downton abbey | Pin Drop

24 June 2017

Cherise Saywell announced as Winner of the RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award 2017

Dame Penelope Wilton, announced Cherise Saywell as the winner of the RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award 2017 for her exceptional story, Morelia Spilota. The presentation was followed by a live narration of Morelia Spilota by Dame Penelope Wilton, which will be released as a podcast soon.

‘‘The quality of writing and the ambition of the writers seems to get stronger each year. It was a pleasure and a privilege to judge the prize and to encounter this year’s short-list.’

– Tim Marlow, Artistic Director, Royal Academy of Arts

‘It was a privilege to judge this year’s RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award and select the winning story from such a strong shortlist. Cherise Saywell is a worthy winner for her superb story, ‘Morelia Spilota’, which is written with great confidence and verve. It is a brilliant short story.’

– Simon Oldfield, Founder, Pin Drop

‘Cherise’s story is a superb example of the short form: elegant, lyrical and with a quiet, restrained power. It is written with such surety of tone and pace that reading it, you feel at once you are in the hands of a master storyteller.’

– Elizabeth Day, Founder, Pin Drop

The RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award 2017 is supported by Audible.

18 May 2017

Longlist Announced for the RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award 2017

We are delighted to announce the longlist for this year’s RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award – an award in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts.

Dame Penelope Wilton, the award-winning actress who has enjoyed an extensive career starring in numerous films and television productions including Calendar Girls, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Downton Abbey, will announce and narrate this year’s winning story on 23rd June at a special awards ceremony at the RA. The award is judged by Pin Drop Co-founders Elizabeth Day and Simon Oldfield, and the RA’s Director of Artistic Programmes, Tim Marlow.

Simon Oldfield commented:

“This year, we have received an unprecedented number of entries from across the globe and the quality has been extraordinary. Pin Drop champions superb short fiction and we’re delighted to see both established and emerging writers on the longlist, with stories that capture unique voices and new writing with confidence and verve.”

Longlist

Adrian Todd Zuniga, Lincoln Wimbley Writes a Story at 37,000 Feet

Anna Stewart, The Way I Breathed

Anne O’Brien, These Silver Fish

Anthony McGuinness, Fair Exchange is No Robbery

Antonia Honeywell, Dora Maar and the Secret Tree

Arthur Allan, Before the Curtain

Carol Farrelly, Emergency

Cathy Thomas, Pigs

Catriona Ward, Lula-Belle

Cherise Saywell, Morelia Spilota

Ciarán Collins, Angela

Craig Burnett, Feathers Thick with Oil

Douglas W. Milliken, Heart’s Last Pass

Emily Bullock, Freshwater

Hanna Ali, Bloated

Hannah Persaud, Dress Rehearsal

Harry Godfrey, Lobster Man

Honoria Beirne, Rafferty

Jarred McGinnis, Rough Beasts

Joanna Campbell, Brad’s Rooster Food

Jude Cook, Being Here

Juno Baker, The Rules of the Game

KM Elkes, Shoreham Street

Melanie Whipman, Undine

Philippa Holloway, Like a Message

Rachel Stevenson, English Beach

Rebecca F. John, Paper Chains

Ruth Brandt, Going West

Sarah Evans, My Mother’s Story

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Supported by Audible.