In one hour and eight minutes, the Yeovil Literary Prize Competition will close; I have entered for several years, and I have done again this year. I’ve never had any success, but I’ll keep trying!
Yeovil is a town in south Somerset which I have never properly visited, only passed through. People have lived in the area which is now the town for thousands of years since palaeolithic times; there were tribes wearing bronze torques before the Romans came, it was a thriving town when Domesday was recorded but the Black death killed half the population. By the eighteenth century it was an important glove-making industry, but two hundred years later it’s defence industry made it a target for German bombers during the war and many people were killed.
The Literary Prize has been going for twelve years, and apparently attracts entries from across the world! There are four categories, novel, short story, poetry and writing without restrictions. I entered the novel competition, submitting a synopsis and the opening chapters of a novel – which had to be less than 15,000 words altogether. The results won’t be announced until September and the judge is Victoria Hobbs a literary agent….
I shall report back in September! In the meantime, back to work on my current novel!
Lois Elsden 