The Glencairn Glass announces the winners of
its inaugural short story competition
a bottle and a glass of whiskey on a black background with space for text
The world’s favourite whisky glass – The Glencairn Glass – has been celebrating Scottish crime writing talent over the past two years as headline sponsor of the prestigious McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland Debut crime-writing prizes.
To support this creative collaboration, The Glencairn Glass launched its first very own crime short story competition, inviting all budding crime writers to curate their stories around the theme: ‘A Crystal-Clear Crime’ in no more than 2000 words. The competition has been in partnership with Scottish Field Magazine and Bloody Scotland.
The winner and runners up were selected by a panel of three judges including Deborah Masson, 2020 winner of the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Novel of the Year with her book ‘Hold Your Tongue’ and Peter Ranscombe, Scottish Field’s drinks columnist and author of the historical thriller ‘Hare’, along with Glencairn’s marketing director Gordon Brown who is also an author, writing under the name Morgan Cry.
The competition attracted entries from all over the world and the judges can now reveal the winner and two runners up as follows:
Winner: (£1000 prize)
Halmeoni’s Wisdom – a dark tale of human trafficking, illegal trade and a desire for freedom. Written by Brid Cummings, a fiction writer and occupational therapist, based in South Australia.
Brid said; “When I heard I’d won the Glencairn Glass crime short story competition, I was absolutely delighted. With such an intriguing theme, I enjoyed the challenge of writing the story, but had no expectation of winning. The news has given me a huge confidence boost and the encouragement to complete my psychological suspense novel. Many thanks to Glencairn Crystal and the Bloody Scotland team for this fantastic opportunity.”
Runners up: (£250 prize for each runner up)
Teardrops – a story about a confession to murder and a need for retribution, born of revenge. Written by Jennifer Harvey, a Scottish author based in Denmark.
Jennifer said: “I am delighted to be a runner-up in the Glencairn Crystal crime short story competition. Many thanks to the judges for selecting my story ‘Teardrops’. I will raise a glass to the winners and all the entrants in celebration. Cheers!”
Auld Bride – a story about a lost soul returning to the island of her birth, where more than a new job awaits her. Written by Judith O’Reilly, author and former political producer with BBC and ITN and correspondent with The Sunday Times, based in Northumberland. Judith was also a ‘Crime in the Spotlighter’ at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2019.
Judith commented: “I’m thrilled to be named as a runner up in this great crime writing short story competition run by Glencairn Glass. The story itself is a cross between The Wicker Man and Kinky Boots, with a flash of Whisky Galore thrown in for good measure. I really wanted to add a touch of the supernatural to a story about whisky and the comeback of a ghost distillery. Whisky with all its history and traditions is a very evocative thing to write about. I hope readers enjoy it.”
Judges’ comments:
Describing the winning story Halmeoni’s Wisdom by Brid Cummings, Peter Ranscombe commented: “I was gripped from the excellent start all the way through to the satisfying finish”. Peter selected Teardrops by Jennifer Harvey because; “the theme was very well chosen – a really ‘of-the moment’ story. The structure was interesting with a suitably unsettling ending too”. He described Auld Bride by Judith O’Reilly as: “an old-fashioned blend of suspense and mystery that led up to a chilling climax”.
Deborah Masson said: “Halmeoni’s Wisdom was unique. The imagery was expertly drawn and it had a satisfying end with redemption realised. Teardrops was a fascinating tale, and an all too real danger in today’s modern world. Then in Auld Bride – masterful descriptive writing is displayed in setting the scene in this tale and a surprise twist brings not only past and present together, but also good and evil.”
Glencairn’s marketing director Gordon Brown, who is also a founding director of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival and has written eight crime novels with his latest, ‘Thirty-One Bones’, under the pseudonym Morgan Cry said: “The quality of entries was outstanding. With entries from all over the planet it demonstrates the continuing fascination with crime writing. This is why Glencairn is delighted to continue their sponsorship of both the McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland debut crime prizes which will be announced at this year’s Bloody Scotland Festival in September.
Prizes and where to read the stories:
Three prizes are awarded to the winning authors: the first prize winner, Brid Cummings, receives £1000, whilst the two runners up, Jennifer Harvey and Judith O’Reilly, each receive £250. All three winners also receive a set of six bespoke engraved Glencairn Glasses. The overall winning entry will be published in the May issue of Scottish Field Magazine (on shelf Friday 8th April). The runners’ up stories will also be published from 8th April online on Scottish Field Magazine’s website (www.scottishfield.co.uk).
You will also be able to read the winning story and the runners up stories on the Glencairn Glass website: www.whiskyglass.com from Monday 11th April.
Finally, for further information about this year’s McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland Debut crime-writing prizes, as well as the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival taking place in Stirling, Scotland, for four days from the 15th to 18th September, please visit www.bloodyscotland.com.
About Glencairn Crystal:
The Glencairn Glass, created in 2000 is the world’s favourite whisky glass. Glencairn Crystal now make over 4 million Glencairn Glasses per year, across hundreds of brands, distributed to over 140 countries worldwide.
About the winning authors:
Winner: Brid Cummings (www.bridcummings.com)
Brid has had work published in the UK, Ireland, and Australia, including short stories in the Big Issue Fiction Edition and the Bath Short Story Anthology. She has been a runner up in the Mslexia Short Story Competition, The Moth Short Story Prize and the Australian Sisters in Crime Short Story Awards.
When not writing crime stories, Brid Cummings works as an Occupational Therapist in South Australia (reputed to be the murder capital of Australia!)
Runner Up: Jennifer Harvey (www.jenharvey.net)
Jennifer Harvey is a Scottish writer now living in Denmark.
She is the author of three novels. ‘Someone Else’s Daughter’, ‘All The Lies We Told’ and ‘The Vanishing Child’. Her short fiction has appeared in various publications and anthologies in the US and the UK, including: Carve, Folio, The Lonely Crowd, New Writing Scotland, and Best Small Fictions.
She has been shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Margery Allingham Prize, the Bristol Prize, the Bridport Prize and placed 3rd in the University of Sunderland Short Story Award. When not writing, she can be found wandering along the seashore dreaming up new stories.
Runner Up: Judith O’Reilly (www.judithoreilly.com)
Judith O’Reilly is the author of the Michael North series of action adventure thrillers including Killing State and Curse the Day. Sleep When You’re Dead is about a doomsday cult (also living on a remote Scottish island) and is published later this year.
Judith has previously featured in Bloody Scotland’s Crime in the Spotlight initiative to promote new crime writers. Her work was described by David Baldacci as ‘A sheer delight” and Lee Child as “Terrific.” Judith has also written two memoirs, Wife in the North and A Year of Doing Good. Wife in the North was a UK and German bestseller, a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and serialised in the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph. She’s a former journalist with the Sunday Times, BBC 2’s Newsnight and Channel 4 News. She lives in Durham and is the founder member of the NCS, the Northern Crime Writers’ Syndicate.
