21st November 2025 | Jellybean and Snickerdoodle wins the Spectrum Short Story Competition

Excited to share that my short story Jellybean and Snickerdoodle has been awarded Best in Show in the Spectrum Writers London 2025 Short Story Contest, marking my second time winning the group’s annual competition.

Based on this year's theme, Reverse, the story follows two elderly women who rob a serum bank for the drug that can reverse their ageing, and stave off their creeping dementia.

Jellybean and Snickerdoodle earned recognition in multiple areas. The story received First Place in Best Plot, Best Character Arc, Best Style, and Best in Show. It also placed Third in Best Use of Theme and Third in “I Don’t Know Why… But I Liked It!”.

Shame I couldn't attend the awards night in person but it was worth waking up at 4am Manila Time to watch the live stream.

I've loved entering the competition every year and found experimenting with voice, as well as the value of being forced to be extremely economic with plot and prose, invaluable to my journey as a writer. Thanks to the amazing Spectrum organising team and looking forward to seeing where all of this year’s stories go next.