Once again, thank you to all 208 entrants for the 2015 Short Sharp Stories awards anthology, INCREDIBLE JOURNEY, and well done to all those who made the longlist, as announced in April.

The judging process for 2015 has been an interesting and thought-provoking one – and taken a little longer than planned. After much deliberation we can confirm the final author list (though we’re not announcing the winners just yet…).

Congratulations to the following writers whose work will appear in INCREDIBLE JOURNEY to be published by Mercury books in July 2015:

Bongani Kona: AT YOUR REQUIEM

Eldi Van Loggerenberg: COMMUNIS

Merle Grace: DISAPPEARED

Sally-Ann Murray: HOW TO CARRY ON

Anirood Singh: KARMA’S MAP

Jumani Clarke: LIFT CLUB

Dudumalingani Mqombothi: MEMORIES WE LOST

Michael Yee: MOUTH FULL TEETH

Tebello Mzamo: MY ROOM

Sean Mayne: PYRAMID OF LIGHT

Stephen Symons: RED DUST

Tiffany Kagure Mugo: RETURN UNKNOWN

Bobby Jordan: SHORTCUT

Maire Fisher: SPACE

Andrew Prior: TERRAPLANE JOURNEY

Bridget Pitt: THE INFANT ODYSSEUS

Megan Ross: THE ISLAND

Andrew Salomon: TRAIN 124

Chantelle Gray van Heerden: VOODOO KARMA

Dan Mare: WATERMEID

To all those involved, thank you for your patience and understanding.

INCREDIBLE JOURNEY is the third of the Short Sharp Stories Awards anthologies, following BLOODY SATISFIED (2013), and ADULTS ONLY (2014), both exuberantly and positively reviewed in the media.

The judges for this year’s anthology are award-winning writers Henrietta Rose-Innes, Ken Barris and Makhosazana Xaba, and the foreword to the collection is by the esteemed Sindiwe Magona.

INCREDIBLE JOURNEY will be launched at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in July 2015.