CHRIS MAKES IT TO THE FINAL 24!

The competition, run by The Poetry Society, is one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for a single unpublished poem. The 2025 competition is now open, judged by Denise Saul, Ian Duhig and Susannah Dickey.

Prizes: £5,000 first prize, £3,000 second prize, £2,000 third prize, £500 commended. Entry fee: £8 first poem & £6 subsequent poems per submission. 

Poetry Society members are entitled to a free second poem.

Closes: 11.59pm GMT 31st October 2025

Please consult the Rules and FAQs or email: support@poetrysociety.org.uk 

It's many congratulations to Joanna Bawa who has won Writer's Block 2024 with her brilliant story DeathDefy. 

The Writers Block Challenge was set by Creative Writer Author, Linda Spurr, who chose the theme: Tidying Up.

The results were announced at our face-to-face meeting at Quakers Hall on 4 November and Joanna was joined on the podium by Andrea Neidle (2nd place) and Mike Lansdown (3rd place).

To read all 14 entries and to find our more about the competition, please CLICK HERE.

Watford Writers' very own Chris McDermott returned to the stage at the Short + Sweet Festival 2024 which took place at The Billericay Theatre in Essex, between 6 June and 22 June. 

The biggest little play festival in the world, Short+Sweet is a variety of 10-minute plays delighting tastebuds and presenting talented actors, writers and directors showcasing their skills and bringing a wonderful season of short theatre. 

Chris was involved in three plays this year, one of which he wrote himself and was nominated for a Best Script Award - the play being Escaping from the Echoes. 

At the Gala Night on 22 June, we are pleased to confirm that Chris was runner-up in a highly competitive field of scripts and our sincere congratulations to Chris for his undoubted achievement. His certificate can be viewed left.

We await to see what Chris has in store for next year!

The full results from Short + Sweet were:

SCRIPT 

Winner- Carol Hayes – Autonomous the Tank Engine

Runners up 

Justin Cartledge - The Birds that Flutter the Stars in the Hatters Head

Chris McDermot – Escaping the Echoes

Lisa Mathews – High Flyers

Jacquee Storozinski -Toll - The Visitor

DIRECTOR

Winner - Jeremy Battersby - Autonomous the Tank Engine

Runner up - Amy Clayton – The Great Hunt

PERFORMANCE

Winner - Jonathan Peters - Autonomous the Tank Engine

Runner up - Justin Cartledge - The Birds that Flutter the Stars in the Hatters Head

JUDGES CHOICE

Winner – The Birds that Flutter the Stars in the Hatters Head

Runner up - The Visitor 

PEOPLES CHOICE

Winner – Is Our Time Up Yet? 

Runner Up - The Great Hunt

Festival Directors award – Amy Clayton

Hazel Lucas – festival director. 

Congratulations to Melville, who has the interest of an American Theatre company, Dean Productions, to produce a Podcast of his play, The Distressed Table,

The play has been recently staged at London's Barons Court Theatre, London.

The Podcast is to be released early next year, as part of their '2025 Premiere The Play' season.

This year, the Farnham Literary Festival's Flash Fiction competition attracted 200 stories from various parts of the world - a number from professional writers. 

Watford Writers' very own Chris McDermott has received the news that his first entry, When Pink Overcomes Red, was successfully placed in the Top 10 (although was not the winner or runner-up). This story was previously written for the Watford LBGTQ+ event organised by Alex Williams - without that particular event, Chris would not have written the piece.

Chris's second story, The Sun King, was placed within the top 30.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LOGO (left) for all the details.

Many congratulation Chris.

Following on from Liz's first place in November's Flash Fiction  competition, Liz's winning piece, Angel of the North, has now featured in a blog by university lecturer, researcher and writer Anne Whitehead.

Anne is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University.

Her research focuses on how we tell the stories of experiences that are difficult to narrate. Anne's early work looked at how contemporary fiction represents traumatic histories. She has also looked at the potential of literature to help us better understand experiences of illness and pain. Anne's

recent work focuses on grief, particularly those experiences of loss that are culturally sensitive or overlooked.

Hearing about Anne's latest project on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, Liz was inspired to write Angel of the North, of which Anne describes in her blog as, '...a beautiful piece which constitutes its own eloquent and moving response to the Angel.'

Well done our Liz!

Click Here for Anne's blog 

Watford Writers went on the road again, this time appearing at The Random Cafe's Great Big Green Day held on Saturday 17 June 2023.  A number of group members read poems, monologues and even performed a special "super hero" play in honour of Watford's very own Green Grandma, Jo Morgan.

There were contributions from David Elliott, Mike Lansdown, Chris McDermott, Jo Morgan, Andrea Neidle, Helen Nicell, Pat Simpson, Louise and Ian Welland.

The Random Cafe is a splendid green community project located in the heart of the Meridian estate, Watford. RANDOM CAFE: 24a Garsmouth Way, Watford WD25 9DR

CLICK HERE for Random Cafe website

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF WATFORD WRITERS AT THE RANDOM CAFE

Thanks you to Jo and all the volunteers at the Random Cafe for a splendid day. 

Watford Writers very own Jan Rees celebrates our wonderful town with her specially written prose. To see this excellent presentation and hear Jan's superb recital performance:

Please Click Here