Submissions are now open for WayWORD’s ‘Gothic Aberdeen’ short story competition. Inspired by the University Collection’s new exhibition, ‘Fear and Fascination’, we invite writers aged 16+ resident in Scotland to write a gothic story inspired by the city of Aberdeen with the chance to win £300. The competition winner and runner-up(s) will be announced at the 2025 WayWORD Festival in October and the winning short story read by competition judge Heather Parry.

 

As our youth committee member Lottie explains: ‘Aberdeen is a prime candidate for the gothic imagination. The granite holds stories in the same way that the buildings’ stones hold the cold: the dark folklore of St Nicholas Kirkyard, the forgotten plague pits under Union Street, the artifacts of industrialisation scattered through the city and the sea – these all represent the weight of the past pressing down on present day. Even the weather conspires to change our understanding of the city: from rain glossing each roof and streets like wet gravestones, to all colour fleeing from the buildings and skies in the winter, replaced by the monochrome greys of granite and sleet.’

 

Through the ‘Gothic Aberdeen’ competition, we can’t wait to see how creatives breathe new life into the relationships between young and old, past and present, brutality and progress. How do you envisage the legacy of such a rich and troubled urban landscape? How will your voice echo against the weight of granite?

 

To enter, short stories between 3,000-4,000 words should be submitted as Word Documents or PDFs to WayWORD Festival by the 31st of July 2025. Entries will be judged anonymously and no correspondence will be entered into. To be eligible entrants must be resident in Scotland and over 16. 

 

Supported by Creative Scotland’s Multi-Year Fund, WayWORD is part of the WORD Centre for Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen.