The Doctor and the Short Stories

This year's College short story competition has been won by Josh Harrison for his story 'Breakfast'. Josh is in his third year at the college and his third year as a member of the College's Creative Writing group too! His story plays imaginative games with the names of breakfast cereals ('Defeatabix' is a cereal for the depressed, while 'Fearios' will scare you senseless) whilst revealing the sad story of a man whose wife has lately divorced him.

The Judge, Dr Neil McCaw from the University of Winchester, praised Josh for his fresh and perceptive ways of re-imagining the world, as well as for his clever humour.

Second place went to Sam Jeffery for 'Lone Soldier', a moving piece about a soldier and the child he leaves behind. Dr McCaw praised it for its poignancy and for Sam's feel for the rhythms of language. Third was Laura Bailey for 'My Awakening', a coming-out story that Dr McCaw thought was brave and intense. Special Commendations were also given to Keri Evans for 'Riding on Angels' Wings' and to Elly Greenway for 'Run'.

This year represented another great one for the competition: there were more entrants than ever before, and Dr McCaw made a point of saying how good the overall standard of the stories was and how hard his decision had been.

Mark Bramwell, Totton College Principal said, “I thought that this was a very refreshing competition. There were also more students entering than ever before and the quality reached a new high standard. The students demonstrated a lively, creative attitude, something modern examination courses do not always promote”

^{Photo: Left to right: Josh Harrison, Brian Evans-Jones, (Totton College English department), Dr McCaw, (Winchester University), Mark Bramwell, Totton College Principal, Elly Greenway, Samantha Jeffery and Laura Bailey.}