Prize Winners announced for the inaugural UW500 (Ullapool Words 500): 30th JULY 2020.

Ullapool Bookshop is delighted and proud to announce that the inaugural winners for the UW500 (Ullapool Words 500) Creative Writing Competition have been declared today. The UW500 was born out of the Coronavirus crisis from a creative writing idea, which would give children and Adults a creative focus during the period of lockdown. In total over 40 entries were received with a large number of entries competing for the prizes in not only the Adults category, but especially the Children’s categories. Ullapool Bookshop Manager and overall administrator of the UW500 Katharine Douglas, said ‘I am thrilled and humbled that so many wonderful short stories were received from not only people living in Ullapool, but also Scoraig, Achiltibuie, Dundonnell, Lochinver and Inverkirkaig. The level of interest just proves that there is a need for the UW500 and I am very grateful to those who made it happen in such a short period of time and during lockdown, when the country was in crisis. We will certainly aim to make this competition an annual event. ’
Adult Judge Stephen Keeler said ‘Literary judges always say that ‘the quality floats to the top,’ and that winning entries usually announce themselves readily and at once. The winning entry in the UW500 did exactly that and therefore was easy to spot. Every single entry had something to commend it. I was delighted to have been asked to be involved in judging the UW500.’

And now on to the winners:

For the Adult Category (500 word short story based on the theme of holidays):

Phil Jones, Lochinver 1st Prize £50 book token
Alastair Cunningham, Ullapool 2nd Prize £30 book token
Kizzy Cochrane, Ullapool 3rd Prize £15 book token

Children’s Category 5-8 years old:
1st Prize (5-8 years old category): £50 book token NIALL MACLEOD
2nd Prize (5-8 years old): £30 book token DANIEL MASON

Children’s 9-18 Category:
1st Prize: £50 book token AMELIE POMEROY-SOOS
Joint 2nd Prize: £30 book token DOUGAL MASTERSON / TACITA ANGELL
Joint 3rd Prize: £15 book token LAILA INGLIS / MARIANNE MACKENZIE

Due to the large number of entries in the 9-18 Category, Katrina Thomson, owner of the Ullapool Bookshop who is supporting the book token prizes, has decided to award 2 x 2nd and 2 x 3rd prizes. ‘because there has been such a large turnout of children in the 9-18 category, we felt it was only right to award 2 additional 2nd and 3rd prizes.’

All of the winning entries will also be published in a short story collection, which will be available from the Ullapool Bookshop in Autumn 2020. The winners will be notified by either phone or email on 30th July and they will each receive a letter confirming their prizes. Thanks are also due to Ullapool Harbour Trust, Ullapool Community Trust (Community Benefit Fund) and Angus Bruce Photography, whose donations will make this publication possible.

Contact: Katharine Douglas, Ullapool Bookshop Manager
01854 612918 (07742 191 210)
[email protected]