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Doric writer remembered with short story competition

The winner of the 2009 Toulmin Prize is Eleanor Fordyce from Forfar for her winning entry "Sae Mony Summers", a story exploring a childhood friendship bound up with a family secret. Eleanor, a retired English teacher, received a cheque for £500.00 at the prizegiving and reading of her story on Saturday 16 May, as part of the Word 09 Festival at the university, and will also have her successful story published in the Leopard Magazine in the June 2009 edition.

The competition was set up by the University of Aberdeen's Elphinstone Institute to commemorate the work of John Reid, otherwise known as David Toulmin – one of the North-east's finest exponents of written Doric.

Dr Ian Russell, Director of the Elphinstone Institute, said: "We are proud to have been able to honour John and his work in this way and delighted to see Eleanor win the 2009 Toulmin Prize. We received some very strong entries but Eleanor's tale really stood out and was a very worthy winner."

Photograph Left to right: Lindy Cheyne, editor of the Leopard, Prof. Paul Dukes (both judges), Eleanor Fordyce, winning writer, Sheena Blackhall, Word Festival Writer in Residence and Honorary Fellow of the Elphinstone Institute, Ian Russell, Director of the Elphinstone Institute

A short story competition will be launched today (Monday, December 8) to commemorate the work of one of the North-east’s finest exponents of written Doric.

John Reid (1913-1998) was an Aberdeenshire farm labourer, who spent most of his life working long hours for very small rewards. In odd moments he jotted down short stories, character studies, and bothy tales.

Eventually, as David Toulmin, he had a few articles printed in local newspapers. The first of his ten books was published when he was 59-years-old. They consist mostly of short stories and reminiscences, with his one novel, Blown Seed, painting a harsh picture of farm life.

Now a short story competition, with a prize of £500 to the winner, will be launched for the second time to recognise Reid's contribution to written Doric.

"We're proud to be able to honour John and his work in this way," said Dr Ian Russell, Director of the Elphinstone Institute at the University of Aberdeen, which is running the competition in conjunction with the 2009 WORD Festival. "His writing is powerful, evocative and witty, and he is one of the finest exponents of writing in the Doric.

"We had a terrific response to the 2008 competition when it was launched at the beginning of the year and we now want to give people with a tale to tell every chance to pick up their pen and stretch their imagination before the deadline for 2009 entries."

The competition is open to all amateur writers* over the age of 16. The story should be concerned with some aspect of life in North-east Scotland and may be written in Scots, including Doric, or English or a mixture of the two.

The award for the best entry will be made at the 2009 WORD Festival weekend (May 13-17) at the University of Aberdeen, when the winning story will be read out by a well-known writer. The story will also be published in Leopard Magazine.

A short story of up to 4,000 words in length should be submitted by 31 March, 2009 to Dr Ian Russell, Director, The Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen, MacRobert Building, King's College, Aberdeen AB24 5UA.

Hard copy, size A4, should be sent in addition to an electronic submission in MS Word. For more information contact the Elphinstone Institute 01224-272996 or at elphinstone@abdn.ac.uk

*Note that for the purposes of this competition, a professional writer is considered to be one who has had a solo work published with a recognised UK publisher.

Page last updated: Wednesday, 20-May-2009 12:58:29 BST

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