June 1
We're please to announce that Feedback Month is now open. If you send us a draft of your story, one of our experienced editors will read through it and send you feedback - what works well, and also some changes you may wish to consider. We have two categories: Open (maximum 1500 words) and Short (maximum 500 words). Each person may send us up to one story draft per category.
When we first launched the competition ten years ago, it was 'an experiment' by a number of people involved in Christian writing, publishing and communication who wondered 'what would happen if we asked ordinary people to share their stories of faith'. The result was a collection of 'stories about quite ordinary things, people and events that end up making an extraordinary difference when the grace of God is involved.' In the preface to the 2016 anthology, A Chicken can Make a Difference and other stories of life, Lutheran pastor Dr Mark Worthing and Creative Writing lecturer Dr James Cooper wrote:
As entries began coming in we soon discovered what a diverse range of people, writing styles and faith experiences were out there. There was no typical story, and while many of the writers may have seen themselves as ordinary, the tales they told were anything but. We read with interest extraordinary accounts of conversion, answers to prayer, life-changing adventures, and of God’s grace in dealing with illness and loss ...
Because of the richness and diversity of the entries, both judges and editors found it challenging to pick prize winners, and also to decide which stories to include in the anthology. While we cannot publish all the stories we receive, we can give feedback to all who send us their story drafts. Whether or not your story is selected for publication, we hope that the exercise of writing and refining your story will in itself be a worthwhile and encouraging exercise. (In truth, receiving feedback is so valuable that serious writers are often part of writing groups because they value input from their peers.)
To take advantage of Feedback Month, please send us your story drafts by 30 June. You can do this by uploading your story drafts here. And finally, here's Margot Leggett, a first-time entrant to the competition last year, who also won a prize for her story Patting a Calf. She shares what it was like to enter stories in the competition last year, and also how Feedback Month was valuable to her.
You can read Margot's story and many more faith stories in our 2024 anthology, Talking Trees and other stories of life.
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