AN author from Bisley has claimed second place in a prestigious competition for her short story named Confirmation Class.

Joanna Campbell won £500 for her story in the Bridport Prize Flash Fiction competition.

There were nearly 1,400 entries in the co petition and the winners were chosen by Flash Fiction judge Kit de Waal.

Flash Fiction is the art of writing very short stories of 250 words or fewer and is very challenging.

Joanna has seen plenty of success in her career so far having had her novel, Tying Down The Lion, published by Brick Lane in 2015.

She also had a short story collection named, When Planets Slip Their Tracks, published by Ink Tears in 2016.

Joanna’s short stories and flash fiction have also appeared in all kinds of anthologies and literary magazines.

Her short story, ‘Upshots’, won The London Short Story Prize in 2015 and her novella, A Safer Way to Fall, was a runner-up in The 2017 Bath Flash Fiction Novella-in-Flash Award.

The Bridport Prize based in Bridport, Dorset is one of the most prestigious open writing competitions in the English language with categories in poetry, short stories, flash fiction and the Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award for a first novel, named in honour of the Prize’s founder.

Established in 1973 and with over £18,000 in prize money to be won annually, the competition attracts entries from across the globe. This year almost 10,000 writers from 74 countries competed for one of the 34 winner and highly commended awards.

The Bridport Prize is the flagship project of Bridport Arts Centre in Dorset and the competition raises vital funds for the Arts Centre’s work each year.

It is known as a tremendous literary stepping-stone – the first step in the careers of writers such as Kate Atkinson, Tobias Hill, Carol Ann Duffy and Helen Dunmore.

The competition is open to anyone as long as the submitted work is previously unpublished.

An anthology of this year’s winning entries, including Joanna’s short story, is available from the Bridport Prize website at www.bridportprize.org.uk.

The competition for 2018 will be launched early in the New Year with a closing date of May 31, 2018.

Entries can be made by post or online with full information on how to apply available on the website.