Winners, runners-up and finalists for the 2013 short story competition

Okay, the moment we've all been waiting for. First off, a HUGE thank you to this year's judges, who represent a range of bookish folks, from an avid reader like Barry Gill, to author and bookseller Dave de Burgh, editors and authors Tracie McBride and Louis Greenberg, and author Cat Hellisen. I am indebted to author Carrie Clevenger, who helped read submissions, as we had a record number of entries.

A huge congratulations to our winner, Ruth Browne, whose story Beachfront Starter Home, Good Bones takes top honours.

Our runners-up are Chris Limb, with Scratchmind, and Joshua de Kock, with Aquarium.

Then our finalists (in alphabetical order): Michelle Barry, Mary Finnegan, Abigail Godsell, Matt Hayward, Arno Hurter, Morgen Knight, Liam Kruger, Doreen Perrine, Icy Sedgwick, and Monique Snyman.

We'll be opening submissions for the 2014 competition on June 21, and if you wish to keep in touch with developments, feel free to stalk me on Twitter. I'll be posting regular progress bits and bytes there as things progress.

This year Dark Continents Publishing will be bringing out the anthology, to be released in time for the 2014 South African Horrorfest, but more about that later...