‘Imaginative, bold, mature’: Author praises boys’ stories

Tonbridge School has awarded prizes to boys who took part in the E.M.Forster Prose Fiction competition. Named after the novelist, who attended the school as a day boy in the late nineteenth century, the annual contest is a showcase for the depth of creative writing talent at Tonbridge.

Entries were judged by author Ben Davis. The winner of the Novi (first year) competition was Matthew Smith, for ‘The Shaman’. Ben referred to it as “one of the most imaginative and bold entries”. The author found that Matthew’s piece, which had the setting of a bed of technological scrap, “evokes our current crisis of environmental transformation”. 

Ben selected Jamie Lambert’s ‘Lady Bird’ as the winner of the Intermediate category. Noting its lyrical prose and startling imagery, as well as remarking on Jamie’s “maturity and skill”, Ben calls it a “stunningly confident evocation of loss”. 

Jamie Whitney’s ‘Late Night Shift’ won first place in the Senior category. Ben highlighted the writer’s assured control of narrative, likening his prose to the work of Nabokov: a “haunting, resonant story, beautifully told”.

Nick Waywell, Head of English, said: “With the competition now in its fifth year, one could argue that the standard of imaginative fiction has never been higher. There is wonderful maturity and sophistication in the voice and language of these stories in all three categories, reinforcing once again the tremendous strength of creative writing at the school.”

Full list of prize winners as follows:

Novi:
1st: The Shaman by Matthew Smith (JH1)
2nd: The Battle by James Moore (PS1)
3rd: Another Part of the Field by William Coombs (CH1)
 
Intermediate: 
1st: Lady Bird by Jamie Lambert (Sc2)
2nd: Night Run by Tom Rigney (WH3)
3rd: Fairytale in the Blitz by Hector Day-Lunn (MH3)
 
Senior:
1st: Late Night Shift by Jamie Whitney (Sc4)
2nd: Hotel California by George Adams (OH4)
3rd: Sonia by Jamie Whitney