We want to thank everyone who entered their work for the Harry Bowling Prizes. We had a really magnificent responses and lots of good entries, so it was very difficult to select the shortlists. The standard was high.
The entries which went forward to the next stages were selected for a variety of reasons, some of which we have listed below.
- They had intriguing stories to tell which, judging from the synopses, were substantial enough to carry a complete novel.
- The synopses were complete - that is, they summarised the entire story, including the ending, and it was clear that this ending would be satisfying for the reader.
- The opening paragraphs and pages were strong enough to make the judges want to read on, in order to find out what happened.
- The authors wrote from the most appropriate narrative viewpoints - that is, they managed to get inside the heads of their characters, they tended to see the action in specific scenes from the point of view of just one character, and they did not switch to other characters' points of view during a single scene.
- The characters were attractive and/or interesting people about whom most readers would enjoy reading.
- The writing had dramatic tension, which made the reader want to read on.
- There was plenty of natural-sounding dialogue which helped to move the story forward.
- The authors showed that they understand the current markets for novels.
