The distinguished national Rhys Davies Short Story Competition for writers from, or living in, Wales is now open for entries.
The competition recognises the very best unpublished short stories in English in any style and on any subject up to a maximum of 5,000 words by writers aged 18 or over.
The winner of the first prize will receive £1,000 and will have their winning entry included in a short story anthology to be published by Parthian Books.
Eleven runners-up will each receive £100 and their work will also feature in the short story anthology.
Originally established in 1991, there have been nine Rhys Davies Short Story Competition contests to date, and the 2022 competition will be managed by Swansea University’s Cultural Institute on behalf of The Rhys Davies Trust and in association with Parthian Books.
Last year’s winner was the Swansea-born writer Naomi Paulus for her story Take a Bite.
Born in Blaenclydach in the Rhondda in 1901, Rhys Davies was among the most dedicated, prolific, and accomplished of Welsh prose-writers in English. He wrote, in all, more than 100 stories, 20 novels, three novellas, two topographical books about Wales, two plays, and an autobiography.
The competition’s guest judge for 2022 is the multi-award-winning Welsh novelist and playwright Rachel Trezise.
Her debut novel In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl won a place on the Orange Futures List in 2002. In 2006 her first short fiction collection Fresh Apples won the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her second short fiction collection Cosmic Latte won the Edge Hill Prize Readers Award in 2014. Her latest play, Cotton Fingers recently toured Ireland and Wales and received a Summerhall Lustrum Award. Her most recent novel, Easy Meat came out in 2021.
Rachel said: "I'm absolutely delighted to be the judge of the 2022 Rhys Davies National Short Story Competition, Rhys Davies being one of the best writers to come from my own Rhondda Valley. I've spent most of 2021 writing a new short story collection so very much look forward to reading other people's short stories next year.”
The competition closes at midnight on 22 March 2022. Finalists will be announced in June, and the winner crowned in September.