Competition Rules

Beth McDonough first trained in Silversmithing at Glasgow School of Art. For many years she taught Art in several sectors, before returning to study at Dundee University.  Her poetry is widely published and anthologised and she  reviews frequently for DURA, and elsewhere. She co-wrote Handfast with Ruth Aylett, which considered family experiences of dementia (Aylett) and autism/learning difficulties (McDonough). Her solo pamphlet Lamping for Pickled Fish is published by 4Word. McDonough co-hosts Platform Poetry in Fife, and her site-specific poem has recently been installed on the Corbenic Poetry Path. She is to be found walking and foraging, and ideally swimming in the Tay. Her current writing project is still under wraps, but is tied in closely with one of those activities.

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In these challenging times, what do I expect of the poetry entered for the competition? I'm preparing to be moved, to read lines which question our circumstances, which grieve, which look at where we are in Scotland, and which wonder where we are as beings on this beleaguered planet. 
Equally, I think of Norman MacCaig's Balances:

     Because I see the world poisoned 
     by cant and brutal self-seeking, 
     must I be silent about 
     the useless waterlily, the dunnock's nest 
     in the hedgeback? 
     [...] 
     There are more meanings than those 
     in text books of economics 
     and a part of the worst slum 
     is the moon rising over it 
     and eyes weeping and 
     mouths laughing. 

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MacCaig always says it perfectly. The poem which will make me spin may well be a response to our environmental catastrophe, or to the tragedies of war, but it might also be the poem which makes me look again at the familiar, or the lines which jolt me, or crease me into a smile. Our first responsibility, as poets, is to language, and it is that attention and love which will draw me to your poem, whatever the subject matter. 

I look forward to reading your work. 

Moira been writing seriously for over twenty-five years. She began with poetry then moved to short stories and novels. Her debut novel The Incomers, published by Fledgling Press in 2012, was shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award and was a critical success. Over the next seven years Moira wrote her speculative fiction Sun Song Trilogy novels (also published by Fledgling Press), Ways of the Doomed, Wants of the Silent and Star of Hope. The novels are set in 2089 and reflect many issues we are living with today. Moira’s latest novel, Before Now: Memoir of a Toerag, is written entirely in the Fife dialect and was published by her own imprint, Trilleachan Press, in May 2021.

In September 2019 Moira’s short play A Handful Of Glaur was included as part of the UNESCO Cities of Literature Short Play Festival in New Zealand. In 2021 she became a writing fellow at Hawthornden Castle. During that same period, she was appointed the 2022 Scriever for The Federation of Writers (Scotland). Moira is also a prolific writer of short stories and poetry and has been published in a variety of anthologies and literary magazines. 
Moira is currently working on a hybrid project with her husband that includes nonfiction, prose, poetry, and photography. She lives in Stirling.

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What I’m looking for in your short stories is tight, well-paced, well-structured storytelling. Place the reader in the story. Let them know where they are. If you want to describe use one or two great words rather than a heap. Try and avoid using adverbs, search for the right verb, preferably one that is not obvious and that will move your story forward. 

Play with language. Beth McDonough and I are running workshops on Migration in Language where we encourage participants to delve into their history to find lost words. 
Make every word count including the title. Titles are important signals to the reader, they set up expectations for the story.

I’ll be looking for great characters. Spend time with them. I want to find the essence of the character. No cliches and no telling. It’s a cliché to say this but ‘show don’t tell’. 

Stick to the main story and don’t confuse or alienate the reader. Some stories can be so abstract and vague and leave the reader mystified. It doesn’t matter how clever you think your story is, the reader needs to understand it. The same goes for using foreign phrases. If you use foreign words, ensure the translation is somehow revealed to the reader. 

Finish the story with a satisfying conclusion. It is OK to leave the reader with an ending where they are expected to work it out for themselves if all the clues are there. 

On a technical point ensure your work meets the submissions guidelines, industry standard punctuation and format. No spelling mistakes. Your story can be the best in the world, but the judge can be turned off immediately with bad spelling and punctuation. Have fun. 

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Photograph: Colin Baird

Electra Rhodes is an archaeologist who lives between Cardiff and Hertfordshire. Her prose work has been widely published and anthologised, and has placed in more than eighty competitions, including winning last year’s flash prize with her story ‘Self/Less’. She’s currently working on an intersectional biography of the British landscape as one of The London Library’s ‘Emerging Writers’ for 2022/23, and her hybrid family/nature memoir, ‘My Family & Other Folklore’ was longlisted for the 2021 Nan Shepherd prize. Catch up with her on Twitter @electra_rhodes

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For some, any very short piece is a flash - a short short story, a prose poem, or something more experimental. It’s one of flash’s virtues that it includes all these in its generous circumference. 

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Of course, some judges look for particular things in a piece, and I’m no different. 

I like something to happen, I appreciate inventive word use, I’m thrilled if the title elevates and interacts with the piece, I like it if at least some of the story is happening off the page. I also like a more ‘traditional’ short short story - it might start late and finish early but it follows an arc. I even like something borrowing poetic elements. I’m eclectic in my tastes and am usually willing to be surprised.

So much for shape, plot, and style. What about subject matter? 

Judges often say there are recurring themes - ageing, love, loss - all the stuff our lives are made of. For sure, there are some tropes I don’t care for - white knights, women who are punished just for living their lives or exercising choice, disability as superpower - but apart from these I’m willing to be moved, to engage my feelings, and not just think about how the piece has worked technically. 

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Whatever you write, however you write about it, I hope you enjoy it. I love what flash can do with such economy. I can’t wait to read your words.
 

Bidh Marcas Mac an Tuairneir a’ sgrìobhadh bàrdachd sa Ghàidhlig, Bheurla is Pholàiris is bidh e a’ fuireach ann an Dùn Èideann. ’S e Polaris (Leamington Books, 2022) an co-chruinneachadh as ùire aige is tha e air a chuid bàrdachd fhoillseachadh ann an grunn irisean, le Irish Pages, New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland, Cabhsair is Northwords Now nam measg. Air geàrr-liosta Duais Gàidhlig Bhaile na h-Ùige ceithir tursan, choisinn e an duais ann an 2017. Choisinn e duais na bàrdachd aig a’ Mhòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail ann an 2020 is 2021. Na sgrìobhadair òran, cuideachd, tha e coimiseanan a choileanadh do Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, ColmCille 1500 is Ceòl is Craic. Dh’fhoillsich e a’ chiad chlàr aige, Speactram (Watercolour Music) ann an 2022. ’S e deasaiche na Gàidhlig a th’ ann am Marcas do Phoblachd nam Bàrd is Northwords Now. Tha Marcas air bòrd-stiùiridh Chomann Crann na h-Alba is Ionad Sgrìobhadairean na h-Alba is tha e na Chathraiche do Chaidreachas nan Sgrìobhaichean (Alba).

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Cho fhad 's a mhaireas a' Ghàidhlig mar chànan sgrìobhaidh is litreachais, tha mise coma ron t-seann Ghàidhlig, an ùr-Ghàidhlig, an nua-Ghàidhlig, a' Ghàidhlig Dhuitseach no a' Ghàidhlig Eile - dìreach sgrìobhaibh sa Ghàidhlig. Mar sin, na leig le dragh air gràmar no litreachadh ur dì-mhisneachadh - mas deagh dhàn is deagh sgeulachd a th' ann, 's e sin a bhios mise a' sireadh.

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A chionn 's gur e co=fharpais fhosgailte a tha seo, tha i mar sin fosgailte do sgrìobhadair sam bith, co-dhiù a bheil sibh air deich leabhraichean fhoillseachadh, corra pìos fhaicinn sa chlò no gun fheuchainn bàrdachd no grad-fhicsean roimhe. Tha an t-aon chothrom aig gach duine.

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Mar sin gabhaibh ris a' chothrom. Sgrìobhaibh dhomh na th' agaibh de bhriathrachas, de bheachdan is de sheallaidhean air an t-saoghal. Sgrìobhaibh dhomh na chòrdas ribh, na chuireas dragh oirbh is na chuireas car nur sròinean. Sgrìobhaibh dhomh na tha a dhìth do litreachas na Gàidhlig - rudan nach fhaca sinn roimhe. Sgrìobhaibh dhomh na tha nur cridheachan, na chumas sibh nur dùisg am marbhan na h-oidhche, na bheir gàire oirbh - na rudan air nach dèan sibh dearmad.

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Photograph: Simon Crawford / Crawford Visual

Ann MacKinnon writes poetry in both Scots and English. In 2014 a New Scottish Writers’ Award for writing in Scots, enabled her to complete a pamphlet called Nae Flooers, published by Tapsalteerie which was shortlisted for the Calum MacDonald Prize. Ann has four other pamphlets of poetry and has been published in The Herald, The Scotsman, North Words, Chapman and Lallans as well as having work in various anthologies such those published by Federation of Writers (Scotland), The Scottish Writers’ Centre and New Writing Scotland. In 2017 she was a runner up and in 2019, joint winner in the McCash Poetry Competition. In 2022, in collaboration with two other poets their anthology Modren Makars Yin has been published by Tapsalteerie. In 2022 she has been nominated for Language Writer of the Year in the Scots Language Awards run by Hands Up for Trad. Ann enjoys performing and doing workshops.

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Things I would like to see in Scots poems.

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As always in poetry I will be looking for a good theme and some use of poetic techniques such as simile and metaphor.  I would like to have a feeling of surprise at the end so that the reader goes away and thinks about what they have just read. The use of more than one sense in a poem always enhances it. 

As far as writing in Scots I would want to see a range and depth of Scots used. The poem should have a good rhythm but not necessarily rhyme as, sometimes, when people are writing in Scots, they force the rhyme a little. 

Finally, I would like to get a true sense of the writer’s feelings from the poem.