As the dust settles on another hugely successful WORD weekend, the winners from the festival’s short story competitions have been announced.
Bill Robertson, from Banchory, landed the Toulmin Prize and a £500 cheque for his winning entry Beth's Birthday Sheen, a love story about two young people – John and Beth – who have grown up together in the Lumphanan area of Aberdeenshire.
John is a shoemaker while Beth is housekeeper to the Minister at the Manse. John's promise to make for Beth a pair of dancing shoes for her birthday is foiled with the outbreak of World War II when he is forced to leave his sweetheart and his much-loved Deeside.
The new competition was set up by the University of Aberdeen's Elphinstone Institute to commemorate the work of John Reid*, otherwise known as David Toulmin – one of the North-East's finest exponents of written Doric.
Bill, a Project Manager with Scottish Enterprise, will have his successful story published in the Leopard Magazine later this month.
Dr Ian Russell, Director of the Elphinstone Institute, said: "We are proud to have been able to honour John and his work in this way and delighted to see Bill take the inaugural Toulmin Prize. We received some very strong entries but Bill's tale really stood out and was a very worthy winner."
A younger generation of wordsmiths were also recognised during the WORD Festival.
Annette Murray, Aberdeen City Arts Education Co-ordinator, said: "We were really thrilled with the number of entries we had this year, and it was great to open out the competition to Aberdeenshire as well as City schools.
"The end result was yet another excellent batch of stories that were variously funny, dark and thought-provoking. The standard just keeps getting better and better each year."
The ten winners, who were asked to submit entries under the theme of Writing on the Wall, will have their stories collated in a new book published by Wordfirsts.
Oor Wey o' Spikin, the third short story anthology in the series, has recently been published featuring stories in Doric, French, German and even Mongolian, and is available from Heather Evans at href="mailto:hevans@aberdeencity.gov.uk">hevans@aberdeencity.gov.uk</a> or by calling 01224 346 361.
The 2008 winners are as follows:
Just Another Name by Rebecca Finnie, age 14 (Northfield Academy); The Blood on the Wall by Nick Cronin, age 14 (Westhill Academy); Silence by Rowan Flint, age 13 (Meldrum Academy); Written on the Walls by Paul Butcher, age 17 (Robert Gordon's College); The Mirror's Secret by Bryony Harrower, age 15 (Robert Gordon's College); The Writing on the Wall by Hannah Esson, age 15 (Portlethen Academy); The Writing's on the Wall by Kenzey McAdams, age 15 (Bankhead Academy); The Inmate by Euan West, age 16 (Aberdeen Grammar School ); The Writing on the Wall by Rachel McLullich, age 13 (Albyn School); Sticks and Stones by Evie Watson-Brown, age 12 (Mackie Academy).
Around 11, 000 people attended WORD 08 readings, concerts, art exhibitions and film screenings in the grounds of the University of Aberdeen and at venues across the Granite City from May 9-11.
The festival featured Scottish literary luminaries such as Alasdair Gray, James Kelman and Janice Galloway; Marvel comic book writer Mark Millar; household names Hardeep Singh-Kohli and Willie Miller; and folk-rock star King Creosote.