Well bloody hell, my story Deconstruction has won the 2025 Cúirt New Writing Fiction Prize judged by Wendy Erskine. Yes, the brilliant Wendy Erskine, author of Dance Move and The Benefactors.
I entered the competition just before the closing deadline even though I didn't think my story was quite ready, and quite frankly I'm still not satisfied with its ending. But I knew its premise was original and I was sure that I'd nailed the dialogue, and Wendy (can I be on first name terms with her now?) highlighted both of those aspects. I suppose one important takeaway is that sometimes the things that are working well in a story can far outweigh the things that aren't. Another takeaway is that I should have more confidence in my work as, ahem, I'm now a prize-winning writer. Bloody hell.
