Prize honours North East writer

A prize of £500 is to be awarded to the winner of a short story competition set up to commemorate the work of the North-East writer David Toulmin and to encourage further creative activity.

A short story of up to 4,000 words in length should be submitted by 31 March 2009 to Dr Ian Russell at the address given below. Hard copy, size A4, should be sent in addition to an electronic submission in MS Word. The story should be concerned with some aspect of life in North-East Scotland, and may be written in Scots (including Doric) or English, or a mixture of the two. The competition is open to all amateur writers* over the age of 16. The award will be made at the WORD Festival at the University of Aberdeen, 13-17 May 2009, and the winning story will be published in the Leopard Magazine.

The judges will be Lindy Cheyne, Paul Dukes, Norman Harper, and Leslie Wheeler.

For further information about the competition and eligibility, as well as submissions, contact Dr Ian Russell, Director, The Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen, MacRobert Building, King’s College, Aberdeen AB24 5UA. Tel: 01224-272996. email: elphinstone@abdn.ac.uk