National Gallery Story Competition: WINNERS for 22nd July event!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of The National Gallery’s celebrated Friday Lates, we ran our first ever short story competition for unpublished short stories of 1000-2000 words inspired by paintings or galleries - and boy were we impressed by the response! We had 88 submissions, and after much wrangling and debate, chose the five winners listed below. Heartfelt congratulations to these successful authors, and thanks to everyone who entered - the standard was extremely high and many of the stories really excellent. 

The five winning stories will be read live by our professional actors in the elegant Room 61 of the National Gallery on the evening of their summertime Friday Late, which is themed around Inspiration. The event will take place from 6 to 9pm on Friday 22^nd July 2016. It's FREE and we encourage you to come along, admire the artwork, and of course listen to the stories! The winners will be published online after the event as text, podcast and HD video.

NATIONAL GALLERY COMPETITION: WINNING STORIES

(and performance times on 22 July)

6.15pm - Authenticity and the Madonna by Ingrid Jendrzejewski, read by Sarah Feathers

inspired by Madonna with the Iris, workshop of Albrecht Durer

 

6.45pm - Stilleven by Gregory Jackson, read by David Mildon

inspired by Still Life with Pewter Vessels and Crab by Willem Claeszoon Heda

 

7.15pm - The Lost Species by Jenny Ramsay, read by Miranda Harrison

inspired by Surprised! by Henri Rousseau

 

7.45pm - Desperately Seeking Hephaestion by Elizabeth Hopkinson, read by Nicholas Delvalle

inspired by The Family of Darius before Alexander by Paolo Veronese

 

8.15pm - The Ugly Duchess by Fiona Salter, read by Claire Lacey

inspired by An Old Woman (The Ugly Duchess) by Quinten Massys

We were so impressed by the standard of work that we would also like to congratulate those who made the shortlist below, some of which we have singled out as Highly Commended (and some more of which we would love to consider for future events ... we'll email authors individually.)

NATIONAL GALLERY COMPETITION: SHORTLIST

Man on a Ladder by Caroline Greene *HIGHLY COMMENDED*
Olive at the Gallery by Sadie Nott *HIGHLY COMMENDED*
Pruinescence by Claire Lawrence *HIGHLY COMMENDED*
Sid & Henry James by Jeremy Galgut *HIGHLY COMMENDED*
They Were the Only Ones Dancing by Emily Bullock *HIGHLY COMMENDED*

Michaela, No Saint, Triumphs over the Devil by Barney Walsh
Repetitions by Arike Oke
The Beginning of Wisdom by Raymond Walker
The Last Man on Earth by Anstey Spraggan
The Morning Walk by Emily Longmore

Bonus fun facts:

- The two most popular paintings on which to base a story were Turner's The Fighting Temeraire and Gainsborough's Mr & Mrs Andrews, both of which had three stories written about them. 

 

- The next most inspiring artworks, prompting two stories each, were van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait, Degas's Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, Matisse's Portrait of Greta Moll, Rousseau's Surprised! and Renoir's At the Theatre (La Premiere Sortie).

 

Curious? Click the titles to check out the paintings ... and come along to the National Gallery on Friday 22nd July to check out the winning stories!

 

NEXT EVENT: NATIONAL GALLERY 'INSPIRATION' LATE

Friday 22nd July, 6-9pm, FREE

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, 

London WC2N 5DN