JUDGES

The Judges for the Sunday 3 November event on the theme of FAMILY are Joanna Campbell and John Holland


We are now CLOSED for submissions.

Please Note -  Both judges read ALL stories submitted. All stories are judged 'blind' ie all stories are received by our administrator Christiane, who ensures that no personal information about the authors is passed on to our judges. 

Joanna Campbell's work has been published in numerous anthologies including SSS Volumes Two and Three. Her short stories have won first prize in the Exeter Writers competition; London Short Story Prize; Magic Oxygen Literary Prize; Retreat West Short Story Prize and have been short listed twice for the Bristol Prize.

Her flash fiction came second in the 2017 Bridport Prize, for which her short stories have been short listed many times.

Her first novella-in-flash, A Safer Way to Fall, was runner-up in the inaugural Bath Flash Fiction Award and her second, Sybilla, won the National Flash Fiction Day Award.

Her short story collection, When Planets Slip Their Tracks, was short listed for the Rubery International Book Award and long listed for the Edge Hill University Prize.

Her two published novels are Tying Down the Lion and Instructions for the Working Day, which was short listed for the Independent's Book of the Month.

Joanna lives in Bisley near Stroud and is writing her third novel. She has read three times at SSS and regularly judges writing competitions. She is very excited to be co-judging SSS for the first time.







This event will be John Holland's 22nd as both SSS Organiser/Editor and judge.
John has now been running Stroud Short Stories for ten years. A former librarian, library campaigner and satirical gag writer for the BBC and Punch magazine, John started writing short fiction in 2012, taking over the running of SSS in 2014. In June 2024 he was awarded a Stroud News & Journal Community Award for his Contribution to the Arts in running Stroud Short Stories.
John has had more than 100 stories and flash pieces published in anthologies, magazines and online. He has been lucky enough to have won first prize in five international short fiction contests, including InkTears Short Story Contest, Dorset Fiction Prize and To Hull and Back. He's also been runner up, short listed, long listed, commended, etc in competitions over 60 times.

John has performed his stories at live lit events in London, Birmingham and across the south west.

John lives in Ebley in Stroud.

X (formerly Twitter) @JohnHolland52

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