ONE of the country’s leading writers and patron of Minehead Literary Festival Tessaa Hadley was the judge of this year’s adults’ short story competition.  

And, from a shortlist of seven, she named John Barnes as the winner for his interpretation of the competition’s title The Secret.

In second place was Susan Mitchinson with The Woman and the Sea while Malcolm Welshman’s Under The Greenwood Tree came third.

Tessaa said: “What a rich crop of stories this year! I know everybody says this, but it really was very difficult to choose a shortlist and three winners.”

In John’s story, a man is accidentally privileged to witness a secret ceremony among the stags on Exmoor, where they gather to rub off their antlers at the end of the season.  

“This was a serious story, with none of the poised irony or humour which I loved in others,” said Tessa.

“But its tone was just right for the material, the writing was beautifully spare and unsentimental, the whole was carried off with such a sure touch, such vivid and moving description.  I couldn’t shake its images from my mind afterwards.” .

Susan’s story was about a woman who is appalledto find herself developing scaly nodules between her toes, and turns eventually into a mermaid.  

“Again here the tone was very nicely judged, balancing comedy with something wistful and poignant.  And it was so elegantly put together, with great economy,” said Tessaa.

About Malcolm’s story, set in the future, Tessa said: “I’m not always mad about sci-fi stories, but this felt like an excitingly original use of the genre.  

“It was so succinctly put together – this future world was conveyed very economically to the reader.  And it was an elegant and striking idea – that a couple excavating an ancient library from the 21st century had their eyes opened to a vanished world of feeling.”

The four others shortlisted were:

* Nikki Copleston – in her story, a woman feels a lifelong guilt for the death of a boy who never really existed: “The tone in this one was just right: light, but with a touch of unease … ingenious plot-making - just lightly twisted, not overwrought.”

* Dot Lupo - an innocent narrator insists there are no secrets in their street, and then describes the neighbours in such a way so that the reader sees they are all up to something: “I relished the cleverly false naivety.”  

* Christine Human – Billowing Bloomers is set in the past on the west Somerset coast, where the "hobblers" competed for business, piloting the big ships in the estuary: “This writer knew how to manage a real story with a beginning, middle and end, and also convinced me with the fascinating authentic details of maritime practice.  I admired the authoritative detail.”

* Janet Howard - a girl’s whole childhood and young adulthood compressed inside the cooking she does with her grandmother: “Structurally very satisfying, this had emotional sweetness without being cloying.” ? 

Tessa said: “Sometimes comparing one of these stories with another just was like comparing chalk with cheese. How to weigh what’s funny and sour, for instance, against what’s mournful and sweet?”

The entries were coded for anonymity and the organisers hope to present the prizes in “a suitably celebratory way”. Meanwhile, it is planned to publish the winning entries on the festival website, subject to the authors’ permission.