2025 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition shortlist announced

The shortlist for the prestigious Rhys Davies National Short Story Competition 2025 has been announced.

The award recognises the very best unpublished short stories in English in any style and on any subject up to a maximum of 5,000 words by writers aged 18 or over who were born in Wales, have lived in Wales for two years or more, or are currently living in Wales.

Originally established in 1991, there have been 12 Rhys Davies Short Story Award contests to date, and in 2021 the competition was relaunched by Swansea University’s Cultural Institute on behalf of The Rhys Davies Trust and in association with Parthian Books.

The 2025 shortlist:

At Friday Club by Ralph Bolland
Colonial Gifts by Alan Bryant
Swim by Miranda Davies
Politics by Jonathan Edwards
Activity Week by Sybilla Harvey
Fern Baby by Natalie Ann Holborow
Fat Slug Lady by Sian Hughes
Dead Friend’s Coat by Kate Lockwood Jefford
The Man on the Train by Keza O’Neill
Last Words by Jonathan Page
The Readers by Jonathan Page
Fruits of Our Labour by Tess Powell

The overall winner will receive £1,000 and will have their winning entry featured in The Rhys Davies Short Story Award Anthology 2025, to be published by Parthian Books in October 2025.

All 12 stories will be published in the 2025 anthology, edited by Dr Elaine Canning, Director of Swansea University’s Cultural Institute. The collection will also include an introduction by acclaimed fiction writer and guest judge Cynan Jones. The shortlisted writers will also receive £100.

Uncertain world

Cynan Jones said: “Reading through this year’s entries, I was really struck by the trepidation, either deep or overt, that seemed to shadow many of the stories. A shared sense across the entries of writing into an uncertain world.

“The twelve pieces chosen as finalists deal with this trepidation in different ways, sometimes anarchic, sometimes poignant, brutal, thoughtful. Even with hope and subversive delight. But in each case with ambition in the narrative, and skill in the words themselves.

“I was looking for memorable stories. For stories that stayed in the mind. And after judging the award, one thing is clear. If there is trepidation, Wales has the writers to tackle it. These are stand-out examples of how impactful a short story can be.”

Dr Canning, editor of the anthology, said: “The stories which feature on the 2025 Rhys Davies Competition shortlist transfer the reader across place and time, highlighting environmental challenges, our relationship with the natural world and the impact of new, unexpected worlds.

“These are compelling, original stories about longing, friendship, family, fragility and love. It is an honour to include the work of the finalists in a special anthology dedicated to this Competition – many congratulations to them all.”

Born in Blaenclydach in the Rhondda in 1901, Rhys Davies was among the most dedicated, prolific, and accomplished of Welsh prose-writers in English. He wrote, in all, more than 100 stories, 20 novels, three novellas, two topographical books about Wales, two plays, and an autobiography.

The winner will be announced in September 2025, and the anthology will be launched on Thursday 23 October at Waterstones Swansea, featuring the finalists and overall winner, editor Elaine Canning, guest judge Cynan Jones, and Parthian Director, Richard Davies.