One Minute Movie and Sixty Word Story Winners 2024

In an initiative from Dr Richard Langley (Head of Department of Film and Creative Writing), this is the first time the competition has expanded to include written submissions. The judges remarked on the inventiveness of all entries, in particular their engagement with language and structure of sentence and image.

The submissions were shared at a celebratory event on Monday 22^nd April, with several of the writers reading out their stories and all the films showcased, followed by a screening of ‘From the End of the Road’, a documentary by former MA Film & Television student Benjamin Crawford.

A big thank you to CVP and the National Literacy Trust, who sponsored the prizes across both strands, and to our judges: Mags Conway, Professor Ruth Gilligan, Nina Jones, Dr Betsy Porritt, Professor Alice Roberts, Kyle Turakhia and Professor James Walters.

The winners were:

One Minute Movie

• WINNER: ‘Love’ by James Richards (BA English)
• 2nd place: ‘Faces’ by Sophia Higgins (BA Film & Creative Writing)
• = Runner up: ‘Fluidity in Motion’ by Louis Wright (MA Film & Television
• = Runner up: ‘Shapes’ by Hamza Khawaja (BA/BSc Liberal Arts & Natural Sciences)

All the films can be viewed on the Department’s Vimeo channel.

Sixty Word Story

Winner: Billy the Tortoise

By James Wardle (BA English & Film)

Billy was born a tortoise but soon became a man. Though he concealed it well, it lingered in the back of his mind. Soon he was married, then a father, then a suburban homeowner. But late at night he’d stare into the mirror, feeling the scales under his skin. In the next room, his wife would do the same.

=2^nd Place: Double Dipping

by Lucy Gibson (MA English Literature)

A foreign concept to 13-year-olds. Prevented from indulgence since a young age where Thursday evenings were spent spying reflections in molten chocolate, quietly licking lips.

Let her eat, I’d scream.

Guacamole is meant to be ravaged with broken tortilla chips, hummus spoiled with wet crumbs of toasted pitta, nibbled slices of fruit lost in fondues.

Let me eat, I scream.

=2^nd Place: The Hobbycraft Opens on the Retail Park

By Victor Savage (BA English & Creative Writing)

On Tuesday the world goes to Hobbycraft. Pilots land planes in retail parks, which is fine by the passengers who were going to Hobbycraft anyway. A businessman, who got his tie caught in a rose bush on a teambuilding trip, purchases a mosaicking kit. Hobbycraft break all sales records. It doesn’t matter, nobody is going back to work.

Runner Up: Spotting Myself

By Cory Rich (BA English & Creative Writing)

I looked in the mirror. I was staring back. I am not used to that. There he is, with the short hair. There he is, with the flat chest, and the real smile. There I am. ‘Dylan!’ My mum shouts up the stairs. And that is my name. And I am home. I have been home for a while now.

Congratulations to all our winners and thank you to everyone who entered!