Jo Lloyd has won the fourteenth BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University 2019 (NSSA) for ‘The Invisible’, a distinctive and compellingly original story. Inspired by the life of an 18th Century woman from Carnarvonshire called Martha who claimed to be friends with an invisible family living in an invisible mansion, Lloyd discovered her story by chance in the online Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Set in a close-knit community, the story is both timeless and universal, and resonates profoundly in an age where fear of outsiders and social division is rife.
Jo will be presented with the prize of £15,000 tomorrow evening (Tuesday 1 October) by the 2019 Chair of Judges Nikki Bedi at a ceremony held at BBC Broadcasting House. The news will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, during a special programme celebrating the short story. ‘The Invisible’ is available to listen to on BBC Sounds.
It is also the fifth year of the BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University, which was created to inspire and encourage the next generation of short story writers. A cross-network collaboration between BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 1, the award is open to 14-18 year olds and was won this year by 16-year-old Georgie Woodhead from Sheffield for her story ‘Jelly-headed’.
You can read an excerpt from Jo Lloyd’s winning story on Wales Arts Review here.
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