2009 Short Story Competition

Jennifer Moore is the overall winner of the 2009 Commonwealth Short Story Competition with her entry ‘Table Talk’. The winning stories were selected from over 4,000 entries from almost all countries of the Commonwealth.The choice of stories was made on the basis of merit, originality and voice by an international panel of judges. This panel comprised Canadian short story writer Craig Boyko, English professor Dr Vibha Chauhan from India, New Zealand writer and reviewer Jolisa Gracewood, Dr Eddie Iroh, author and former Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, and Nicholas Laughlin, Editor of The Caribbean Review of Books, and a former judge of the Foundation’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

Winners

Overall Winner and Regional Winner (Canada & Europe)
Table Talk
Jennifer Moore (UK)

Regional Winner (Africa)
The One-Armed Thief
Kachi A. Ozumba (Nigeria)

Regional Winner (Asia)
Debbie’s Call
Manasi Subramaniam (India)

Regional Winner (Caribbean)
Shades
Alake Pilgrim (Trinidad & Tobago)

Regional Winner (Pacific)
The Colour of Rain
Terri-Anne Green (Australia)

Highly Commended

  • Broken Glass by Juliet Barnes (Kenya)
  • Dreams by Ayobami Adebayo (Nigeria)
  • LIFO by Akinwumi Akinwale (Nigeria)
  • The Father’s Blessing by Mbofung Carlang Ndubuisi (Nigeria)
  • The Sound of One Hand Clapping by Becky Apteker (South Africa)
  • Light After Death by Soraya Sunitra Kee Xiang Yin (Malaysia)
  • The American by Archana Mohan (India)
  • Neer (Water) by Praveena Shivram (India)
  • The Visit by Arjun Sudhir (India)
  • On Growing by Abeer Yusria Hoque (Bangladesh)
  • The Seasons by Vanessa Savage (UK)
  • All Embracing by Dave Pescod (UK)
  • Too Many Legs by Minoli Salgado (UK)
  • Hiding in the Cracks by Judith Allnatt (UK)
  • Caramel by Princeton Ebanks (Jamaica)
  • No News is Good News by Barbara Jenkins (Trinidad and Tobago)
  • Love Story No 8 – Jane and Philip by Heidi N Holder (Trinidad and Tobago)
  • Synchronicity by Corinne Pentecost (Australia)
  • You Can’t Miss It by Felicia Willows (Australia)
  • Fifteen Minutes of Heart Failure by Adrian Ziino (Australia)
  • Into the Deep by Lisa Merrifield (Australia)