We are delighted to announce our two shortlists for the prestigious H G Wells Short Story Competition 2021 on the theme “Mask”.

We have again received a really high number of entries this year, with many excellent quality stories from talented writers across the world!

The judges have selected the following stories for the 2021 shortlists (listed below in alphabetical order).

Shortlist for Junior Competition, The Margaret and Reg Turnill Prize of £1,000

• Soup For Starters – Jessica Brien (Ireland)
• Masquerade – Clara Chiu (USA)
• Bitter Plums – Sophia Felsinger (Austria)
• The Shopkeeper – Sarah Holm (Portugal)
• The Collector’s Shop – Mia Ramage (UK)
• The Suitor – Sumedha Sengupta (India)
• Swamp Thing – Sarah-Kate Simons (New Zealand)
• Mask – Nathan Steward (UK)
• Fear Of The Mask – Weiyen Tan (UK)

Shortlist for the Senior Competition, The Wells Prize of £500

• The Trojan Horse – Houssam Alissa (UK)
• An Ephemeral Quality – Fija Callaghan (Ireland)
• The Domino Effect – Peter Collins (UK)
• Fun And Games – Simha Haddad (USA)
• Dreams Of Impossible Cowslips – Katherine Haynes (UK)
• We, The Dead – E.S. Heffernan (USA)
• Masks Of Respectability – Tony Hunter-Craig (Spain)
• The Other Face – Bethany Ridley-Duff (UK)
• Ham, Egg And Chips – Lee Stoddart (UK)
• The Beauty Parlour – Sarah Townend (UK)
• The Enemy Next Door – Dan Vanvick (USA)
• Area 37 – Stephen Webb (UK)

Many congratulations to all our shortlisted writers. We look forward to meeting many of you at the online Awards Ceremony on Sunday 21st November 2021 – further details will be emailed to shortlisted authors soon.

Commiserations to those that haven’t made it on this occasion: judging is always a difficult process, especially with so many excellent entries. There is always next year!