Bridport Prize 2003 - Short Story Prizewinners. Judge :- Rose Tremain

1st Prize £3000 Jonathan Haylett, Archaracce, Scotland. "The Crossing"

Jonathan Haylett is a shopkeeper and sub-postmaster. He was born and brought up on the coast of East Africa. After boarding school in England he worked in Southern Rhodesia before returning to university in the UK, graduating in geology and political institutions. Teaching took him back to Africa, then to the Caribbean, both places providing the inspiration for his writing. As well as entering short story competitions (having winning entries published by Writers' Inc and Real Writers/The Book Place, both in 2002), he has written six novels. Married with four children he now lives in the Scottish Highlands, at Kilchoan on Ardnamurchan.

2nd Prize £1000 Alex Keegan, Newbury, Berks. UK. "The Bastard William Williams, the Writer, Allen Jones"

Alex Keegan, after surviving the Clapham Rail Crash in December 1988, decided to give writing a serious try and became a house-husband, writing whenever he could. The result was the sale of five 'Caz Flood' mystery novels, and in 1996 a supplementary Bridport prize. He now writes literary short fiction and has won a number of prizes. He lives in Newbury with Debbie, Alex and Bridie and is currently a contributing editor to the Internet Writing Journal and leader of an on-line writing group, 'Boot Camp'. He is trying to sell a collection of his prize-winning stories.

3rd Prize £500 David Swann, Brighton, Sussex, UK. "The last days of Johnny North"

David Swann was born in Accrington, four doors from his childhood neighbour Jeannette Winterson. He has been writer-in-residence at HM Nottingham Prison and now teaches English at University College, Chichester. His debut collection of stories, The Boggart Hole is forthcoming from Elastic Press. He wants to ride downhill in a bath.

Supplementary Prizes (alphabetical order) - £50 Each :-

Lucy Adlington, York, UK. "In"

Lucy Adlington, after taking an English degree at Cambridge University, lived and worked in Japan and Spain before moving to York. There, she teaches 'hands-on' history lessons for museums, schools and heritage sites. She has a two-book deal with Hodder Headline, the first, The Diary of Pelly D, due out in 2005. It is a book of fiction for young adult readers based on a long-term interest in war diaries.

Rosalind Brackenbury, Key West, Florida, USA. "Walking to Corfe"

Rosalind Brackenbury was born in London, grew up in England, and has lived in France, Scotland and now the US. She lives in Key West, Florida, with her American husband. She has two children from her first marriage, who both live in Scotland. Has worked as a parent, teacher, journalist and deck-hand on a schooner. Today, she leads writing workshops, writes fiction and poetry, and reviews books for a local newspaper. She is currently working on a new novel. Her latest publications are Seas Outside the Reef, a novel published in 2000 by Daniel & Daniel, CA. USA; Between Man and Woman Keys, short stories with Daniel & Daniel, 2002; and The House in Morocco, a novel published by Toby Press, 2003 with forthcoming UK publication. Her short story, 'Instead of the Revolution' won the STAND International Short Story Competition.

Steve Cook, London, UK. "Unfashionably Late"

Steve Cook was born and lives in London. He was shortlisted for the Real Writers Short Story Competition in 2003 and has a story, 'The Blue Man', in the anthology of New London Writers, Uncut Diamonds, published October 2003.

Yvette Hatrak, Desert Hot Springs, California, USA. "Shopping"

Yvette Hatrak received her BA in Creative Writing from the University of Redlands, and her MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College. She grew up in Los Angeles, and eight years ago moved to the desert, Palm Springs, where she lives with her husband. She teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at several community colleges in the area. Her fiction has been published in a number of journals, magazines and anthologies, and her first book, a collection of short stories, will be published in December 2003 by Cedar Hill.

Samantha Haycock, London, UK. "Number Five"

Samantha Haycock grew up in Hereford and studied drama at Manchester University, graduating with a master's degree in 1997. She now lives with her husband in Highgate, north London. A passionate film buff, she works for a DVD company specialising in classic movies. Attending classes run by the novelist Leone Ross prompted her to start writing fiction seriously. 'Number Five' is her first published story.

Philip Jennings, London, UK. "A Fox in the Garden"

Philip Sidney Jennings has an MA degree in Creative Writing and a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. A well known writer of short fiction, his stories have appeared in a diverse range of magazines and newspapers, including The Evening Standard, Punch, Penthouse, Encounter, Iron, South-East Arts Review, The New Writer and Bananas. From 1985 to 1987 he edited Jennings Magazine, a quarterly started by a group of short-story writers to encourage new writing. His novel Dome was published in 1993 by Unicorn Publications. He is currently a creative writing tutor at the City Literary Institute in London, and recent publications include The Bible for Children, published by Barnes & Noble Books (New York) in 1995 and several stories in 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories, also by Barnes & Noble, 1996.

Adam Marek, Potton, Bedfordshire, UK. "The 40-litre monkey"

Adam Marek was born in 1974 and has been writing fiction since his teens. He lives in Bedfordshire with his wife and son. After leaving film school he worked in the music video industry for a few years, but is now part of the editorial team at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The 40-litre Monkey is his first published work, although he is now working on a collection of short stories.
Adam lives in Bedfordshire with his wife and son.
The Bridport prize will be his first publication/award.

Mo McAuley, Speldhurst, Kent, UK. "The A-Z Man"

Mo McAuley was born in Lancashire and now lives in Kent, married to an Australian; they have three hybrid children. Her education includes BA English/History, University of London and an MA Creative Writing degree from the University of Glamorgan. Addicted to the short story form and yoga, she is about to learn to teach the latter. She has been a prize winner in a number of writing competitions, including Good Housekeeping/Waterstone's (£1,000) short story competition, and has been published in Good Housekeeping, The New Writer, Buzzwords, eastoftheweb, Electric Acorn (Dublin Writers) and Teaching a Chicken To Swim (short story anthology from Seren publishers).

Jane Rusbridge, West Wittering, Sussex, UK "Left Over Right and Under"

Jane Rusbridge was encouraged to write seriously after winning the Philip LeBrun Prize for creative writing in 1999, going on to take the MA in Creative Writing, at University College, Chichester. She now teaches there as an associate lecturer. She lives with a farmer by the sea in West Sussex, teaching less now, to devote time to writing while her children are at school. She has had several poems and short stories published in magazines and anthologies, the most recent being 'An Unorthodox Love Affair', short story in Mouth Ogres anthology from Oxmarket Press, 2001 and two poems in the anthology, The Promise of Rest, Ragged Raven Press, 2002. Winning a Bridport prize is a welcome encouragement, and she is now half-way through writing a novel based on her short story, 'Left Over Right and Under'.

Martha Schulman, New York, USA. "Zero to Thirty"

A native New Yorker, Martha Schulman is completing her MFA at Columbia University, where she also teaches Freshman Composition. Her short stories have been published in Gulf Stream, Beacon Street Review , and the Seattle Review. Her essay, "Full Halfheart: Notes of a Bad Jew," won the 1999 Dora Teitelboim Foundation Jewish Cultural Award and was published in Jewish Currents.

Bridport Prize 2003 - Poetry Prizewinners. Judge : - U. A. Fanthorpe

Judges poetry report

1st Prize £3000 Sheenagh Pugh, Cardiff, Wales. "Chocolate from the Famine Museum"

Sheenagh Pugh was born in 1950, lives in Cardiff and teaches creative writing at the University of Glamorgan. She has published 10 collections of poems and two novels. Her current collection is The Beautiful Lie, Seren, who have also published her Stonelight (1999) and Id's Hospit (1997).
This is her second win as Sheenagh has already won the Bridport jointly with John Gurney.

2nd Prize £1000 Jenny King, Sheffield, UK. "Braille"

Jenny King, born in London in 1940, attended Godolphin & Latymer School and Newnham College, Cambridge, where she took a degree in English. She taught in Shrewsbury for three years, before marrying and moving to Sheffield, continuing to teach until retirement. Among other activities, has run a voluntary literature class for Age Concern in Sheffield. She has written poetry since childhood, and has published in many magazines, over many years, including Encounter, TLS, Blackwood's, The Critical Quarterly, The Rialto and Staple, and in several PEN anthologies in the 1970s. A short collection, Letting the Dark Through, was published by the Mandeville Press in 1981. She has recently embarked on a novel. Is married to a medieval historian and has two adult children.

3rd Prize £500 Judith Barrington, Portland, Oregon, USA. "After D-Day"

Judith Barrington was born in Brighton and lived in Spain for several years. She is now a US citizen and has lived for the past 25 years in Oregon. She is the author of two volumes of poetry, a literary memoir, and a text on writing memoir.
Awards include The Lambda Book Award (for Lifesaving: A Memoir); The Dulwich Festival International Poetry Contest; The Andres Berger Award for Creative Nonfiction; the 2002 and 2003 Clackamas Review Poetry Prize, a Freedom of Expression Award from the American Civil Liberties Union; and Oregon Literary Arts' Steward H Holbrook Award for contributions to the literary community.
She is much sought-after as a writing teacher and gives workshops at conferences around the US and in Europe. From 1983 to 2000 she co-directed and taught at The Flight of the Mind Writing Workshops. Currently she is president of Soapstone: a writing retreat for women.

Supplementary Prizes (alphabetical order) - £50 Each :-

Martin Brown, Coventry, UK. "Farmers"

Martin Brown is a late starter; having written nothing for years, in 1998 he joined local poetry and writers' groups in Coventry and, as far as family life and day job allow, hasn't stopped writing since. Has had two children's poems published in Macmillan anthology, My Stepdad is an alien, and also poems in local 'Break into Print' publications and local Phoenix New Writing book.

Robert Carter, New South Wales, Australia. "The Net"

A full-time writer since 1986 when his first book, The Sugar Factory won the Angus & Robertson Fellowship, Robert has published three others; Prints in the Valley, The Collectors, and The Pleasure Within. He has published poetry in various literary journals and has recently won two poetry prizes in the U.S.. His work has been translated into several languages and won awards around the world. He has been awarded residencies and Fellowships to Paris, New York and Los Angeles.

Ann Drysdale, Blaina, Gwent, Wales. "Mallard"

Ann Drysdale was born in the north west and brought up in London. While living in a number of disparate places, she wrote one of the longest-running columns -- including twenty years in the Yorkshire Evening Post -- in the provincial press. She has an MA in the teaching and practice of creative writing, and has been a visiting lecturer at Cardiff University and spent 18 months as writer-in-residence at UWE, Bristol. She has published four volumes of idiosyncratic memoirs (Faint Heart never Kissed a Pig, Sows' Ears and Silk Purses and Pearls before Swine, published by Routledge and Kegan Paul, and A Pig in a Passage, Robert Hale). Peterloo Poets have published three collections of poetry, The Turn of the Cucumber, Gay Science and Backwork. Her work has won prizes in the Manchester, Cardiff, Housman Society and National Poetry Competitions, and she is the current holder of the Dylan Thomas Prize for poetry in performance.

Stephen Duncan, London, UK. "Ancestors"

Stephen Duncan was born in London. After graduating in BAHons lst in Art, Wimbledon, 1973 and RA Schools Postgraduate in Sculpture, 1977, he taught at art colleges while continuing writing career. Has attended various poetry workshops including Arvon.

Charles Evans, London, UK. "Evening Standard"

Charles Evans was educated at Keele, London and Oxford. He served in colonial Borneo before entering the Royal Navy. For eight years he lectured at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, specialising in Communism and Russian life. He was also a Royal Navy-sponsored candidate for the British Theatre Association's ADB and directed theatre groups in Plymouth, Edinburgh and London. A Churchill Fellow since 1989, he has travelled widely in Russia on Leverhulme and British Academy Travelling Scholarships, latterly studying English drama in Moscow. He has won two national playwriting awards and his poems have appeared in many journals. He contributed a chapter on 'Pinter in Russia' to the Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter published by Cambridge University Press.

Andrew Forster, Leadhills, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. "Radnoti's Notebook"

Andrew Forster was born in Yorkshire but has lived in Scotland since 1987. Has poems and reviews of poetry published regularly in magazines and anthologies, including The Rialto, Acumen, Obsessed with Pipework, Lines Review, Cencrastus and others. Flarestack published a pamphlet Dress Rehearsals in 2000. Was awarded two Scottish Arts Council Writers' Bursaries in 1998 and 2002. Has worked on a number of community writing projects, and has recently taken up a post as Literature Development Officer for Dumfries and Galloway. Is currently working on a full-length collection to be called Fear of Thunder.

Peter Knaggs, Hull, UK. "Fink"

Peter Knaggs was born in Hull. After various jobs, he now works in a shop. Has written Cowboy Hat, published by Halfacrown, which for one week knocked Harry Potter off the number one spot, in one bookshop, in Hull; and Tolstoy on a Horse, a full collection included in the three-in-one book, Half a Pint of Tristram Shandy, published by Route. In the pipeline is Drainpipe Tarzan from Wrecking Ball Press.

Helen Luson, Coventry, UK. "The Supplicant"

Helen Luson was born in 1949 in Berkshire and worked for 25 years in the Health Service. Since 2001 she has worked as a freelance poet and writer. Currently she is conducting poetry workshops for adult education groups at libraries and women's festivals. She has written extensively for children, winning the BBC Radio 4 Listening Corner competition in 1991. Has had her poetry published in Raw Edge, the West Midlands Arts magazine, and in various magazines and anthologies. She has broadcast regularly on BBC local radio and has written a dialogue between Peeping Tom and Lady Godiva. She lives in Coventry.

Frances Wilson, Ware, Herts, UK. "Fairy-tale Ending"

Frances Wilson divides her time between family, friends, painting, writing, running writing workshops and the rest of her life, in no fixed proportions. Has won or been placed in various competitions; was second prize-winner in the National Poetry Competition in 1990. Her publications are Where The Light Gets In, a pamphlet with Poet & Printer, 1992 and Close to Home, Rockingham Press, 1993. A further collection is in production with Rockingham Press.

Michael Woods, Worcester, UK. "Kevin de Medici"

Michael Woods, married with three children, is an English teacher. Formerly Head of English at Hereford Sixth Form College and The Chase, Malvern, he is now Director of Sixth Form and Assistant Head at The Chase, Malvern. His research degree thesis (M.Phil) was 'Alchemy, Flux and the Language of Transubstantiation in the Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins'. He is editor and publisher of the poetry magazine, Tandem. His 'highly commended' in the 2003 Bridport Poetry Competition is his eighth competition success. He has been published in Orbis, Poetry Oxford, Hereford & Worcester Anthology, Stafford Poetry Anthology, Poetry on the Lake Anthology and the Hereford Poetry Competition Anthology. He has taken part in 18 Arvon courses and run six writing courses with Carol Ann Duffy and Jackie Kay in Italy, as well as organising poetry readings. Publications include: York Notes Advanced: Carol Ann Duffy, Selected Poems (2000), and an essay in Tough Words, a new collection of critical writing about Carol Ann Duffy's work, Manchester University Press, 2003.

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Bridport Prize 2003 - Short Story Prizewinners. Judge :- Rose Tremain

Bridport Prize 2003 - Poetry Prizewinners. Judge : - U. A. Fanthorpe

The Bridport Prize is a fundraiser for Bridport Arts Centre, charity no 1069780