Less than 40 hours to go until our latest competition closes and I am delighted to say that the late rush of entries is well under way. We’ve added another new country as well - welcome, Italy.

This time around there is another strong showing from the UK and plenty from elsewhere as well, from Australia to France, Canada to Romania.

Word is spreading about what we are trying to do with the competition and we really are grateful to everyone who has promoted us free of charge, whether on websites, blogs or by word of mouth.

Too many of you to mention but you know who you are, so thank you one and all. Such support is crucial as we seek to establish the competition on the global writing scene.

John Dean

Three days to go in our February competition and, although we have had some excellent stories, it’s a fairly low entry this time around so the odds of winning are pretty decent.

We are taking stories until the end of play on Friday so you still have plenty of time to get them in.

We are delighted to see from our monthly figures that interest is growing in our website and that plenty of you are taking time out to visit this blog page. I hope it is of interest.

Please feel free to send messages - a debate on elements of writing is always of use.

John Dean

It is always a pleasure to add another country to the growing list of nations being represented in our competition. This time, it is Romania and a writer from that beautiful city of Bucharest.

What strikes me about all the stories that come in, and our Romanian entry is an example, is the ability of writers to place their readers in situations that evoke a reaction. That is what writing is about.

As mentioned in a previous blog, I have always believed that good writing is about triggers - words, phrases, images, places, sensations - that reach deep into the reader’s mind to bring about a strong reaction.

That reaction will be based on something the reader has actually experienced, or maybe something that the reader dreads ever having to experience. It is why horror and ghost stories work so well.

Yes, you are messing about with the reader’s head, yes, you may be forcing them to confront difficult truths, but isn‚t that sometimes what writing is about?

It is only a personal opinion but if every story, every book, was about sugary-sweet people in lovely situations, then I am not sure that writing could ever move the reader as it should.

So, yes, writing can, on occasion, make the reader feel uneasy, uncomfortable, scared even, but, let’s be honest, isn‚t that sometimes the way we feel in our daily lives anyway? It’s simply art reflecting reality.

An entry the other day raised an interesting question. Most writers who have sent stories have tended to stay to the general fiction‚ genre but this author submitted a science-fiction story.

Reading it made for a nice change and there is absolutely no reason why other authors cannot submit a variety of genres as well.

Science-fiction is a good example, actually, because it is one of those genres that pioneered short stories, with everyone from Isaac Asimov to HG Wells producing such works.

So, we were delighted to read this particular entry. Here’s to more which span the range of short story writing.

And don’t worry, I won’t say the experience was ‘out of this world’‚ because that would be a lazy cliché and judges do not like lazy cliches. Oh, hang on, might just be too late.

John Dean

As our international writing community continues to grow, we are delighted to welcome our first author from Ireland to the competition.

Our latest data shows that our website is becoming increasingly popular and we thank all of you for visiting it and making it such a success.

We have less than a fortnight to go until our latest closing date and the number of entries has been relatively low, so the chances of success is pretty good this time around.

What normally happens is that we have a rush in the final ten days so, if you are sitting there wondering if this is the month to take the plunge, then now could be the time.

Also, we have had the occasional writer entering a story having put one into a previous competition. We are delighted to welcome you back.

John Dean

A fortnight until our third competition’s closing date and we continue to be bowled over by the entries that are coming in from across the world.

What always strikes me about writers, whatever country they live in, is where their ideas come from.

The entries we receive point to some of the major sources. Some writers are clearly like me. For me, stories always start with a place, somewhere that strikes me so forcibly that the story unfolds around me.

Other writers start with a character, someone so interesting, so intriguing that they can almost tell the story on their own.

Other writers begin with the story itself, an idea inspired by a newspaper snippet, something someone says, a sudden sense of ‚what if?, an idea that comes in a dream.

Some write for other reasons, to get a point over, to add to our knowledge of the world or to make us think about an issue in a different way.

Whatever your motivation - and there will be many others - one thing is certain: if it drives you to sit down in front of that computer or lift up that pen, it’s got to be worth writing about.

John Dean

Word is spreading about our competition and we are constantly attracting writers from new countries.

In addition to the likes of the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, we are seeing more entries from the United States now.

We have also seen entries from South Korea, Finland and Israel and now, for this competition, we have enjoyed reading stories from writers in France and India.

What they all have in common, wherever they may be, is the ability to tell stories and tell them well and we are encouraged at what we are reading.

We also hope that those writers enjoying success in our competition will be able to use it to help persuade publishers to read their work. It certainly cannot harm.

Talking of winners, you may recall that the winner of our first competition was Australian writer Kaalii Cargill, from St Kilda, with Rings Around the Moon.

Well, Kaalii has been talking about her success and said: “Winning a short story competition like this is exciting and encouraging. As in Rings Around The Moon, I especially enjoy exploring the interface between the ordinary and the extraordinary. I will use the prize money towards a trip to the Mediterranean to research my historical novel.”

We are delighted that our competition can provide such encouragement.

John Dean

Well, Fiona has deliberated and named the winners in our second Global Short Story Competition - and the successes have been divided between Canada and the UK this time.

Fiona said: “The overall standard was excellent, making it hard to select the winners, as usual.”

In the end, she chose as the winner of the £100 first prize a story called Barely Mischievous by Emren Meroglu, from Montreal, Canada.

Fiona said: “This is a deceptively simple story, and encompasses a wide range of emotions, moving effortlessly through tragedy and comedy and painting a thoroughly satisfying picture of childhood reactions and feelings. ”

“It’s very subtle the way the layers build up, and the fierce loyalty of a child to his friends and family is believable and touching. There are overtones of Harper Lee, and the author has really got into the eyes and heart and brave spirit of a boy meeting and dealing with the contradictions of an adult world.”

Second place went to Tom Conoboy, from Beverley, East Yorkshire, in the UK, with By the Ferry a Phoenix, who wins £25.

Fiona said: “Quite an achievement this, a complex idea and well sustained, atmospheric and evocative. There are enough surprises to keep your attention to the last word, and the sense of location is introduced very subtly, so that it grows around you, appealing to the senses in an accomplished way. Great title, too.”

Commended were Bodicea Greene, from Gidea Park, Essex in the UK, with Get Yourself Right, and Nick Capstick, from Swindon, in the UK, with Acid Drops.

Fiona said: “Get Yourself Right is a variation on a well-tried theme but it is done so well. Understatement is a great talent, especially when applied to dramatic subject matter, and this frees the reader to respond fully. Acid Drops is a difficult subject very well done. The (oh my god- no!)‚ ending is superb. Both of these accomplish the very difficult task of containing in a short story a satisfying sequence of thought and events, and a consistency of tone and style which is utterly believable.”

Well done to our winners. The current competition closes on February 29 and we are already getting some pretty impressive entries.

John Dean

We are absolutely delighted to announce that The Northern Echo, the regional morning newspaper for the North-East of England, is to support our competition.

The newspaper, which has a long track record of supporting creative writing, has agreed to back us by creating a page about the competition on its website.

Its readers can now go to www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/leisure/books/shortstory to find out more. Electronic entries will still be made through this site, though.

You may wish to take a look at the rest of their site. If you go to www.thenorthernecho.co.uk you’ll find everything from news and sport to features and leisure items.

Our relationship with The Northern Echo has long been a good one and we are delighted that it is to continue.

John Dean

Well, we are under way with February’s competition and it is the UK making the early running. All our entries so far are from writers based in Great Britain, and already we have seen some terrific writing.

Our judge, Fiona Cooper, is working her way through the entries for January’s competition and says that she is impressed with the standard for that as well. We hope to make an announcement on winners in a few days.

It is perhaps a good time to say something about competitions, because they really are important in the scheme of things.

Short story competitions came about for many reasons but driving most of them - including ours - was the realisation that unless something was done to save the short story, it would disappear.

The problem was that many publishers had turned their back on short stories and the only people really encouraging them in any great number over recent times have been a few enlightened publishers, magazines and competitions. Thanks to that rearguard action, there are signs that more and more publishers are now returning to the genre.

But the battle is not won yet and we are certainly grateful for all the support were are receiving from people who share our vision. For instance, one of the latest is the excellent firstwriter site. Well worth visiting it at www.firstwriter.com

As mentioned in previous blogs, Certys underwrites all the costs of this competition and we are dependent on support from as many people as possible.

If you know of any organisations who wish to sponsor a site like ours, or advertise on it, then by all means do get in touch with me at john.dean@certys.co.uk

Keep writing!

John Dean