Here are the results of our inaugural themed anthology competition.
Twenty-five stories (including our top three) made our longlist out of approximately 210 entries. All longlisted stories will be published in our online anthology later this spring. We are awarding prize money to our first, second, and third prizewinners.
Thank you to the entire Janus Literary editorial team. This was our first time hosting a competition. Every story was read closely two or more times. We conducted multiple voting rounds and had Zoom meetings to discuss and reach our shortlist and top three. We gave each story close consideration and made our determinations based on writing craft, originality, and adherence to the theme: dark, wild sea.
We offer huge congratulations to our winning and longlisted authors:
FIRST PRIZE – $400
“The Witch Who Walked the Shore” by Gaynor Jones
SECOND PRIZE – $200
“Saudade” Philip Charter
THIRD PRIZE – $100
“Lyrics for a Life at Sea” by Bayveen O’Connell
LONGLIST
“A Baby Born En Caul Can Never Drown” – Sara Hills – shortlisted
“Account of the Sea Lady as Told by a Servant Girl, 1597” – Amber Garcia
“A Celestial Undoing” – Sara Dobbie
“A Hole in the Wing” – Ian O’Brien – shortlisted
“All the Broken Things” – Melissa Bowers – shortlisted
“Amelie” – Lauren Foregger
“An Aversion to Popular Amusements” – Jack Willetts – shortlisted
“Flint’s Left-Behind Girl” – Jess Moody
“It Had Been Calling to Her” – Peggy Riley
“Last Boat” – Ed Barnfield
“The Last Prophet” – Lisa Black
“Leviathan” – Sutton Strother – shortlisted
“Origami Wars” – Amy Barnes – shortlisted
“Put Weed in the Drawing Wave” – Kate MacCarthy
“Riptide” – Alison Powell
“Salt Tears” – Sue Dawes
“Sea Animals” – Sharon Boyle
“The Sea Change” – Jan Kaneen
“Sea Mother” – Jason John Kahler
“Seven Tears” – Nuala O’Connor – shortlisted
“Thirst” – Lorraine Thomson
“Two Tusks” – Katie Oliver
Congratulations, again! Thank you to everyone who entered the competition and trusted us with their stories. We had great fun reading all of the entries. We hope your stories have found or will find homes with other publications.
