Annual Lecture and Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award Shortlist 2025
The Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award 2025 shortlist showcases outstanding emerging writers from Oxford, celebrating their exceptional talent and creativity.
We are pleased to announce the shortlist for the Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award 2025.
Established in 2019, by the Nobel Laureate Mo Yan, to celebrate Oxford's strong contribution to international and cross-cultural diversity within the global literary community, the Award recognises excellence in original fiction. This year’s competition attracted an outstanding range of submissions, demonstrating impressive creativity, originality, technical skills and a diverse range of narrative styles.
Following careful deliberation by our panel of judges, we are delighted to present the shortlisted stories (in no particular order):
Miles from Geneva by Patrick Merrigan, Oriel College
Beasts by Dr Tess Little, All Souls College
The Story of a Sign by So Yin Dilys Tam, Regent’s Park College
Dark Brown Is the River by Oli Hardy, St Anne’s College
Superimposition by Phoebe Barnett, St Hilda’s College
I Am the First Thinker by Dr Raluca Florina David, Kellogg College
The Birch Tree by Caitlin Upshall, Research Services, University of Oxford
God’s Square Mile by Griffin Gudaitis, Linacre College
Onset by Taneesha Datta, Kellogg College
The Book of Abandon by Madeleine Duperouzel, Hertford College
The winner will be announced at the Award Ceremony, which will take place at the Weston Library, on 23rd May 2025.
We extend our congratulations to all shortlisted writers and our sincere thanks to all who submitted their work.
The Shortlisting Judge Panel is comprised of:
Alice Little, Writer in Residence at Wytham Woods (2020-23), University of Oxford
Fiona Sze-Lorrain , writer, poet, and translator, Judge for 2025 Dublin Literary Award
Patrick McGuinness , Professor of comparative literature, University of Oxford
Rowan Curtis , author, physicist and musician
Judges’ Comments
This year’s submissions were met with high praise from the judging panel.
The judges commended the shortlisted entries for their “strong narrative voices, great characterisation and drive.” Several stories were described as “terrifically well written,” while others were celebrated for their “poetic, lyrical, sensual, and feminine” qualities.
Reflecting on the entries overall, the judges noted the breadth of imagination on display and the sophisticated approaches to language, structure, and character development.
We extend our warmest congratulations to all shortlisted writers and our sincere thanks to everyone who submitted their work. The judges found the calibre of storytelling this year truly inspiring, and we look forward to sharing these exceptional stories more widely.
