition anthology.

The shortlists are presented in alphabetical order of story or poem title.

Shortlisted authors will be sent their anthology proofs and agreements within the next few days. Once these have been returned the top 3 in each category will be announced.

Fiction 16+

A Trick of light                                                 Sarah Evans

Eleven                                                               Juliet Boyd

Fell-walking for Girls                                      Clair Humphries

Interference                                                    Faye Robertson

Por La Gracia De Dios                                    Robin Ganderton

Tides of Longing                                             Andrew Clusker

Vote Ebay                                                         Russel Herneman

Fiction 12 – 15

Aftershock                                                       Elizabeth Birch

Forget Me Not                                                Katie Tate

Into the Belly of the Whale                          India Bohanna

My Story                                                           Elisabeth Wilson

The Scream                                                      Holly Miyuki Gibbs-Leake

The Stalker                                                       Joschka Nakata

This is My Story                                               Kieran Phillips

Fiction 8-11

A Dragon’s Tail                                                Emily Brown

All Hallows Eve                                                Jack Carle Carnegie

Angry, Alone and Hearing Ghosts               Courtney Brotherson

Bluey’s Secret                                                  Sam Daddo

The Dark Girl                                                    Ellie Czyzowska

My Monster and Me                                      Lydia Bodell

Pirates and Seals                                             Imogen Childs

Poetry 16+

Chemistry Lesson                                           Helen Kay

Dancers                                                            Francis Hayes

Empty Cradle                                                   Anni Domingo

For Perdida                                                      Paola Fornari

I am the Walrus                                              Faye Robertson

Imitation of a Suicide                                    Jonathan Pinnock

Jessie                                                                 Ann Foxglove

Poetry 12 – 15

A Breath of Fresh Air                                      Jasmine Zara Belfield

Childhood                                                         Rachael King

Home or Roam                                               Tomás Clarke

Individual, Unique                                          Lucy Ann Smith

I remember                                                      Georgia Euden

Passage                                                                           Brianna Jones

Sister                                                                 Ankita Saxena

Poetry 8-11

A Fox’s Fears                                                   Mollie Russell

Animals                                                             Samantha-Jo Hollings

Country Barn Angel                                        Emma Kirby

Jubilee Green                                                   Luke Kelly

Push                                                                   Imogen Childs

Spooky Lights                                                  Rachel Plant

When You Wake Up Early                             Jack Carle Carnegie

I am extremely pleased to announce that our judge for the poetry rounds will be Mandy Pannett.

Mandy Pannett lives in West Sussex, UK, where she leads classes and workshops on creative writing. A teacher for many years, she has worked with all ages and abilities. She has won prizes and been placed in competitions and her poetry has been published in international journals and anthologies.

Recent work has been translated into German and Romanian as part of the Poetry tREnd translation project and she has also acted as selecting editor for ‘South’ and been a judge of national poetry competitions including the recent ‘Build Africa’ competition.

She has three poetry collections: Bee Purple, Frost Hollow (both Oversteps Books www.overstepsbooks.com ) and Allotments in the Orbital www.searlepublishing.com (Searle Publishing)

Her sequence ‘The Carver’s Mark’ was the special feature in the Poetry Kit online poetry journal ‘Translucent Words and further examples of her poetry can also be seen at www.poetrypf.co.uk

As soon as we have these I will be in a position to announce the top 7 in each category, who will then be sent their anthology agreements to sign (or to get a parent/guardian) to sign.

Then once these have been returned I will be able to announce the top 3 in each category.

Kirsty

Drumroll!!  I am very pleased to announce that our fiction judge for the Slingink Scribbling Slam is Nik Perring, author of ‘Not So Perfect’ a collection of short stories.

You can find out more about Nik, and read the fantastic reviews of his book, by visiting:

His Blog: http://nikperring.blogspot.com/

His Website: http://www.nperring.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/nikperring

His Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nik-Perring/110701258946026

(Please note. We are still after a volunteer to judge the poetry competition – if you are interested in helping please contact slingink.com@gmail.com)

The competition is going ahead in its amended form and entries have been forwarded to the judges today.

I am still waiting to hear from a few people whether they wish to withdraw or remain in the competition. Further e-mails have been sent today.

Kirsty

To all entrants of The Slingink Prize/The Slingink Junior Prize – please check your e-mails.

Now that the competition submission date has passed, I have had to send the following to everyone due to a lack of prize funds. TSP letter

Refunds for entry fees are being processed over the next couple of days (N.B. As of 00.00 2nd August all refunds should now be processed, please let me know if you haven’t heard back from PayPal about yours)

I am hoping not to have to cancel but need to revise the terms.

Thanks so much to all those who have responded already to keep their entries in the competition, and to those that withdraw I understand that too.

Apologies for this turn of events.

I would like to also express huge thanks to Eva and Sally who are wonderfully still supporting the competition.

Kirsty Stanley (Slingink Site Administrator)

See competition page – must be a site member to enter.

Poetry and Fiction.

Age categories – 8-11, 12-15, 16+

One entry per category per person.

See competition page for more details.

Who cares about the World Cup winners when it is time to announce the winners of Slingink Shorts 2010.

Our judge this year Hywela Lyn had a tough decision to make but she chose the following three prize winners and picked her top ten stories (finding it difficult to limit herself to just ten). Congratulations to the winners and to everyone that entered.

1st Nina Simon with Anti-clockwise (winning £50, publication on Slingink and a free copy of the anthology which will be named after her winning entry)

2nd Sharon Birch with Groundsman (winning £20, publication on Slingink and a free copy of the anthology)

3rd Caroline Palmer with Dragon (winning £10, publication on Slingink and a free copy of the anthology)

Highly Commended

4th Ann Oxley with Harness

5th Catherine Donald with Gossip

6th K.S. Dearsley with Sloth

7th Maggs Payne with Senses

8th Kerrie Myers with Seeing

9th Sharon Birch with Gemini

10th Wendy Greenberg with Alan

To read the winning stories check out our Winner’s Library.

Further information about the competition anthology ‘Anti-clockwise’ to follow shortly. Due to the quality of entries it will contain all 55 stories entered and the judging report.

Thanks to all those who entered, please come back next year for Slingink Shorts 2011.

All entrants should now have been contacted. If you haven’t received an e-mail please check with me at slinginkcomps@gmail.com

Once I have received replies from everyone I will announce the top 10 including our three prize winners (and 7 other highly commended stories).