Winners of QuietManDave Prize 2022 for flash fiction and non-fiction are revealed

The winners of the QuietManDave Prize 2022 have been revealed as Kathryn Aldridge-Morris and Sara Hills.

The short-form writing prize was named to honour the memory and achievements of the much-loved Manchester writer and critic Dave Murray, who passed away in 2019.

Kathryn Aldridge-Morris took home the top prize for the Flash Fiction category with her story Double Lives. Sara Hills was awarded with first place in the Flash Non-Fiction category with Door Slam, 1980.

The winners were revealed at an awards ceremony last week (October 27) at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Grosvenor East building where both winners were awarded £1,000 prize money.

The QuietManDave Prize is run by the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan, in conjunction with the Manchester School of Theatre.

Aldridge-Morris said: “I’m thrilled and honoured to have two stories shortlisted for the Quiet Man Dave 2022 award which commemorates such a loved writer. Flash fiction is so often overlooked as a genre, and this prestigious award and ceremony are hugely affirming to writers who love the short form. I’d like to thank Dave Murray’s family, the judges and organisers for such a wonderful experience.”

Hills said: “It’s a huge honour to have a story shortlisted in the QuietManDave Prize - an award that has quickly become so highly respected within the flash community as a celebration of the legacy of the much-loved Dave Murray. This year’s shortlists contain such gorgeous and moving work by extremely talented writers, and I’m immensely grateful to the judges for listing my flash nonfiction piece among them.”

Aldridge-Morris and Hills were chosen as winners by a panel of judges chaired by Shane Kinghorn, who is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Contemporary Performance at Manchester Metropolitan and has previously worked in London as a director and dramaturg, alongside Syrian born author Dima Alzayat, and short story writer, essayist, and poet Kate Feld.

Running every two years, the prize celebrates new and emerging short-form writers and through sponsored entries, aims to encourage those who are new to writing or entering competitions. The prize was developed in recognition of Murray’s achievements and his passion for writing, something which he embraced later in life.

Winners

Winner of the Flash Fiction prize Aldridge-Morris is an emerging flash fiction writer living in Bristol. Her flash narratives have been published in many literary journals and anthologies, including New Flash Fiction Review, Pithead Chapel, Bending Genres, Janus Literary, and Ellipsis Zine.

She has been shortlisted and highly commended in the prestigious Bath Flash Fiction Award, shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, and won the flash fiction contest organised by Welsh publisher Lucent Dreaming.

Hills, winner of the Flash Non-Fiction prize, is the author of The Evolution of Bird, which won the 2022 Saboteur Award for Best Short Story Collection. Her stories have been selected for Wigleaf’s Top 50, the BIFFY 50, and The Best Small Fictions, as well as being widely published in a number of anthologies and magazines.

Runners-up

Second place in the Flash Fiction prize was awarded to What Happened by Stuart Cavet, a former international lawyer who has taken a career break to pursue writing full time, while taking home third place is writer Niamh Mac Cabe with her piece A Marram Grass Cradling.

Taking second place in the Flash Non-Fiction category is retired university lecturer in Education Peter Scales, - who undertook a MA in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University in retirement - with his piece A House Fire, while working-class writer and performer Ruby Martin was awarded third place with A Review of Big Boys in One Impossible Act.