MinK2026 - The Winners
We're delighted to announce the results of our MinK2026 Creative Writing Competition.
All of the entries below are published in an anthology, MinK #6: The Trees, launched at the Competition Awards Ceremony on Thursday 23 April as part of our Spring Festival 2026.
Copies of the ebook version of the anthology can be purchased directly in our online store. Printed versions will be available to buy at most of our in-person events: it will also be available for order through bookshops and online outlets and we'll publish details here as soon as those are available.
Flash Fiction 14-19
WINNER
The Treehouse - Becky Cooling
HIGHLY COMMENDED
A Little Birdie Told Me - Nadia Partyka
The Frozen Forest - Grace Wan
SHORTLISTED
Into the Woods - Naia Makwana
Oh Butterfly, Butterfly - Jasper Finlay Swynnerton
Rooted Memories - Saroja Hossain
Flash Fiction 20+
WINNER
The Royal Oak - Sue Turbett
HIGHLY COMMENDED
From One Small Pip - Jan Lovell
Nourished - Steph Lay
SHORTLISTED
A Woman's Work - Anita Gayton
Family Tree – A J HerbertIn Memoriam - Susan Reid
Like a Bonsai in a Tree Museum - Rosaleen Lynch
More than Just Living - Karen Banfield
The Druid Oak - Ralph Keats
The Trees of Milton Keynes - R G Smith
The Weeping Willow - Jen Charlton
Were & Is - Lewis Butler
Creative Non-Fiction 14-19
WINNER
My Beginnings - Jui Makwana
HIGHLY COMMENDED
The Trees - Rose Bull
Poetry 14-19
WINNER
The Roots of My History - Sawan Nair
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Leaf Litter - Freya Mathieson
Lives Bigger Than Ours - Nadia Partyka
SHORTLISTED
Bark - Adaa Singh
One of the Trees - Becky CoolingWe Fade into the Green - Naia Makwana
Poetry 20+
WINNER
Braeburn - Graham R Sherwood
HIGHLY COMMENDED
A Midsummer Knight's Dream - Shelly Dennison
Grotto - Richard Law
SHORTLISTED
A Spot Unknown - Stella Girvin
Banyan Tree - Neil Beardmore
Creak - Casey Stewart
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
Creative Non-Fiction 20+
WINNER
Portrait of My Mother in Old Age - Anna Bretts
HIGHLY COMMENDED
An Ending - Bethany Chitty
How Rude! - Lewis Butler
SHORTLISTED
3 Trillion and Counting - Terry Calvert
A Time Lapse Through the Trees - Vinuri Fernando
An Autumn Walk in Salcey Forest - Sue Upton
Books and Bramleys - Rosie Douglas
From Little Acorns… - Elise Thomas
My Sanctuary - Sue Turbett
Rings - Ralph Keats