Hive Competition Results 2024/25
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We are delighted to announce the results of our 2024/25 Young Writers’ Competition!
A huge congratulations to winning and commended young writers aged 14 to 30 from across the north and midlands who submitted wonderful work spanning short story, flash fiction and poetry. If you entered and weren’t placed in the list below, don’t be disheartened (or if you were, for that matter) – take note of these encouraging and helpful words from one of this year’s judges Dave Swann. Most importantly, keep writing! We’re looking forward to hearing from you again next time.
“Judging this competition has been a wonderful reminder that there’s nowhere a poem can’t go – the ones I’ve read here have taken me all over the world, as well as deep into history and the far-flung future. From badminton sabotage and space-travelling dogs to the interiority of rivers and canyons and the world without smartphones, these poems speak of many different subjects in many different forms and voices. It’s been a real challenge to choose the winners in each category as the standard has been very high. Keep writing, young poets, your talents are evident!” Suzannah Evans
“Reading this work, I’m again in awe of fiction’s power to move its readers. Sometimes, literally, as in the stories that took me on trips through space and time to locations strange and thrilling. And I was also often moved emotionally, with many pieces taking me to different mindsets, helping me see our world from viewpoints normally out of reach. It was great to go on these journeys and to witness young writers responding to the challenges of contemporary and historical life by such diverse and exciting means. It was truly difficult to rank them. Ultimately, I rewarded those that, to me at least, best succeeded on their own terms – and to do their work in words that will stay with me. Thank you, all who took part.” Dave Swann
Big thanks to our judges Suzannah Evans & Dave Swann. Also, thanks to all who encouraged young people to enter from schools to youth clubs to universities.
Note: highly commended/commended are listed in no set order.
14-16 Category
“An extremely vivid evocation of a family struggling to cope with a mother’s hospitalisation. Rooted in a strong, yearning character, it finds startling, surreal elements in the everyday world of the hospital. Throughout, there are wonderful flashes of imagination in the character’s insights and perceptions, delivered to us through the skilful (and unusual) use of second-person narration.”
Dave Swann on: The Waiting Room by Alina Kumaran
1st Place: The Waiting Room – Alina Kumaran
An extremely vivid evocation of a family struggling to cope with a mother’s hospitalisation. Rooted in a strong, yearning character, it finds startling, surreal elements in the everyday world of the hospital. Throughout, there are wonderful flashes of imagination in the character’s insights and perceptions, delivered to us through the skilful (and unusual) use of second-person narration.
2nd Place: Second Prize: Looking in at 21B – Charlotte Stribley
A pleasure to be transported by this compelling story, which begins with one of the best opening paragraphs in this year’s competition. An unsuspecting window-cleaner chances upon a scary scene when he glances in through a skyscraper window. Is what he thinks happening? We never find out – because the writer has understood the power of the glimpse. It’s much harder to write stories like this than people think. I was thrilled to dangle up there on the 21st floor with the bewildered main character!
3rd Place: And if the Smart Phone No Longer Existed – Miley Yip
I always think the writers’ job is to notice things, and this poem is about exactly that. It documents the world around it with precision, and uses its beauty and reality to ask some vital questions of the times we live in.
Highly Commended (14-16)
River – Owen Snailham
A beautifully tactile poem with a focus on the non-human, that explores the lifespan of a river, rich in unusual images and resonant with unusual language.
The Banshee in the Woods – Eliana Holloway
A rich and imaginative story which describes what happens when a bird-loving girl and her adventurous friend go for a wander in their magical childhood woods together. The story evokes a sense of wonder in the natural world, but ultimately stretches out to encompass the supernatural, too. A great job of dramatising the intense nature of teenage friendships, and its use of the woodpecker creates a solid footing for the supernatural elements. Good work!
How To Lose at Badminton (Effectively) – Nathan Graham
This poem is alive with absurd wit and enjoyable, relatable awkwardness. It has an aura of farce about it, as well as some fantastic turns of phrase – ‘seize the lightpull of opportunity!’
A Level of Understanding – Oscar Newton
Intriguingly titled, this story fixes itself in one moment of proximity between two characters who struggle to express their love for each other. I admired the slow accumulation of emotion in the main scene, but was particularly bowled over by the wonderful ending. I thought that was marvellous writing, full of skill, maturity, and insight. Well done!
Embarrassment – Holly Ellis
A deeply sensory, well-observed poem that manages to make everyday moments feel like strange jewels to be treasured.
Everything is Fine – Oscar Newton
The majority of this story is delivered through the tortured monologue of a character who’s lost their family and plunged into a void of meaninglessness – but the most original narrative feature is that it ultimately turns the void into a character who is indifferent to the plight of the tortured speaker. And what an unexpected – and scary – twist!
Rush Hour – Tom Stephenson
A poem that finds playfulness in the everyday, wonderfully alert to patterns of sound.
Eight Minutes, 20 Seconds Until the Sun Stops Shining – Nathan Graham
A hugely enjoyable story, ambitious in its attempt to condense an entire life story into several moments in time. I loved the way the story came down, eventually, to a list of moments, skilfully described in punchy prose. And I enjoyed the story’s rather bleak, sideways humour. One of the things I’ll remember from this piece – the writer’s skill with narrative!
Plucked Tongue – Zoe Taylor
This poem chills the reader with gothic imagery that feels dark and dense, like walking into an overgrown forest.
Commended (14-16)
It Never Rains but It Pours – Thalia Arif
A suggestive snapshot of a teenager with a talent for drawing, containing vivid descriptions of weather and leaving a gap for the reader’s imagination to fill concerns for the main character’s relationship with a harsh and potentially violent father.
Car Stories from the Same Driver – Matthew Swan
A very effective use of anaphora to explore what goes unseen and unsaid.
Numb – Beth Knapton
This story is set in the aftermath of a baby’s death and focuses on the bereft mother. It features strong descriptions of setting and succeeds in evoking a sense of tragedy by tying a bleak wintry setting to the emotional state of the suffering character.
Waning – Sara Al-Asady
This exploration of enormity is full of sparkling, arresting images.
Daughters of War, Daughters of Chains – Grace Taylor
This poet gives voice to the voiceless of history and myth, and the result is a powerful exploration.
White Rabbit – Adrian Oliver
I found this a really unusual piece, written with imagination and intensity. I’d recommend that this writer reads ‘Pincher Martin’ by William Golding, which describes a similarly hallucinatory journey (and which knocked my socks off when I was a teen!).
I Found You Today – Aizah Atiq
Captures the beautiful bittersweetness of an imagined life, well observed. Precise with imagery.
17-19 Category
“A poem whose narrative feels mysterious and almost mythical, and that embraces its own darkness. Such strange phrases as ‘bundles of muscle’ and ‘a bottle of blue eyes’ make this an unforgettable poem.”
Suzannah Evans on The Pretenders – Heather Chapman
1st Place: The Pretenders – Heather Chapman
A poem whose narrative feels mysterious and almost mythical, and that embraces its own darkness. Such strange phrases as ‘bundles of muscle’ and ‘a bottle of blue eyes’ make this an unforgettable poem.
2nd Place: Fortunate Son – Ken Damon
An emotionally rich, absorbing piece, narrated by a young man from a warring family. The story is at its most vivid and alive when it shows the character roaming his grandparents’ abandoned home. I liked the emotional complexity of this story, and was impressed by the writer’s ability to work with the surface of his story-world, in order to reach the depths. The ending is perfect, too! Moving work.
3rd Place: Two Dogs of the Chinese Cultural Revolution – Ho Yin Stephanie Wong
I’ve never read anything quite like this story (which succeeds in being as original and arresting as its eye-catching title), using a battery of special effects to convey its sweeping narrative of the Chinese Revolution. The story is anchored by the central image of a character trapped in a swirling washing machine – and by a ‘chorus’ of cartoon bangs, which punctuate startling snapshots rooted in historical events. If we end the story feeling disorientated, I think this must have been the effect the writer was after – to make us share the sense of vertigo that the historical events clearly inspired.
Highly Commended (17-19)
The Pendle Witch Trials – Katie Stenhouse
If I’ve understood correctly, the story is told by Jennet Device, a girl who testified against members of her own family in the Pendle Witch Trials – an act that culminated in their execution. Documents suggest Jennet was also accused of witchcraft soon years later. The story manages to bridge both of these tumultuous sagas, and succeeds in evoking Jennet’s heightened perceptions. A gripping piece with extremely skilful descriptions.
Weaving Worries – Sofie Stothers
The iterative questions of this poem mimic worry in themselves, whilst also playing with more surreal structures and ideas.
Your Hair Aged Six – Izzy Whiston
A powerful poem of loss, and a beautifully drawn portrait of a life. The poem’s structure, returning to something as mundane as hair over a larger timeframe, grounds the reader in the real and means that when the loss is revealed, it’s incredibly impactful.
Village Christmas – Laurie Smith
This idyllic Christmas poem is perfectly paced as it reveals its sadness and longing.
Atash – Maqbula Sarvari
A rich and nuanced exploration of the inner workings of a familial bond. The use of anaphora is extremely effective.
Poem in Which I Ignore Sensory Overload to Try to Do Girlie Things – Maisie Mair
The sensory chaos of this poem also contains a warmly funny critique of contemporary femininity and questions our part in perpetuating it.
Bleach Damage – Arwyn Clayton
Notable for its evocation of a lop-sided but loving friendship, narrated by a character who accepts their place in the shadow of the wonky-haired friend. The story will stay in my heart, particularly for its skill in characterisation.
The Witch? – Hol Jones
Impressive with its empathy for the titular character, and structure, which sandwiches the exposition between two halves of a shocking execution scene. I was pulled along by the intensity of the action, and by the prose itself.
Red Thread – Kacii Parkinson
A strong piece of horror fiction, written with tremendous energy and economy. The spare, punchy nature of the prose made me wonder whether the writer should consider writing a screenplay! This is a well-engineered piece, written with skill.
Huxley’s Hockshop – Finley Kippin
I found plenty to enjoy in this eccentric story about the 1970s-obsessed owner of a curio shop. His sarcastic comments about the customers are balanced against a streak of pathos that I found tender and strangely moving. Near the end of the story, the character reflects upon the biggest day of his life. I will remember that moment – and also the character’s obsession with TV catchphrases that evoke the best and worst of a whole era. Good work!
Commended (17-19)
In Your Living Room – Jason Parker
A moving meditation about those we’ve known and the lives they lived before us. Reminiscent of Carol Ann Duffy’s great poem ‘Not Yet My Mother’.
Steps Through Silence – Christopher Hartshorn
Achieves poignancy with its evocation of a character’s walk through the woods. Skilfully, the writer intertwines back-story around the journey to the church where the couple were married – but the story preserves a degree of ambiguity for the reader to draw their own conclusions. A tender piece, written with empathy.
January 8th, 2017 – Ken Damon
A skilled piece of flash fiction that takes a beguiling zig-zag approach to the order of events. Bursting with promise, I loved its skill in evoking an enormous, complicated city, simply through a handful of well-chosen, well-described moments and images.
A List for My Senses – Sofie Stothers
A sensory list that almost acts as a calming reminder in itself; the details and specifics are what make this poem feel real to the reader.
Dominoes – Maisie Mair
An enjoyable piece of flash fiction presenting us with an afterlife that turns a metaphor into a reality. Most affecting is where the writer connects tiny events to big ones, demonstrating that the apparently insignificant trials in our lives are connected like dominoes in a chain. What a lovely, imaginative passage of writing, with a powerful conclusion!
An Ode to iNaturalist – Daphne Harries
A poem that encourages us all to look up! I loved being made to think about a whole sky we hadn’t met.
Daisy Chains – Sara-Jayne Parr
Uses the item referred to in the title as both its central prop and key metaphor. I was touched by the plight of the main character, a schoolgirl ‘with a special talent for flying under the radar’. A romantic story, written with feeling for the lonely young characters.
20-30 category
“This poem doesn’t put a foot wrong – it tells a story of in-betweenness and culture and language through food, mingling patois with English; ‘home is /in the heart and in the stomach and in the tongue.”
Suzannah Evans on: Callaloo by Jake Edwards
1st Place: Callaloo – Jake Edwards
This poem doesn’t put a foot wrong – it tells a story of in-betweenness and culture and language through food, mingling patois with English; ‘home is /in the heart and in the stomach and in the tongue’.
2nd Place: Martello Buttress, Stanage Popular End – Louisa Rhodes
Brilliant writing, anchored by authoritative use of the technical terms employed by climbers, and given emotional depth through access to the main character’s heart, who is trying to find some way to leave her climbing partner. The story commands our attention right from the off, and proceeds skilfully to a perfectly judged ending, which leaves all outcomes in the balance. Here, I felt rather like a trainee climber under the guidance of a strong mentor – in other words, the writer inspired trust, and I knew we wouldn’t fall!
3rd Place: Examples of Thought – Max Goodwin
A poem about everything that could possibly go wrong, which also reads like a love poem for our angst-ridden times. Utterly unsettling in its imagery: ‘A man is standing in your kitchen / silently handling raw chicken’ down to its final line: ‘Even when / our sun is gone, I want to know you.’
Highly commended (20-30)
Field Notes – Emma English
A beautiful piece full of sorrow and yearning. Stories like this rely more on voice and imagery than they do on narrative. As a result, it drifts a little closer to prose-poetry than to fiction. In less able hands, writing like this can become vaporous or solipsistic, but the writer has been careful to plant small story-moments, creating a ‘breadcrumb trail’ for the reader. Well-chosen images act as additional anchors, and prevent the story’s movement from becoming too inward. . A rich, mature piece – the work of a true writer.
Fossgate Flood – Rachel Maloney
So filled with delicious textures and details – frazzled moss and tetchy twigs – as well as an expansive sense of time and a feeling that all of history might be happening at once.
Heavy – Arundhati Sarkar
I’d happily have gone on for many more pages in the company of the narrator, whose voice is beautifully evoked. She is a funny character, complex in her insights, whose eating disorder is handled with tact and economy, adding to the gravity of the story, which also tackles the minefield of teenage dating. There’s some rich, involving dialogue here, and a careful accumulation of detail. I think the writer should think of this piece as the foundation of a YA novel, and finish it!
Anxiety Arcade – Kayla Blackburn
The evocations in this poem are superb; both for the nostalgia of the arcade and the rawness of anxiety are brought to life by specificity and details.
Fox Tales – Robyn Wilson
Here, we are given a brutal rites-of-passage narrative, in which a Viking warrior teaches his child how to protect and conquer. The viewpoint of the sensitive and inquisitive son gives the story its poignancy and depth. The initial scene about the killing of the fox is positioned so that it casts its shadow across the second half of the story, where the Vikings go off to conquer new territory. Experiencing those two episodes, side by side, readers can’t help but share the misgivings of the narrator. Good work!
Pilgrimage – Alasdair Bell
This poem is inventive in its use of repetitions and develops colour and texture through its echoes.
Snapping Dragons – Aurora Amaryllis
A very rich story containing some witty reflections. There is an enormous amount of promise on display here. I expect this writer to become a published author.
The Day I Thought Soon – Connie Greig
This poem navigates grief elegantly and honestly. The opening to this poem is fantastic – unsentimental, affecting and clever: ‘you were dead, / I was a bench away.’
Cucumber Horses – Maya Dodsworth
I loved the modesty of this piece, and its careful accumulation of detail. The build-up to the breaking of a taboo (with the use of a forbidden pentagram) gives the story tension. A delicate little piece, haunting and charming.
Body – Louisa Rhodes
A beautiful narrative of coming to understand and accept oneself, or at least trying to. The moment when the speaker sees their body fully for the first time is long-awaited and powerful.
Trespassing Consequences – Clara Juncker
This story’s narrative is infused with imagery from Mexico’s Day of the Dead, which allows the writer to smuggle a dark vein of magic realism into the narrative. The ‘body horror’ is achieved with a giddy relish, and the story will stay with me, despite its discomforting elements. It’s a piece that I felt l should read between the cracks in my fingers — a testament to the ghastly skills on display here!
Briefly – Abhijeet Singh
This poem explores love and grief with such tenderness that the reader feels held by its soft world.
An Elegy for Grovebury Close – Frances Byrne
Cleverly written to show a cataclysmic personal event as an apocalyptic scenario. Full of startling imagery and unusual details.
Commended (20-30)
By His Design – Chloe Reed
Confidence narration of this dystopian fiction and impressive handling of the topical themes. The misogyny in our society needs to be countered both politically and imaginatively, and this writer deserves praise for stepping up to the plate.
But Narcissus – Ella Lighten
The specular is such a difficult form to master, requiring precision, patience and careful editing, and this version is commendable.
In The Vent – Jack So
A story of skilful and funny dialogue with a lot of comedy but the writer opens up a seam of poignancy too, by finding little pockets to explore the characters’ relationship. I found a great deal to enjoy here.
Topanga Canyon – Poppy Higgins
An elegant concrete elegy for a changing landscape and society.
Pockweeds – Henry Peacock
A skilfully told story about the relationship between a young witch and her mentor. Fellow writers would benefit from studying how the writer organises the narrative, which avoids ‘exposition dumps’. An attractive story, with a menacing undertow.
Laika – Theodore Forcer
An empathetic exploration, giving voice to the private emotion and connection behind a more well-known public story.
The Diabolist – Ell Wright
A really intriguing piece, in which a circus performer yearns for the talents that will make her act compelling. I will remember the main character, and the skill in the prose. The circus and its props are evoked through some precise description.
The top three winning entries in each category will receive professional feedback & editing support and be published in our next Hive Young Writers’ print anthology. Our last open, non-themed anthologies were After Hours and Dear Life. You can buy them here
Our Judges
SHORT STORY & FLASH FICTION
David Swann is a short story writer and poet. His novella, Season of Sweet Sorrow (Ad Hoc Press, 2021), was named 2023 Rubery Book of the Year. The novella is set on Morecambe Bay, where Dave lived for several years. It was inspired by incidents he witnessed while working as a writer in residence for the Arts Council of England in HMP Nottingham, where he helped in the rehabilitation of lifers and long-term prisoners. The residency also inspired Dave’s book, The Privilege of Rain (Waterloo Press, 2011), which was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. In 2017, Dave was awarded a doctorate for his PhD about the role played by writing in the rehabilitation of offenders. David is a Senior Lecturer in English & Creative Writing at the University of Chichester.
POETRY
Suzannah Evans is an award-winning poet and writer based in Sheffield. She has published two collections of poetry, Near Future and Space Baby, with Nine Arches Press. Her first chapbook was a winner in the Poetry Business Competition 2012, and she has a second, ‘Green’, forthcoming with Bad Betty Press in June 2024. Suzannah was a Gladstone Library writer in residence in 2019, and in 2021 she received a Northern Writers’ Award for poetry. Her work asks difficult questions about the Earth, its beings, and what lies ahead for them; how do we look to the future on a planet that’s burning? How do we come to terms with our grief, and what can we believe in?