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This is the story of the October 2025 Booby Prize!

180+ brave contestants from 14 countries battled it out in the inaugural contest.


With the judges setting the tricky prompts and an unprecdented number containing a Booby (what was I thinking)...


Here are the deatils of that first competition:










OCTOBER 2025 PROMPTS

Genre(s)

Character(s)

Location(s)

  • Whodunnit Mystery


  • Comedic Horror


  • Noir

Location(s)

Character(s)

Location(s)

  • Jam / Jelly Factory


  • Excavation Site


  • Used Book Store

Character(s)

Character(s)

Character(s)

  • Dancer


  • Marriage Counsellor


  • Eccentric Scientist

OCTOBER 2025 LONGLIST

“Acid Re-Flux”

by Niamh Hammel


“Barre Class”

by Emma Harris


“Black Gold”

by Stephanie Gibson


“Checked Out”

by Sarah Hirons


“Dance Interrupted”

by Jeni Polido


“From The Files Of Darwin Bluefoot, Private Booby Dick”

by Jessica Sedgwick

“Goodnight, Doll.”

by Harry Humber


“Human Resources”

by David Roe


“Judged by the Cover”

by Laine Lewis


“Reverance”

by Atena Law


“Rocco and Della”

by Alexis Hunter


“Second Chance”

by Katherin Chiasson

“Sirin Song”

by HD Gwyn


“Soft-Boiled: 

A Slick Tracy Case File”

by Chad Frame


“The Blue-Footed Dame”

by Joanne Deluce


“The Life and Death of Barry Berry”

by  Jenny E


“The Blue-Haired and Balding Book Club”

by Margaretta Toribio


“Until Death Did Part”

by Beth McKeeman

PLUSHIE WINNERS

WE GAVE AWAY 3x PLUSHIES TO...

Gale Martin

Mark Buckley

Kerry-Ann Hunt

OcTOBER 2025 SHORTLIST

Checked Out

by Sarah Hirons


Goodnight, Doll.

by Harry Humber


Human Resources

by David Roe


Sirin Song

by HD Gwyn


The Blue-Footed Dame

by Joanne Deluce

I read each story the same number of times over the course of a full week. All of them have stayed with me in some way but a competition inevitably requires a single winner to be chosen.

Richard O'Neill MBE - on judging the final shortlist

And the winner(s) are...

WINNER

RUNNER-UP

RUNNER-UP

SIRIN SONG

by HD Gwyn


Read here

RUNNER-UP

RUNNER-UP

RUNNER-UP

HUMAN RESOURCES

by David Roe


Read here

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