SWWJ SUPPLEMENT SPRING 2017
Spring Prize
Giving
www.swwj.co.uk
SWWJ Spring Prize Giving 2017
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High standards
Sylvia Kent reports from the SWWJ Spring Gathering and Prize Giving
lessed with lovely sunshine on the 15th March, our new Spring Gathering heralded the start of an exciting year ahead and brought new faces to the impressive meeting room at the National Liberal Club in London’s Whitehall Place. Our Chairman, Barbara Field-Holmes welcomed us all, making special mention of new members visiting us for the first time. It was a pleasure to meet our friend and Guest Speaker, travel journalist Solange Hando, who judged our John Walter Salver ‘Travel’ Competition. Over the past 20
years, Solange has visited more than 80 countries around the world and her prizewinning features have been published in numerous travel magazines. Solange’s book, Be a Travel Writer, Live your Dreams, Sell your Features, is available in major bookstores and on Amazon. Alongside Solange, our Competitions Co-ordinator, Vivien Hampshire introduced the other judges of our recent writing competitions. Well-published short story author, Edwina McPherson was the adjudicator of the
Above left: ‘Winner Takes All’ Judge, Edwina McPherson (left) presents the winner, Margaret Mounsdon with her cheque. Above middle: Beryl Fleming took first place in The John Walter Salver ‘Travel’ Competition. Above right: Martin Cort, accepting second prize for The John Walter Salver ‘Travel’ Competition from Judge Solange Hando, on behalf of Mary Rensten.
Right: Doris Corti (left), Judge for the Elizabeth Longford Rose Bowl poetry competition, presents winner Finola Holiday with the Rose Bowl. Far right: Sylvia Goodman (left), Highly Commended in the Elizabeth Longford Rose Bowl poetry competition.
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Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017 The Woman Writer
SWWJ Spring Prize Giving 2017 Hello everyone!
Pictured above: L to r, Doris Corti, Judge for the Elizabeth Longford Poetry Competition; Competitions Co-ordinator Vivien Hampshire; Edwina McPherson, Judge for the ‘Winner Takes All’ competition and Solange Hando, Judge for the John Walter Salver ‘Travel’ Competition and Guest Speaker at the Spring Gathering and Prize Giving.
Winner Takes All competition. Margaret Mounsdon’s clever short story Weeping Willow won first prize and much appreciative applause from those present. Judge of the Elizabeth Longford Rose Bowl poetry competition was Doris Corti, who chose Finola Holiday’s Trees in Winter as first prize, and Mary Rothwell took second prize with Whale Island. Finola also took third place with The Accident. The beautiful John Walter Salver was presented by Solange to Beryl Fleming for her superb travel article entitled White Silence. The adjudicators commented on the high standard of the contributions received, and said how much they had enjoyed reading them. After the prizes were presented a scrumptious tea was enjoyed by those present before settling down to listen to Solange’s fascinating talk about her career as a travel writer.
Welcome to our first Spring Prize Giving Supplement, which celebrates our winners from the 2016 SWWJ competitions and this year’s Elizabeth Longford Poetry Competition. Our Competitions Coordinator, Vivien Hampshire, has worked extremely hard in pulling together all the competitions, organising the judges and administrating the whole process. Our new Spring Prize Giving was the result of all that hard work and an opportunity to present the winners with their prizes. To ‘set the scene’, I have repeated the report from the Spring issue of The Woman Writer to make this supplement a complete record of the Prize Giving for winners to keep. I do hope you enjoy reading the winning entries, and well done to all the winners. Every Spring we will be producing a special prize giving supplement to mark the occasion and publish the winning entries from the previous year’s SWWJ competitions. Finally, don’t miss the 2017 John Walter Salver Competition (theme: The weather); details are printed in the Spring issue of The Woman Writer, page 23. Best regards
Ba r b a r a
The Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017 is published by the Society of Women Writers and Journalists, and is a supplement to The Woman Writer. Enquiries to: enquiries@swwj.co.uk Printed by Thinkpad Group, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3JP.
The Woman Writer Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017
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SWWJ Spring Prize Giving 2017
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Winner Takes All ‘Take 6 Words’ competition
e received 24 entries to our second Winner Takes All competition, in which every entry, whether fact, fiction or poetry, had to begin with the same 6 words: I never knew why she left. A panel of three volunteers, chaired by Edwina McPherson, judged the competition, and here are a few comments from Edwina’s report. “The quality of the entries was outstanding. There were ghost stories, and stories about cats – quite a few of those! We had sad stories and ones that made us laugh, so it was very difficult to choose just one from all those topics and themes. We decided we weren’t looking for grammatical errors or exacting prose, we were looking for stories that were complete and that moved us. Please be assured that each and every story had our complete attention. The story that stood out in the end was called ‘Weeping Willow’. It told the story of a woman who had held onto a secret for many, many
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years while living the simple life. It spoke of another woman’s re-invention. Charming and simply told, it moved the reader along at a gentle pace until the reveal at the end.” The winner was Margaret Mounsdon, who takes home the prize pot of £48. Her winning story can be read opposite.
Winner from the first Winner Takes All competition
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Winner Margaret Mounsdon
The winner of the first Winner Takes All competition, which was held at the beginning of 2016, was Beryl Fleming. The theme for the first competition was ‘Opening Lines’ and was for the best and most intriguing opening to a story, something to make the reader desperate to read on. Beryl’s winning entry, A Handful of Petals, was originally printed in the Summer 2016 issue of The Woman Writer. Opposite, you have the opportunity to read it again.
Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017 The Woman Writer
SWWJ Spring Prize Giving 2017
Winner Takes All
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First prize:
Weeping Willow by Margaret Mounsdon
never knew why she left. The caption says her name is Willow Shelton. In my day she was plain old Wendy Smith. One day she was there milking cows on the farm, the next she was gone. There were all the usual rumours, the ones that circulate when a fresh-faced country girl disappears for no reason. We all expected her to re-appear nine months later with a suitably concocted story to explain her absence but Wendy Smith never returned to the farm. I look at the celebrity photo in the glossy magazine I am reading in the dentist’s surgery. It is definitely her – a bit less country girl these days, more corporate wife, but the smile is the same, cheeky with a hint of devil may care tinged with sadness. She’s done well for herself, married to a rich man and enjoying the high life. She landed on her feet is all I can say. Some might say I have not done so well. I am still on the farm – not married, no rich husband for me, but I do have my darling boy Jack and he is worth more than all the rich husbands in the world. “I will come back for him, Sarah, I promise,” were the last words Wendy said to me the night she sneaked back to the farm under cover and clutching a tiny bundle in a blanket – only she never did, and I don’t suppose now she ever will. ************************************
A Handful of Petals
by Beryl Fleming A thick carpet of orange blossom, blown down by the monsoon, covered the ground; the air, sickly sweet and cloying, lay on her skin like damp cloth. Elizabeth, breathless with excitement from escaping her ayah, crawled under the bungalow and lay panting on the moist earth, face buried in wet blossom. In one hand was Mibsy, her rag doll, and in the other a handful of petals; she held them against her cheek. It was a wonderful smell, HER smell. She rubbed Mibsy’s face with petals so she could still smell them when she returned to bed; she daren’t take the petals inside. Jungle nights came early. She heard familiar sounds: crickets, monkeys, mysterious rustlings in trees and grass. She wasn’t afraid, lying under the wooden stilts that kept the bungalow safe and dry in the rainy season. The living room floor was inches above her. Mother was up there, pretending to read; but soon Elizabeth heard the chair scrape back and the agitated ‘pronk, pronk’ of high heels hitting the floorboards. Mother was in a bad mood. It meant HE was coming... The Woman Writer Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017
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SWWJ Spring Prize Giving 2017
Winners of the John Walter Salver ‘Travel’ Writing Competition 2016
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e received 30 entries to our recent travel writing competition. Thank you to everyone who entered. The Judge, Solange Hando said: “It was a privilege to read such a wide variety of articles covering exciting destinations, at home and abroad, and so many different themes. You had some fascinating trips down memory lane, some moving emotional journeys – such as chasing a feather – and there was a highly imaginative piece based on a painting. You covered history, culture, national parks and more, with content ranging from dramatic to informative or humorous.” Solange’s full report, containing tips for travel writing success, is available by email to anyone who would like to read it. Please
contact vivienhampshire@btinternet.com
The winner was Beryl Fleming, with the runner-up place taken by Mary Rensten. It had been Mary’s intention to donate the cash prize for second place in memory of her friend Christine Fagg but, having now discovered that she has won it herself, she has declined to accept it! Instead, she has kindly donated a third prize, which the judge has awarded to Mari Competition Judge, Solange Hando Nicholson.
First prize:
White Silence by Beryl Fleming
10 am. A dull morning. Fine drizzle, like spun rain, formed layers of tiny moisture beads on every surface. Quietly, hundreds of people gathered on deck, warmly dressed, carrying cameras and binoculars. Everyone spoke in whispers, with a distinct air of conspiratorial camaraderie as the huge cruise ship glided gently forward, the giant heartbeat of its engines reduced to a gentle throb. Prime positions on the rail were taken early, but there was plenty of space. The atmosphere was magical. Had time stood still? Glaciers loomed ahead, silent as sentries. Huge chunks of ice floated in the smooth grey sea below us: some white, some an incredible blue. Winner Beryl Fleming Glacier Bay, Alaska and its vast surrounding area was decreed a National Park in 1989 and is one of the few remaining unspoilt areas of the world. Pollution 6
Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017 The Woman Writer
SWWJ Spring Prize Giving is minimal, wildlife protected and visiting permits strictly limited: only two cruise liners per day are allowed entry. Strict rules apply. Noise kept to a minimum: engine speed at Dead Slow; no music played; games/video rooms closed; no discharge of treated waste; speak and move quietly. Two Park Wardens came aboard and, before we entered the Bay, related fascinating facts about the National Park and its glaciers. Glaciers, natural phenomena, are compacted rivers of ice, many miles long and hundreds of feet (sometimes miles) thick. Half to two-thirds of their enormous height is concealed beneath the surface. They are constantly changing shape, moving between a few and up to a hundred feet per day. We approached in awe. Walls of blue-green ice facing us were actually half a mile away, their sheer sizes gave impressions of close proximity. The colours in the ice were unbelievable, ranging from pale to deepest blue, iridescent green, dazzling white, dark grey and even black. We cursed the drizzle but in fact the dull sky enhances the blue, whereas sunlight drains it. Moving further in, the atmosphere became eerie. Overcast skies gave the impression the glaciers were slowly surrounding us, cutting us off from the world. No sound... no other ships... only endless ice... We were fortunate to see some ‘calving’ – a breath-taking but frightening sight. Glaciers, constantly changing shape, move due to the densities in their ice caps and temperatures, causing chunks to break off. This is ‘calving’. No warning. A faint ‘crack’ echoes across the silent water, developing into a roar as the glacier splits. Thunderous rumbling follows as millions of ice splinters shoot in every direction as the ‘calf’ crashes into the sea – then instantly and silently sinks without trace. Reality becomes a dream... Did it really happen? After a magical day in the Bay, the late afternoon sun emerged briefly. As it went down, the reflections of glaciers in the water gave the strange impression they were sliding below the surface. Daylight faded. Drizzle increased. The Bay became ghostly: the Alaskan night was closing in. Few people remained on deck, shadowy half-silhouettes. Silence was palpable but the magical atmosphere remained undiminished. We could no longer see the glaciers but knew they were there – menacing giants, watching, waiting, aware of our insignificance. Timeless. Man dare not challenge God – in this, His icy Eden... Extract from the Judge’s report: “This was the shortest entry but, for me, it ticked all the boxes: straight into the action, a mere sprinkling of facts, use of the senses (including title), pace, atmosphere, moving and awesome (in the real sense of the word) in its simplicity, no clichés and a few original gems. Very well observed, highly visual but also informative, though this is done in such a way you barely notice and it never distracts from the main scene.” ************************************ Please turn the page to read the opening paragraphs from each of the runners-up. The Woman Writer Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017
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SWWJ Spring Prize Giving Below, opening paragraphs from each of the runners-up.
Runners-up for the John Walter Salver ‘Travel’ Competition Second prize: Dividing Doors
by Mary Rensten I am twelve years old and I am on my way to America! I am so excited I can hardly sit still in my seat on the plane. My friend, Petunia, is the same; it is her first flight, too. (She is not my very best friend, but we go to the same school and we are in the same class.) We have window seats and as the seaplane takes off from Kingston Harbour we both lean forward and peer out through the glass. “Sit back,” my mother says; she is sitting next to me. Across the aisle Petunia's grandmother, Mrs Geddes, is giving the same instruction to Petunia. Mrs Geddes is my mother's friend; they belong to the same church and they also visit one another's houses; Mrs Geddes has a big house. Throughout the flight to Miami they chat; all Petunia and I can do is nod and wave and smile at one another. Never mind, we can sit together at the Air Terminal, and probably on the bus to the hotel, where we are staying for one night before we go by train to New York. “Mummy ... is Mrs Geddes staying at the Hotel Urmey? “No, not the Urmey; their hotel is called The Elizabeth.” Judge’s comment: “Moving and original. Fast pace, dialogue, a feature that stays in your mind long after you’ve read it.” *************************************
Third prize: After Katerina – New Orleans is Jazzin’ Again
by Mari Nicholson The saxophonist in the too small black trilby sits outside a café on Decatur, playing a soft, seductive blues. Just down the street, a trio runs through its repertoire while onlookers stand around in the sunshine and clap each solo. Behind us on the muddy Mississippi, the paddleboats make their way downstream, the sounds of ‘Oh, Didn’t he ramble’ drifting across from the onboard jazz band. Music is everywhere and everywhere it is good. For this is New Orleans, cradled between the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain, a dizzying jumble of black and white where European cultures blend with Caribbean influences and where the world’s finest jazz musicians can be found busking on street corners or playing for tips in the magnolia-hung Jackson Square. The history of the city is embedded in the fading, peeling façades of the houses in the French Quarter, their filigreed balconies overhung with lush greenery and fragrant jasmine. Cemeteries full of crumbling marble tombs, voodoo shops and houses selling gris-gris (potions) should lend a feeling of melancholia but they don’t. This is a place where a funeral brings people on to the streets to follow the coffin while as many jazz bands as can be mustered tag along on floats to add to the spirit of the day. Judge’s comment: “A great article, straight into the action with a tight focus touching on different aspects of New Orleans, but never losing sight of the music.” 8
Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017 The Woman Writer
SWWJ Spring Prize Giving
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The Elizabeth Longford Poetry Competition 2017 results
e received 35 entries to our annual poetry competition, this time judged by SWWJ Vice President Doris Corti. Her report is available for members to read in full, whether you entered the competition or not. Please contact vivienhampshire@btinternet.com if you would like a copy emailed to you. Here are the winning poems and a few words of praise about each of them, extracted from the Judge’s report.
Judge’s comment: “There is a delicate quality about this poem which has been achieved by the lineation.The short lines used are a deliberate tactic to lead a reader through the poem as though we are actually in the place the poet is writing about. Excellent touches of alliteration aid this delicate quality. The combination of short, musical lines, the effective phrasing as well as an original opening line combine with the gentle effective rhythm to make this a worthy winner.”
Winner:
TREES IN WINTER by Finola Holiday
Briars squat at the wood’s margins, muffled up in last year’s ‘old man’s beard’. Planted on open ground tomorrow’s forest is weathering the winter, their silhouettes cut sharp against the sky. The young trees stand alone on threadbare grass. Bereft of leaves and birds there is no getting together with the breeze. They are quiet as statues of trees. Bronze torsos stream with rain. Long limbs reprise their arabesques. Perhaps a fitful sun will come to spin their shadows. Soon they will hear the grass growing again, – a hint of wind shifting to the south – the rain suddenly kind. When the spring touches them such a tomorrow will be a time to dance, a time for frail green fans to open, begin to wave.
Finola Holiday
The Woman Writer Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017
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SWWJ Spring Prize Giving Second prize:
WHALE ISLAND by Mary Rothwell
Low hills half-moon each horizon smooth green as in a child’s painting-book; scissored shapes, black against the sky, frill the curving edge – skeleton tree, tractor, telegraph pole, brooding cattle one by one in line, nose to tail; weaving seabirds swing in snowy showers behind an ascending plough. How calm, how still, this land of silhouettes where all is seen, all is known, no secret kept for long. This treeless landscape denies mystery, fields revealed as newborn, unadorned; no woods, few copses, no foxes in forests, no badgers, but rabbits unthreatened, colonise hills, stare you out, decline to run; then, in lochs, on rocks or yellow sandbanks, fat seals bask while seabirds loop the loop through salt-laden air and undulating water is everywhere. Judge’s comment: “There is a sense of wonder in this poem which is given by the use of excellent imagery and phrasing. It is a country scene but is lifted from the ordinary by use of certain alliterative touches that create a gentle music in lines so that a reader is transported to the place that is being described. Each phrase has been carefully thought about. A beautifully scenic poem.”
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Spring Prize Giving Supplement 2017 The Woman Writer
SWWJ Spring Prize Giving Third prize:
Highly Commended:
by Finola Holiday
by Sylvia Goodman
THE ACCIDENT The accident came towards me in slow motion – directly raw metal gripped my flesh and held it – as a shark’s jaws close when blood is in the water. Then came the bandaged days of peremptory kindness, nights when the raw light bulbs hurt my eyes, when trolleys rattled – going their rounds, dispensing aspirins and carrot soup. Pain crept in beside me, between antiseptic sheets tucked tightly, pinning me in and unforgiving pillows sparred with my dreams. At last I have freed up that bed, I can breathe again. In the sweet air of the shore I can watch the moon draw up the small lace waves. The night is intimate, quiet with shaded stars, the pillows light as the clouds and no one draws the curtains round me, no one is dying in the next bed.
MOURNING GLORY
Near the green-lined grave and the wicker casket we waited. No flowers – she’d hated to see them cut. Anything cut. “No dead flesh,” I’d once heard her say to a startled waiter. We stood around, respectful of religious words and quiet prayers, savouring the subtle scents of open country in the late October warmth. But then a susurrus, a rustling of feathers, a great coming together, a rising murmur, mystical celebration, at last an avian orchestra, a wave of joyful sound exploding overhead. These birds surely knew why silent humans stood quite motionless. Circling above, their song burst forth, a crescendo of gratitude for one of their own, the champion of cooped hens and butchered cows, of caged lions and hooked fish; they seemed to fill the sky and overwhelm the sun, then, tribute paid, they swirled away across the empty fields. Judge’s comment: “The poet has ensured that this poem is not sentimental about someone who has died, instead there is an affectionate tone. Each phrase has been well thought out in this descriptive poem.”
Judge’s comment: “An original subject matter very well technically handled in layout, phrasing and imagery. Nothing is overstated and we, the readers, are drawn in to feel the relief at each step of recovery after what might have proved to be a fatal accident.” The Woman Writer Spring Prize Giving Supplement2017
Highly Commended, Sylvia Goodman
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Good writing is never easy and success as a professional writer can be downright difficult. Help is at hand. HOW THE SOCIETY CAN HELP YOU Being a member of a professional organisation such as ours can help turn a solitary occupation into one involving others. For well over a hundred years, the SWWJ has served and supported writers from all around the UK and across the globe. The Society offers members a range of benefits from practical advice to the opportunity to participate in useful, enjoyable and instructive events. Our members are concerned with the writing of books and articles, fiction and non-fiction, poetry, plays and writing for media such as television, radio and the web, and the Society deals with everything from writing technique to selling work and getting published. Membership of the SWWJ includes you in a community of like-minded writers who provide advice and support. It also offers opportunities for social and professional interaction, networking and collaboration for those wanting to secure, develop and extend their writing career. MEMBERS RECEIVE: • A quarterly magazine containing news, views, information about markets and more, as well as regular email newsletters. • A Press Card demonstrating their bona fide status and giving access to exhibitions, conferences and events for research or all forms of writing. • Invitations to a variety of national and regional events, ranging from workshops to social and networking meetings. IN ADDITION, MEMBERS CAN: • Test their skills in the Society’s regular writing competitions. • Take advantage of the Society’s publishing arm, SCRIPTORA, which undertakes assisted publishing, particularly for those wishing to branch out into new genres. • Enjoy reduced rates for manuscript appraisal from Society experts. • Offer their services as speakers via the Society website. WHY NOT GET IN TOUCH NOW! A membership application form is available to download from the Society website and general enquiries are welcome. SWWJ, Room 2, Aileen McHugo Building, Westmore Green, Tatsfield, Westerham TN16 2AG Tel: 01959 575031 Email: enquiries@swwj.co.uk Website: www.swwj.co.uk
MEMBERSHIP There are 3 categories of membership: Full Members: women with professional writing experience Associate Members: men with professional writing experience. Friends: aspiring writers and others wishing to support the Society. Setting professional standards, sharing experience, strengthening expertise. The Society provides the ideal forum for any writer battling with the essentially solitary process of writing and wishing to develop their success in this challenging profession.
Patrons: Sir Tim Rice, The Earl of Stockton, Simon Brett OBE, Lord Quirk, Baroness Howard of Lympne (novelist Sandra Howard). Hon Life President: Rt Hon Ann Widdecombe DSG