Alice Ash, a Brighton author has won the Edge Hill reader’s choice award for her debut book, a short story collection, The Argus, reports.
Paradise Block was selected by students and staff at Edge Hill University, Lancashire.
Alice will now receive £1,000 prize money for the book, published during the pandemic.
“I sometimes felt like maybe I’d dreamt the whole thing,” said Alice.
“Hearing that I’d won the prize made the whole experience come alive for me – it has been incredibly fulfilling and I’m so grateful to the readers for selecting my book.”
The awards were founded in 2006, and are the only annual group of prizes for published, single-authored collections of short stories in the UK.
“As the Edge Hill Prize was the most prestigious short story prize I’d ever heard of, I wanted to nervously throw my hat in and I’m so glad I did because this has been a very happy experience for me,” added Alice.
