University of Manchester student wins national novel award
27 Oct 2014
Caroline Chisholm, a PhD student at the University’s Centre for New Writing, has won the inaugural Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award for a First Novel in this year’s Bridport Prize with her story ‘Swimming Pool Hill’
Caroline wins a cash prize of £1,000 plus up to a year’s mentoring from the London-based The Literary Consultancy to help her shape and develop her novel with a view to possible publication.
The piece was selected by a group comprising the novelist Alison Moore, this year’s judge, with representatives of The Literary Consultancy and literary agents A. M. Heath. Alison Moore said the work “has an intriguing synopsis and good characterisation, plus a touch of humour.”
Euan Thorneycroft from A.M. Heath said: “I think there is lots to admire here and overall the story feels as though it could have depth and heft. There were good scenes … (and) some lovely characters.”
Aki Schilz from The Literary Consultancy said: “I was moved by this piece… I feel there’s a real and forward-driving human story here… it is handled elegantly and with a subtleness I very much appreciate.”
Swimming Pool Hill was selected from over 1,200 entries to take the top prize. The novel competition is open to any writer based in the UK and is named in honour of Peggy Chapman-Andrews who founded both the Bridport Prize and its home, Bridport Arts Centre in 1973.
The Bridport Prize is one of the most prestigious open writing competitions in the English language with categories in poetry, short stories, flash fiction (stories of 250 words or less) and first novels. With over £16,000 in prize money to be won annually, the competition attracts entries from across the globe. This year 15,000 writers from over 80 countries competed for one of the 34 winner and highly commended awards.
Originally from Essex, Caroline Chisholm studied English Literature at the Queen’s University of Belfast and worked for several years in communications for high profile NGOs, most recently for Greenpeace International in Amsterdam. She has an MA in Creative Writing from The University of Manchester, where she developed the early drafts of Swimming Pool Hill. She’s currently studying for a PhD at the University’s Centre for New Writing and has previously been long-listed for the Mslexia first novel award.
Caroline said: "It's a huge honour to win the competition in its inaugural year. My tutors and friends at the Centre for New Writing have been an enormous support to me in getting this far. Thanks particularly to my supervisor John Mcauliffe, for his encouragement and enthusiasm for the novel."
John McAuliffe, co-director at the University’s Centre for New Writing commented: “Caroline Chisholm is a terrific writer. As an MA student at the Centre for New Writing and now as a PhD candidate here, all her work has been marked by her deep reading and her sense that fiction has an important part to play in how we understand the contemporary world.
“Swimming Pool Hill’s treatment of migration and war seems not just topical but powerful in the way it understands the detail of its characters' worlds, in Calais as well as in Kabul, places we have only recently started to see as related to one another. We're delighted that the Bridport Prize's Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award has recognised Caroline's work. And we look forward to seeing the novel in press before too long...”
In her spare time, Caroline volunteers for the Southport lifeboat station, the UK’s oldest. She was diagnosed with a primary brain tumour in 2013, but following treatment is now in remission.
The first chapters from Caroline’s story are available to read online at: