From Alan Thatcher: First of all I would like to thank Ted Gross at Daily Squash Report and Steve Cubbins at Squashsite for hosting the competition.
It was a real pleasure to read all of the submissions as they arrived, cloaked in anonymity.
Some
were obviously written by individuals with squash flowing through their
veins. Other offerings were more esoteric. I enjoyed all of them.
With
some, I refused to allow a few spelling mistakes to spoil a good read.
Some featured the glorious quality of brevity. Others went off at
tangents that made the plot lines a little difficult to follow.
In the end I settled for a submission that had two outstanding qualities. It was superbly written and it made me laugh.
Comedy writing is not easy, but 'The Unpublished Squash Chronicles' fully delivered.
It was an outstanding piece of writing and thoroughly deserved to win.
Alan is a UK journalist, tournament promoter and joint founder of World Squash Day.
From Ivy Pochoda: It
was such a pleasure having the opportunity to judge this year's
competition. One of the greatest things about the short story is that
it's an elastic medium. Some of the best stories I've read are less
than a paragraph, some even a couple of sentences, while others are
nearly novellas. They say, in writing as elsewhere, that imitation is
the sincerest form of flattery. But more than that, being able to
imitate a great writer without resorting to mockery is a remarkable
skill. This year's winner demonstrates that skill, as well as a real
knack for comedy and prose style which landed him in the winner's
circle.
Ivy is a Los Angeles-based writer whose latest novel, 'Visitation Street', was released in July.
