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QuietManDave Prize 2022 shortlist revealed

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Flourishing new and budding writers are celebrated for their short-form writing in the 2022 QuietManDave Prize

The 2022 QuietManDave Prize shortlist is now out showcasing the talented entrant to the prize honouring the much-loved critic, Dave Murray.

Run by the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Met, with the Manchester School of Theatre, this year’s prize has received more than 500 entries. The judges have now selected their shortlist of nine Flash Fiction and nine Flash Nonfiction entries.

Running every two years, there is a top prize of £1,000, plus runner up prizes, for Flash Fiction and Flash Nonfiction categories. Each finalist submitted a short-form piece under 500 words for consideration, with no restriction on style or topic.

The prize is a commemoration and recognition of Dave Murray’s passions and achievements in writing, and as a critic.

Founded and funded by Murray’s family, his wife Vanda Murray OBE, said this about the prize, “Dave’s legacy is to encourage and inspire new writers and to celebrate short-form writing and the extraordinary impact it can make. 

“We, his family, know he would have been thrilled with the number of entries and the quality of the writing. Congratulations to all the short-listed writers and thank you to all who entered and to everyone supporting the QuietManDave prize.”

Dr Catherine Wilcox, Academic Director of the Manchester Writing School, said: “The QuietManDave Prize is a wonderful and generous gift of a competition. It celebrates a life well-lived by inviting a whole new community of writers to offer glimpses into their lives and imaginations.”

The shortlist was selected by a panel of judges which was chaired by Shane Kinghorn, who is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Contemporary Performance at Manchester Metropolitan and has previously worked in London as director and dramaturg, alongside Syrian born author Dima Alzayat, and short story writer, essayist and poet, Kate Feld.

All of the shortlisted pieces and profiles of the finalists can be read in full for the Flash Fiction and Flash Non-Fiction categories.

The winners of the 2022 QuietManDave Prize will be announced at an award ceremony hosted at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Grosvenor East building on Thursday 27 October.

For tickets visit eventbrite.

About the author / 

Samuel Ethan Jolly

Born and raised in Manchester (UK), Samuel grew up surrounded by markers of the Industrial Revolution: flats carved out of old Workhouses, murky canals, and grand chimneys. The Peaks and Lakes, of Derbyshire and Cumbria are all added to Samuel's mixed rural and urban experience of the North. He is an avid reader, writer, photographer, and general enjoyer of fantasy, sci-fi, history and many more.

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