One of the prize judges wrote the following when returning her results, and I think it is worth repeating.
She said:
“One of the hardest things about writing, for me, is showing other people my work. It’s exposing and daunting to open yourself up to the criticism (and even the praise) that may follow. So first of all I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who entered this competition. It’s brave of you to write, brave to put yourself out there and be willing to be judged by others.
…Another judge may have engaged more with other stories, may have picked other winners, because that’s another thing I’ve learned through my own writing: opinions vary, no one likes everything, different stories appeal to different people and you can’t please everyone. So continue to be brave – write what you’re passionate about, show your work to others when you feel able, take on board the criticism (and be honest with yourself in assessing it) but find the self-confidence to pursue the ideas and the writing style that are uniquely yours. You are your own best judge.”
The results were:
Short Story Prize
1st Prize: Sabrina Caflisch, The Family Tree
2nd Prize: Rrezarte Ismaili, This Feeling
3rd Prize: Sage Camille Nussbaum, Faded Sun
Shortlisted Entries (in no particular order)
Salome Bachmann, Christmas Crisis
Thiên-my, Just three days
Elyna Vagnières, Coming out of the closet
Alanis Waefler, The grief of a brother
Enya Fritschy, My Memory Update
Klara Stojiljkovic, A somber victory
Jil Hug, Trapeze Act
Poetry Prize*
1st Prize: Imè Esenam, Black coffee or To all the girls with hard to swallow names
2nd Prize: Imè Esenam, To be black, to be woman
3rd Prize: Sophie Feuz, Social Media
Shortlisted Entries (in no particular order)
Carla Honold, Lying
Lilly-May Stutz, The Pilot
Maude Décrind, Lavender and Lilac
Maria Thalian, Golden Strings
Noemi Roth, Since the Start
Sophie Schwarz, They can’t burn us all
Srishti Manivel, experiencing life
Andrina Heckendorn, Lost connection
Carla Honold, Rite of passage — a sonnet
We were in the unusual position of having the same poet claim first and second prize. All the poems and short stories were judged anonymously and this came to light only after the judge returned her selection. As another poet had two entries, we extended the shortlist to 12.
Prize Giving
The writers and poets spent a day at the Lili Centre in Luzern where the took part in writing workshops and were presented with their prizes and anthologies. Here is a selection of photos:
Swiss Creative Writing Prize 