Tunbridge Wells student wins £1000 Young Writer prize

Young Writer winner Katie Parkinson joined this year’s Goldsmiths Prize winner C.D. Rose at the award ceremony in London.

Goldsmiths Young Writer competition is open to young people aged 16-18 and aims to uncover the next generation of writing talent. For this year’s competition entrants submitted a thousand-word short story responding to the title ‘The Gamble.’  

Katie, aged 18 from Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School, is this year’s winner.  

Katie Parkinson said, "Before this competition, while I had always held my desire to write somewhere inside me, I had intended to pursue a law degree. Perhaps in the future I still might, but I want to give myself an opportunity to explore writing, so have chosen to study English at university."

Katie added, "When I won, it shook some foundational belief I had that my writing wouldn't be good enough, creative enough or engaging enough."

"The entire competition from start to finish feels a bit surreal and entirely enjoyable, and I have to credit my parents for giving me the time and space I needed to write it. I really could not have done it without them."

The £1000 Young Writer Prize was held alongside the Goldsmiths Prize. Now in its 13th year, the £10,000 Goldsmiths Prize celebrates fiction that breaks the mould and extends the possibilities of the novel. C.D. Rose won the 2025 prize for his novel We Live Here Now, described as “at once hilarious and deeply haunting, intellectually challenging and supremely entertaining” by Chair of Judges and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, Amy Sackville.  

Katie attended the prize ceremony for the Goldsmiths Prize 2025 in London. Winning novelist C.D. Rose was present to collect his trophy, as well as 2020 winner M. John Harrison, who collected his award as the 2020 ceremony had been held online due to Covid-19.