21st March, 2024
YWSP winners of 2023 competition announced!
We’re thrilled to announce the fourteen winners of our 2023 competition! They are:
16-19 years category
Winner:
JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS by Elise Withey, Bathford, Somerset
Runners up
REMEMBER ME by Ide Crawford, Edinburgh
MORA by Atlas Weyland Eden, Devon
Highly Commended
THE NEWSPAPERS TOLD OF HIS DEATH by Alexa Baumann, Southampton
CORONATION DAY by Alexander Drysdale, London
FIGHTING GIRLFRIEND by Hersh Singh, Hornchurch, Essex
I AM UGANDA by Aaran Thakore, Middlesex
11-15 years category
Winner
PORTRAIT OF A GREAT LEADER by Iyla Latif, London
Runners up
GOD IS OVER ALL by Sylvia Davidson, Cranbrook, Kent
RUBIES by Maymady Kyaw, Didcot, Oxfordshire
Highly Commended
THE NAKBAH by Uthman Ahmed, Birmingham
THE GIRL WITH HOPE by Elin Day-Thompson , Malvern, Worcestershire
THIS IS IT, THEN by Isabelle Edwards, Sheffield
THE CANARY GIRLS by Sara Musabbir, Leeds
The winning entry in the younger 11-15 age group, Portrait of a Great Leader, by Iyla Latif, follows an artist working on a painting of Stalin, who then becomes disillusioned with the regime by which he has been commissioned. Talking about her winning short story, Iyla, from London, said:
“I am fascinated by the history of the USSR, particularly under
Stalin, and have been wanting to explore the era in writing for a while. I wished to delve into the role of artists, an unconventional perspective not often explored in fiction about the period, despite them being key producers of propaganda. I find it interesting to consider how much responsibility an artist, acting as a vehicle for the state, has in upholding a regime, and how that may conflict with their personal principles.”
Winner in the 16-19 years category is Elise Withey with her story Juditha Triumphans, which is set at the turn of the twentieth century, amid the claustrophobic atmosphere of Edwardian society. Elise, from Bathford in Somerset, said:
“I began more with a painting than a period. I love Klimt’s Golden Phase, and his languidly murderous ‘Judith und Holofernes’ is one of my all-time favourite works of art. I knew I wanted to set my story in 1901, when ‘Judith’ was painted, which led me to start exploring dynamics of violence and desire towards (and between) Edwardian women—and the restrictions they faced.”
The two winners each receive a £500 travel grant, their stories will be published in this year’s Young Walter Scott Prize Anthology, and they have been invited to the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland, in June 2024 (13th-16th) to be presented with their prizes.
Runners-up and highly commended young writers were also awarded in each age category. In the 11-15 age group, two runners-up were awarded: Sylvia Davidson for God Is Over All and Maymady Kyaw for Rubies. There were also four highly commended writers in the younger category: Uthman Ahmed for The Nakbah, Elin Day-Thompson for The Girl With Hope, Isabelle Edwards for This Is It, Then, and Sara Musabbir for The Canary Girls.
In the category for writers aged 16-19, two runners-up were awarded: Ide Crawford for Remember Me, and Atlas Weyland Eden for Mora. Four highly commended writers were also recognised: Alexa Baumann for The Newspapers Told of His Death, Alexander Drysdale for Coronation Day, Hersh Singh for Fighting Girlfriend and Aaran Thakore for I Am Uganda.
We will be publishing all fourteen stories in full on this website soon, so watch this space!
On the judging panel this year was award-winning author Elizabeth Laird (Chair); Young Walter Scott Prize director Alan Caig Wilson; literary agent Kathryn Ross; former Literary Editor of The Scotsman, David Robinson; and previous winner of the Young Walter Scott prize, Rosi Byard-Jones.
Elizabeth Laird said:
“As usual this year, when the bundle of entries for the Young Walter Scott Prize arrived, I had no idea what to expect. The young writers had explored an astonishing variety of themes and styles. We were with a firefighter at Chernobyl, then with a soldier at Rorke’s Drift and a moment later with a ruby miner in Myanmar. There were stories from Japan, Uganda, Napoleonic France and Franco’s Spain.
“The entries were heartfelt, original and ambitious, and, above all, a pleasure to read. It was hard to select the ones which will be printed in our 2023 anthology, but the readers of it are in for a treat!
“After much discussion, the judges picked two winners. There is such talent in both these stories. I’m sure we’ll hear from the writers again.”