WRITERS and poets flocked to Bridport Arts Centre to celebrate the winners of the 39th Bridport Prize – one of the UK literary world’s richest competitions, which attracted entrants from across the world.

The judges, novelist Patrick Gale and former national Poet of Wales Gwyneth Lewis, presented the three main prizewinners and the highly commended entrants with their cheques at a lunch attended by town mayor and mayoress David and Anne Rickard.

Mr Gale said he was thrilled to have been asked to judge the short story and flash fiction categories and to give a handful of writers a chance.

“Publishers hate the short story because it never makes any money for them but I have always been passionate about the short story. All of my favourite books as a child were collections of short stories,” he said.

Mr Gale said that flash fiction – self contained stories of 250 words or less – was ‘the love child of poetry and prose’.

“It is almost like a sonnet and it is not something that I have ever tried to do,” he admitted.

Ms Lewis said that the Bridport Prize was one of the must-see prizes in the poetry world.

“I am really happy to be in Bridport – poets have so many occasions for humiliation, rejection, difficulty and low morale and generally that you are engaged in an activity that is more obscure than morris dancing,” she said.

Taking the £5,000 first prize for poetry was Claudia Daventry from St Andrews in Scotland with her poem Alakazam. Short story first prize winner was Helen Barton from Worcester with her story Being David and flash fiction winner was Gregory Jackson from London with Nearly New.

Ruth Figgest from Seaford, East Sussex, came second in the short story section and Lizzy Welby of London came third.

Nick MacKinnon from Winchester came second in the poetry section and Nikki Zielinski of Ohio, US, came third.

Musician Elaine Beckett from Bridport won the £100 Dorset Award for the highest placed local writer of the 2012 Bridport Prize.

Highly commended prizes for poetry were won by Daisy Behagg, Charles Bennett, Alan Buckley, Emma-Jane Hughes, Kim Lasky, Hannah Lowe, Andrew Martin, Amali Rodrigo and Mary Wood-ward.

Highly commended prizes for short story were won by Darci Bysouth, Peter Caley, Eva Ciabat-toni, Ruby Cowling, David Foll, Sophie Green, Sandra Jensen, Martelle McPartland, Mel Murphy and Naomi J Williams.

Highly commended prizes for flash fiction were won by Peter Howe, Sophie Mackintosh and Sarah Taylor.

The judges for the Bridport Prize 2013 have been announced as Wendy Cope for poetry, Michèle Roberts for short stories and David Swann for flash fiction.

Entry forms for the Bridport Prize 2013 are available in December by sending a stamp and self-addressed envelope toThe Bridport Prize: PO box 6910, Bridport, DT6 9BQ, or visit bridportprize.org.uk