The Laurie Lee Prize for Writing - Past Winners
2025 Winners
16–20 CATEGORY:
Winner: Jasper Sones 2nd place: Prayaag Dinsmore-Tuli 3rd place: Inaya Wood
Shortlisted: Klara Grosu-Endmann, Kaitlyn Howell, Emilia Spencer, Luke Webb, Ella Williams
21+ CATEGORY:
Winner: Belinda Rimmer***
Highly commended: Michael Askew, Jessica Burchfiel-Milliner, Melanie Coleby, Christine Griffin*, Tom Stevens
Shortlisted: Georgia Boon*, Tom Brewster, Anna Fernandes*, Sue Johnston, Lynsey Kelleher, Rebecca Klassen**, Olivia Lelong, Max Lodge
* shortlisted also in 2024
** shortlisted also in 2023 and 2024
*** shortlisted also in 2022, 2023 and 2024
2024 Winners
16–20 CATEGORY:
Winner: Estella Jones 2nd place: Natalie Sturgess-Cadman* 3rd place: Lola Sweeting
Shortlisted: Christopher Barnes, Anya Forino, Natasha Walmsley.
* shortlisted also in 2023
21+ CATEGORY:
Winner: Laura Kinnear
Highly commended: Judy Darley, Christine Griffin, Megan Hayes, Belinda Rimmer**
Shortlisted: Georgia Boon, Anna Fernandes, Rebecca Klassen*, Stephen Litchfield, Rowan Middleton, Kate O'Grady, Helen Cornish Smith.
* shortlisted also in 2023
** shortlisted also in 2022 and 2023
2023 Winners
16–20 CATEGORY
Winner: Sophia Bursey 2nd place: Rosie Smith 3rd place: Annie Tallis
Shortlisted: Florence Hardy, Natalie Sturgess-Cadman, Autumn Watkins.
21+ CATEGORY
Winner: Deborah Cox
Shortlisted: Rosamund Brown, Viktoria Dahill, Amelia Hodsdon, Cath Humphris, Sally Jenkinson, Isabella Kaminski, Rebecca Klassen, Charlotte Levene, Chantal Lyons, Ellen Potts, Belinda Rimmer, Simon Taylor.
Both winning entries were printed in the January edition of Stroud's Good on Paper. You can listen to Deborah Cox reading her entry on our YouTube channel, https://youtu.be/3NWNCxfx1N4
2022 Winners
UNDER-25 CATEGORY
Winner: Archie Woolls
Shortlisted: Olivia D'Arcy-Price, Viktoria Dahill, Amy Libbiter, Patrick Shead
OVER-25 CATEGORY
Winner: JLM Morton
Shortlisted: Molly Coldicott, Pip Heywood, Alun Hughes, Rose Lennard, Mathew Page, Belinda Rimmer, Pippa Stroud, Rhian Thomas, Charlotte Wright
2022's winner of the young person's category (see below) was Archie Woolls. Hear what he has to say about entering the prize
.
