Tom Vowler wins the VS Pritchett Short Story Prize 2024
This Prize for the best unpublished short story of the year was founded by the Royal Society of Literature at the beginning of the year 2000. It was initiated to commemorate the centenary of an author widely regarded as the finest English short-story writer of the 20th century. Also, to preserve a tradition encompassing Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett’s warmth of feeling and mastery of narrative.
Tom Vowler is an published author who has written articles for The Totnes Pulse. He received his award at the ALCS Annual Awards ceremony in London on 22 February. This is the first time the prize has been presented as part of the ALCS Awards.
The first prize wins £1000 and the story is published in Prospect Magazine.
Thrilled
Tom said “I’m thrilled to win such a prestigious prize.’
On picking up his award he announced “The short story is such a marginalised form”. He continued, “prizes like this bring it into the spotlight and it’s the most exciting of literary forms for me.”
Voyagers
Tom’s story, ‘Voyagers’ features two female astrophysicists on a psychedelic journey through love, illness and the universe. The prize had more than 1,000 entries and the judges called it “beautifully crafted, a sublime mix of romantic tension & studies of the cosmos.”
Judge Fred D’Aguiar described it as a story ‘with real intrigue and knowingness that makes compelling reading…It’s the erotics of science; desire mediated through a quest for knowledge; sex between two kindred souls as a metaphor for finding their bearings as people on a planet in the cosmos.‘
You can read Tom’s recent interview here and all here at the Pulse are delighted for him and offer hearty congratulations.
You can read ‘Voyagers’ here