The winning story of this annual short fiction competition is being published across two issues of The Big Issue in the North , and on Friday 4 November you’ll have the chance to hear the winning story read out, along with other stories entered into the competition, at a very special event.

The short story competition was organised by The Big Issue in the North Trust in association with The Night Light, an online magazine based in Manchester, and Dead Ink Press. There were a number of other categories as part of the competition, including the Genre Fiction Award in association with Polluto Magazine; Young Writer’s Award (25 and under) in association with The Cadaverine and The Young Writer’s Hub; the Outsider’s Voice Award (writing submitted by people facing social exclusion) in association with Dog Horn Publishing; and Young Black and Asian Writer’s Award in association with Young Inscribe (part of Peepal Tree Press). www.thenightlight.co.uk are a disorganised co-operative publishing stories, plays, poems, essays and artwork.