An English literature and creative writing student from Stroud has won a short story competition based on the coronavirus pandemic.

Sarah Scotfield-Smith, who lives near Stroud, was inspired to write her winning story, The Queue, after she started drinking more alcohol at the start of lockdown.

Publishers AudioArcadia held their first short story writing competition on Covid-19, in addition to their usual general and science fiction themes.

Of all the submissions received by the competition, twenty winners from Australia, Malta, Spain, the UK and the USA were chosen by AudioArcadia’s two judges. The winners’ entries are now published in the recently published short story paperback and eBook.

Sarah, who studies as a mature student at the University of Gloucestershire, said: “I was inspired to write my winning story, The Queue, as a result of my own increased alcohol consumption during the early part of Lockdown,” says Sarah.

“My motivation for writing my other story, A Matter of Care, came from the disappointing way the government handled the Covid-19 crisis at the beginning of the outbreak.”

The book, called Lockdown Number One, is divided into three sections: the first part contains ten winning stories written about the lockdown, the second section is comprised of another ten winning stories which embrace a general theme, and the latter part of the book introduces an additional eight short stories which incorporates both genres.

AudioArcadia.com is currently holding their second competition, Lockdown # 2, details of which can be found at bit.ly/30nNaBz