Susan lives in Stockport (where this novel is set) with her husband and two children. In 2011 she completed an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester University and since then has received a highly commended in the 2011 Commonwealth Short Story Competition and been shortlisted for the 2011-2012 Fish Short Story Prize. Getting Away With It is her first novel and she says writing it has been a great learning experience. She is surprised and delighted to be the winner of the Yeovil Prize and hopes that it will bring her closer to getting her novel published. She is currently working on her second novel.

Rebecca Alexander started writing five years ago after a long break, and completed two Open University courses before tackling an MA in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Winchester. A Baby's Bones is the fifth book she has completed, and the most fun to write. She has worked in psychology and education, and her previous book, The Secrets of Life and Death , which was a runner up in the Mslexia novel competition, is now represented by an agent. She lives with her family in a house dramatically perched on a hill near the coast of North Devon and can be contacted through her blog www.rebeccaalexander.blogspot.co.uk.

Tereza was born, lived and worked in London before moving to a small holding in Cambridgeshire five years ago. When she isn't working or caring for her horse and other animals, Tereza loves watching films, going to the theatre, travelling and reading.

She loved writing at school but then life, travelling and a career as a Business Analyst took over. About two years ago, Tereza took up her pen again and wrote a few short stories, with ‘The Final Chapter' winning the La Scala Studios Short Story competition. She then started developing ideas for a series of novels.

The crime thriller ‘Smoke and Mirrors' is Tereza's first novel and she is absolutely delighted that Sophie Hannah chose the opening chapters for third place in the Yeovil Literary Prize. It has always been Tereza's dream to write a novel and she is thoroughly enjoying immersing herself in developing the characters and weaving the plot.

Sophie said … Third Place: Smoke and Mirrors - a confidently written and unusual thriller that was very readable and hard to put down, with a plot that's just intricate enough without being too complicated. The organised crime element of the story is nicely balanced by the emotional heart of the book: the relationship between a woman and her horse.

Graham Anderson read modern languages at Cambridge and began his writing career on the book pages of City Limits, also reviewing fiction for The Independent and The Sunday Telegraph. His mainstream work has been as a theatre translator. He has published The Figaro Plays (Beaumarchais) and A Flea in her Ear (Feydeau) with Oberon Books, and his versions of classic and contemporary French plays have been used by the NT and the Gate Theatre and performed in the UK and US. A draft chapter for a novel, Letters From a Madman , the imaginary autobiography of Guy de Maupassant, was short-listed for the Aidan Higgins Prize in Dublin, and after completing his last commission, an obscure play by Marivaux, he turned this year to writing short fiction. Graham was born in London and has spent most of his working life there. He now lives in Oxfordshire.

Our judge Sue Freestone said… First Prize is STORY TIME

‘Tell us a story!' is the first line of this winning piece of work and the narrator certainly does. He takes us on an emotional journey, playing with the reader's assumptions about him, and his supposed audience, to the very end. The reader gets a terrific kick in the stomach when the real nature of what has been happening is shockingly revealed. It is a beautifully structured and dramatic piece, punching above its size, as the best short stories do.

Chip says, “Getting recognition in a literary competition is a huge boost to one's writing endeavours particularly in an International competition such as the Yeovil Literary Prize.

I've enjoyed reading – slow as a child, years behind my peers – and writing since school days, but life intervened. After early years in Somerset, National Service, and thirty years in the shipowning industry living and working in the Far East and Edinburgh, my wife and I returned to the West Country to enjoy a small holding on Exmoor. This gave me my opportunity to gain an MA in Creative Writing at Middlesex University in 2002, since when I have concentrated on writing workshops, an OU playwriting course and competitions covering the novel, short stories, film scripts and plays.

Some short stories have got into print, a few of my small plays have appeared on even smaller stages in London and New York, and I'm working on a radio play for the centenary, in July 2016, of the first morning of the Battle of the Somme.

Our judge Sue Freestone said… Second Prize ISLAND SUMMER

A close second, this story really gives you your money's worth. It has great atmosphere, engaging characters, an event packed narrative and warm humour throughout. The author takes us into an innocent world, a childhood place apart where nothing too serious can happen. A real feel good story, an antidote to today's troubled times.

Gill Le Serve studied English at Leicester University and is now retired, having spent many years teaching, mainly English as a Foreign Language to children and adults, in Europe and finally in Vietnam, which was a wonderful experience. Never having done any writing before other than the occasional poem, she was encouraged to ‘have a go' after attending a Creative Writing course at a local community centre earlier this year. The title ‘A Stale Bun' came from a homework task on that course which she then developed further. She is thrilled with the success of this piece and will now thoroughly enjoy exploring more ideas.

Our judge Sue Freestone said… Third prize A STALE BUN

A classic short story where the twist at the end makes you completely review what you have understood before. The bleak subject matter, the chaos of armed civil conflict, is handled with an admirable economy of writing and plot. The third person narrative is compelling and carries the reader through the war-torn landscape to the surprise at the end. A clever conceit and a worthy third.

Speak for Yourself John

Behind the Smile

Roses All The Way

Claire Bugler Hewitt is delighted to win this prize as she was born in Yeovil, grew up in East Coker and went to Yeovil's Preston Comprehensive and Yeovil College. With a degree in Graphic Design & Illustration from Bristol Polytechnic she spent some years in London, working part time at Guy's Hospital and joining various writing groups and courses including that of the wonderful Julia Casterton. Claire has been a prize winner in the Ian St James Awards (short fiction) and her haiku have been widely published in journals and anthologies, including in translation. She is a judge in the Seashells Game for Haiku (Presence Magazine) and a member of Critique Circle online. She lives in Dorset with her husband and two children, is revising her first novel and working on science fiction short stories and letters of objection to Yeovil's Core Strategy Urban Extension Plan.

“Number one is Chawton. This poem would be utterly obscure to anyone who doesn't know about Jane Austen, but if you do, it is absolutely right. It is an exact, simple, direct description. The accumulation of things, both present and missing, conjures up her life perfectly, as well as her horrible early death.

Catherine Strong writes under her maiden name, Catherine Sarah Lewis, and grew up in East Sussex in the 1970s, and her earliest memories are of being read a wonderful variety of stories and poetry. After graduating in Zoology from Nottingham University, she studied for a Master's in Behavioural Ecology, which she passed with distinction; her passion for the natural world is reflected in her current job working for Naturetrek, a wildlife travel company, as well as in her poetry. Catherine enjoys travelling, watching wildlife, and long summer evenings outside on her ‘beach' garden, chatting with friends and family. She attended the MPhil in Writing at the University of Glamorgan, and is a member of the Company of Writers, a writing group based in Bath, where she lives.

Number two is Kangerlua, possibly the most original love poem I have ever read. Again, the ending is particularly strong.

Mike Bannister was born 1936 in Alvechurch, in Worcestershire. After military service he worked in community schools in Telford, London's East End and Bradford. In 1993, Mike retired to live in Halesworth, Suffolk. In the same year his poem A Fourth Warming was nominated for the Housman Society's Poetry Prize.

Mike's poems have appeared in The London Magazine, Other Poetry, The Long Poem Magazine and Brittle Star; others have garnered a number of regional awards. Mike is currently chair and convener of The Café Poets, a bi-monthly gathering of working poets from across the region, based at Pinky's Café in his home town.

Number Three is 'The Lapidary'. It shows an ear for the music of words, and also a relish for them. It is skilfully put together, with lots of enjambment and interesting juxtapositions. The last verse, and particularly the last line, is very striking.