MinK2026 - The Shortlists
We're delighted to announce the shortlisted entries for our MinK2026 Writing Competition.
All of the entries below will be published in an anthology, MinK #6: The Trees, to be launched at the Competition Awards Ceremony on Thursday 23 April as part of our Spring Festival 2026.
Visit our In-Person page for details and tickets for all our April events.
Creative Non-Fiction 14-19
SHORTLISTED
My Beginnings - Jui Makwana
The Trees - Rose Bull
Creative Non-Fiction 20+
SHORTLISTED
3 Trillion and Counting - Terry Calvert
A Time Lapse Through the Trees - Vinuri Fernando
An Autumn Walk in Salcey Forest - Sue Upton
An Ending - Bethany Chitty
Books and Bramleys - Rosie Douglas
From Little Acorns… - Elise Thomas
How Rude! - Lewis Butler
My Sanctuary - Sue Turbett
Portrait of My Mother in Old Age - Anna Bretts
Rings - Ralph Keats
Flash Fiction 14-19
SHORTLISTED
A Little Birdie Told Me - Nadia Partyka
Into the Woods - Naia Makwana
Oh Butterfly, Butterfly - Jasper Finlay Swynnerton
Rooted Memories - Saroja Hossain
The Frozen Frost - Grace Wan
The Treehouse - Becky Cooling
Poetry 14-19
SHORTLISTED
Bark - Adaa Singh
Leaf Litter - Freya Mathieson
Lives Bigger Than Ours - Nadia Partyka
One of the Trees - Becky Cooling
The Roots of My History - Sawan Nair
We Fade into the Green - Naia Makwana
Poetry 20+
SHORTLISTED
A Midsummer Knight's Dream - Shelly Dennison
A Spot Unknown - Stella Girvin
Banyan Tree - Neil Beardmore
Braeburn - Graham R Sherwood
Creak - Casey Stewart
Grotto - Richard Law
Hide and Seek - Shirley Anne Cook
Hubbard’s Hills - Kia Went
The Shadow of a Tree - Isai T. Montoro
Therapy - Ralph Keats
Woburn Woods - Chris Allen
Woodlands - Robert Lowe
Flash Fiction 20+
SHORTLISTED
A Woman's Work - Anita Gayton
Family Tree – A J Herbert
From One Small Pip - Jan Lovell
In Memoriam - Susan Reid
Like a Bonsai in a Tree Museum - Rosaleen Lynch
More than Just Living - Karen Banfield
Nourished - Steph Lay
The Druid Oak - Ralph Keats
The Royal Oak - Sue Turbett
The Trees of Milton Keynes - R G Smith
The Weeping Willow - Jen Charlton
Were & Is - Lewis Butler