Costa Short Story Award

26 January 2014

The Costa panel has selected the short list of authors to be entered into the final of the Costa Short Story Book Award 2014.

Over 1400 authors have entered short stories for the award and the panel has short listed six. Interestingly, the submissions are judged anonymously yet, for the second year in a row, the writers Angela Readman and Sheila Llewellyn have both been selected.

Sheila Llewellyn was selected for her story The Papakh Hat, which is set during the Iranian revolution, and follows the lives of two men who are forced to make life-changing decisions about their future together. Angela Readman's entry this year was the short story The Keeper of the Jackalopes which is about a girl, her father, a Jackalope and survival.

Both writers had also been shortlisted for the 2012 award out of the 1800 other stories which were also judged anonymously.

"The general level of entries this year was pleasingly high, and presented us with a wide variety of themes, voices and settings," said novelist and journalist judge Fanny Blake, "These stories represent the best of those. We chose six strong voices that draw the reader into six very different worlds with writing that is concise, effective and touches the heart."

The winner of the short story prize does not go forward with the other Costa category winners – first novel, novel, biography, poetry and children's book – to compete for the overall book of the year award. Blake was joined on the judging panel by director of the National Academy of Writing Richard Beard, author Victoria Hislop and agent Simon Trewin.

We'll keep you posted with the result when the winner is finally announced.