- Description
Description
Murray Edwards College Cambridge has announced the Daisy Goodwin Flash Fiction Prize for young women. The judges are looking to reward ‘intense, exciting, and original prose, inspired by the visual arts.’
Students are encouraged to write up to 250 words about Ines de Castro, a painting by Paula Rego in the Women’s Art Collection at the College. The entries can be based on the historical facts of the painting, the myth, or entrants can ‘let their imaginations run riot and be inspired by the artwork.’ The submissions will be judged by screenwriter and novelist Daisy Goodwin, Dr Leo Mellor, English Fellow at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, and BBC culture editor, Katie Razzall.
Dorothy Byrne, president of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, said: “The Women’s Art Collection inspires our students every day. It’s great to live in an art collection with hundreds of pictures all around us. This picture is one of the most popular; beautiful and bizarre.”
Goodwin said: “The flash fiction prize challenges young women to respond to a great painting by Paula Rego in no more than 250 words. Murray Edwards has the biggest and most exciting collection of art by women in Europe. It’s such a great place to study and I hope this prize will inspire young women to come and look at the art and the college.”
Razzall said: “As a child, Paula Rego loved being told stories. As an artist, each of her works tells a story, perhaps none more so than her haunting and macabre portrait of Ines de Castro. Rego’s art reflects the human condition in all its tenderness and beauty, cruelty and suffering. I’m looking forward to reading the competition stories inspired by this wonderful painting.”
There will be three categories of entry:
Young women who are currently studying (as either undergraduates or postgraduates) at the University of Cambridge. The winner of this category will win £500.
Young women in Years 12 and 13 currently studying A Levels or any other academic qualifications in a state-maintained school or college in the UK. In this category the prizes will be in book vouchers; the winner receiving £100, and the three runners-up will receive £50 each.
Young female students in Years 7 to 11 currently studying in a state-maintained school or college in the UK. In this category the prizes will be in book vouchers; the winner receiving £100, and the three runners-up will receive £50 each.
Submissions should be submitted by email to flashfiction@murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk and will be accepted from 9am on 24 April. The deadline is 21 July.
