2023 Competition (closed)
We want to encourage writers to be inspired by the field of language evolution. This might include engaging with our questions, imagining situations in the past or the future, speculating on how language might have evolved in a different species, or thinking about the consequences of our methods and practice.
There will be awards for the best Welsh language story and English language story.
The first-prize winners will receive a cash prize of £400.
The winner and runners-up of the English Language will be considered for publication in Interzone and IZ Digital and will receive a 6-issue print subscription to the magazine.
The winner and runners-up of the Welsh Language competition will be considered for publication in Gwyllion magazine.
The Judges
Sue Burke is a translator and science fiction author. Her novels Semiosis and Interference imagine how sentient plants might communicate and how English might evolve in an intergalactic civilization. She has published short stories for Clarkesworld and Asimov's Science Fiction. She received the Alicia Gordon Award for Word Artistry in Translation and was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke award.
Dr. Gwyneth Lewis was Wales's National Poet from 2005-06, the first writer to be given the Welsh laureateship. She wrote the six-foot-high words on the front of Cardiff's Wales Millennium Centre, rumoured to be the largest poem in the world. Gwyneth has published nine books of poetry in Welsh and English, as well as documentaries, plays and non-fiction and novels. In 2006 she was Writer in Residence at the School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University and in 2013 was commissioned to write poems by CERN. Prizes include the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Prize, the Roland Mathias Poetry Award, the Society of Authors Cholmondeley Award, the Mental Health in the Media award, Y Goron (the Crown) at the National Eisteddfod, and a BAFTA Wales for Best Drama. She was a lecturer at Harvard University, Stanford University, Princeton University, and is an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.
Competition Rules
- Maximum length: 2500 words (excluding title, author name and any references to academic work that inspired the story).
- Closing date: September 30th 2023.
- Entry fee: Free.
- Language: Stories can be submitted in Welsh and English.
- Format: A4 paper, size 12 font double spaced. Put the title and your name at the start of the document, with any references to research that inspired the story. These elements don't count towards the word count.
- The author will maintain copyright.
Submission: Please email your story to Seán Roberts (RobertsS55@cardiff.ac.uk). You attach your story as a Word or pdf file, and also include a signed consent form (GDPR compliance so we can store your email address to contact you about the results).