Meet the Winners - Competitions : Mslexia, a magazine for women's writing and women who write.

The women featured below are the most recent winners of our seven main competition categories. As such, they represent a snapshot of excellence as assessed by the individual criteria and idiosyncratic tastes of our latest group of expert judges.

Return to this page this time next year and you’ll be faced with a fresh batch of winners, selected by a completely different set of judges. So a piece of writing that just missed getting onto the shortlist in one year might well be sifted straight onto the ‘yes’ pile next time. (Though it never hurts to do just one more edit before resubmitting!)

One other thing worth bearing in mind as you browse? Check out the bios of our winning women. True, some have shelled out for writing courses, but others are self-taught, guided solely by their love of reading. What they all share is a passion for putting words – the right words – on the page.

Short Story

Orbit by Natalie Ann Holborow

Single poem

Owl fever by Joanne Key

Poetry Pamphlet

The Man Whose Brain Turned to Glass by Joanna Lowry

Novel (Adult)

The Little Book by Louise Watts

Flash Fiction

The transubstantiation of Eve by Alison Woodhouse

Children's & YA Novel Winner

She Lies in Shadow by Sarah Connell

Every year Mslexia helps Arvon reach an engaged, diverse and vibrant community of writers. It is without a doubt a core part of our advertising campaign.

Arvon Foundation

We have been advertising in Mslexia since 2014 and the service we receive is second-to-none. We have been able to introduce our postgraduate courses, short courses and annual writing competition to a highly targeted market and have benefitted hugely from the results.

Manchester Metropolitan University

Advertising with Mslexia is a rare delight. Easy, flexible – can I say “forgiving”? – and, with exactly the right audience for us, effective, too.

Faber Academy

A huge basket full of ‘thank you’s for all the Mslexia Max events − the best thing that ever happened to me as a writer. Not only did my novel pitch profit a lot from the thoughtful feedback you gave me during the ‘pitch surgeries,’ but one of the Max events changed my writers’ life.

Sophie van Llewyn, author of Bottled Goods

Mslexia was a tangible support to me in the anguished years of writing my first novel and continues to be a source of bristling writerly energy.

Diana Evans

The sort of friend you never outgrow - a source of tips, tricks and deeper inspiration.

Hilary Mantel

The place for poets to see and be seen.

Carol Ann Duffy

I remember when I was writing my first novel - what a lifeline Mslexia was.

Naomi Alderman

There is no other writing magazine on the market that comes anywhere close to the quality of Mslexia. I began my subscription when I was a new writer; I'm a professional now and the magazine continues to cater for my needs as much as ever - as my writing buddy, mentor and literary news feed.

Zosia Wand

Inspired, inspiring, invaluable.

Sarah Waters