Winners - King Lear Prizes 2020
Message from the Chairman of the King Lear Prize Committee
MONDAY 19TH OCTOBER 2020: Today I am delighted to announce the six winners of the King Lear Prizes. The King Lear Prizes started as a small-scale competition to give people a project to get stuck into during lockdown, but with over 14,000 entries from all across the United Kingdom, it has taken rather longer than we planned to get to our winners. It’s been worth the wait!
The quality of the work on display has been remarkable, and as you can see from our shortlists, the judging was a difficult task. All of our winners are over seventy and are not professionals in the category which they entered (with the exception of the Chairman’s Prize category). Their work is superb, and they show just what creative talent lies out there, often undiscovered or uncelebrated.
I’d like to thank our judges for their efforts, and I would also like to thank the volunteer team who have helped with organising the King Lear Prizes over the last seven months.
At the King Lear Prizes we believe in “doing, not just viewing”, and our prizewinners are brilliant examples of doing just that. I hope you enjoy looking through their winning entries, and I hope that they inspire you in your own creative projects.
Andrew Browning
Chairman, King Lear Prize Committee
Message from Gyles Brandreth, King Lear Prizes Judge to all entrants to the King Lear Prizes
SHORT STORY
Anne Powell with her work The Lengthened Shadow of a Man is History
What Our Judges Said…
“Congratulations to our winner in the short story category, Anne Powell. I thought that her “The Lengthened Shadow of a Man is History” was an outstandingly creepy little ghost story, in the unheimlich tradition of M R James. As with all good writing of this sort, she knew exactly how much to put in and exactly how much to leave out — and it’s a story that lodges uneasily in the memory. Bravo.”
Sam Leith is the Literary Editor of The Spectator magazine
A Bit More About… Anne Powell
Anne Powell is an amateur writer from a village near Beverley, East Yorkshire. She is the daughter of a textile manufacturer and one-time child silent movie star. She went to Southampton University in 1964, where she met her husband.
They have two sons. She was an English and drama teacher and gained an MA in Women and Literature in the mid-1990s. She has been entering short stories, novels and plays in competitions for years, hoping to attract the interest of an agent or publisher.
What Our Winner Said…
“To say I was surprised and thrilled when they rang to tell me I was the winner of the King Lear Prizes short story competition is an understatement. I felt like those writers who, stuck for an ending, finish off - ‘I woke up. It had all been a dream!’ I’m still pinching myself”
MUSIC
Mary Ann Ephgrave with her work Song for Jim
What Our Judges Said…
“Congratulations to Mary Ann Ephgrave, the winner of the King Lear Prizes music category. Mary Ann’s Song for Jim is a simple yet sincere and heartfelt song with a beautiful, lilting melody which lingers in the mind. I am sure that you will enjoy listening to it as much as I did.”
Julian Lloyd Webber is a cellist and the former Principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
A Bit More About… Mary Ann Ephgrave
Mary Ann Ephgrave is an amateur musician from Kilburn, north west London, where she has lived in her garden flat for more than 40 years. She grew up in South Africa, where she learnt to play the piano at school. But after a bad experience with a strict piano teacher affected her ability to perform, she did not pick up playing the instrument again until after her fiftieth birthday, when she says she started “channeling music”.
However, she was still unable to accurately perform the songs she composed, so had to enlist the help of a student from the Royal College of Music to play her music for her. Her late husband Jim supported her loyally throughout her musical career.
What Our Winner Said…
“This is the first time in the thirty years since I started writing that I have been recognised and it is beyond my wildest dream.
People over seventy, as we know, are too often marginalised and overlooked. The King Lear Prizes have created something very special indeed for us seniors – a unique chance to showcase our work and have it seen and heard.
Creativity is such a powerful healing force and I’m willing to bet that those of us who keep at it are happier, healthier and less of a strain on the NHS than those who spend all day watching telly.”
ART
Paddy Darby with her work Far from the Madding Crowd: Spring Walk
What Our Judges Said…
“Paddy Darby’s Work, Far from the Madding Crowd: Spring Walk captures our connection with nature which has strengthened during this pandemic, and displays an impressive use of colour and texture in her embroidery. The work immediately transports the viewer from lockdown out onto a spring walk in the wood. Congratulations to Paddy, and to all of our shortlisted entrants.”
Salma Tuqan is the Deputy Director of the Delfina Foundation and Jonathan Watkins is the Director of the IKON Gallery
A Bit More About… Paddy Darby
Paddy Darby is a 91-year-old keen embroiderer from the village of Bilbrook, near Codsall in South Staffordshire. Paddy Darby’s embroidery is inspired by a local walk she used to do in springtime with her late son and their dogs.
Paddy has lived in Bilbrook for more than 66 years, and began her lifelong love affair with all types of needlework after she was taught embroidery and crafts at a young age by her mother. Even today, she enjoys making sweaters for her family on her two knitting machines.
What Our Winner Said…
“When I heard the news, it took a while to sink in because I thought it had been announced earlier and I had missed the announcement. I was completely overjoyed and astounded, and still can hardly believe it.
My daughter had told me about King Lear Prizes, and because I had begun working on the picture, it gave me an extra incentive to finish it in order to enter, plus it helped take my mind off things during solitary lockdown.
I think the King Lear Prizes are a brilliant idea; they have helped sustain us older people during this unprecedented time, and given us something to aim at. In fact, it has inspired me to complete another embroidery.”
DRAMA
Ron Fernee with his work Stargazey Pie
What Our Judges Said…
“Thank you for the opportunity to read “Stargazey Pie.” With its clearly-drawn characters, specific themes and emotional momentum, the play packs a lot of punch into its 9 pages. Two men stuck in a predicament seeking solutions makes for good drama, and the deftness with which the story is conveyed keeps the story moving and engaging.
The conflict unfolds on the page, but also internally for both Nigel and Fred. What starts out as a pretty standard robbery blossoms into so much more, with Nigel’s deep-seated resentment of Fred due to years of overlooking his suffering.
All in all, a wonderful read, efficient and engaging. Thank you again for the opportunity to read it.”
Chris Jones is a filmmaker and writer, and is Creative Director at the London Screenwriters’ Festival
A Bit More About… Ron Fernee
Ron Fernee grew up in Florida where he was educated and graduated from the University of Florida with a BA in Theatre Arts. In 1971 he moved to London and has had a successful career as an actor.
The original inspiration for his work, Stargazey Pie, was a local news story in the Hampstead and Highgate Express, of a homeless man who actually tried to hold up a sub post office, using a gun made of pipe and gaffer tape.
What Our Winner Said…
“I entered the King Lear Prize, because I’ve long felt that there aren’t enough outlets for serious creative work by emerging artists over 70. I consider it to be an important prize and an honour to win the competition.”
POETRY
David Bramhall with his work Snape Maltings
Watch Gyles Brandreth read David’s Winning Work…
What Our Judges Said…
“Congratulations to all our King Lear Prizes poetry entrants. The scale of the creativity has been overwhelming!
I chose David’s poem ‘Snape Maltings’ as our winner because it evokes that ‘post-show’ feeling so well, with its rituals and emotions.
The poem is well thought through both in its technical aspects (the rhyme, language and structure) and in its imagery and mood. A poem to be proud of! Very well done!”
Gyles Brandreth is a writer, broadcaster, actor, former MP and now Chancellor of the University of Chester. His book Dancing By The Light of the Moon: How Poetry Can Transform Your Memory and Change Your Life is available for purchase online.
A Bit More About… David Bramhall
David Bramhall was originally a musician and for many years worked as a music teacher, conductor, arranger and choir-trainer. Latterly David founded and directed a well-known children's choir.
David lives in Harleston, a small market town in the Waveney Valley on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, and is married with two grown-up children and two grandchildren. Since retirement David has gravitated from music to the written word, and has self-published a number of non-fiction books, novels and short stories.
What Our Winner Said…
“This is going to make a big difference to me. Although I write prose continually, I have never taken very seriously the little verses I scribble from time to time and certainly never thought of myself as a poet. To have one of these scribblings singled out for such distinction is going to change my attitude entirely - perhaps I’m better than I thought?”
CHAIRMAN’S PRIZE
Open to Over 60s and Creative Professionals
John Wragg with his work Four - Worlds Window
What Our Judges Said…
“John’s work tells the story that we all know so well: of being stuck inside during the pandemic. Four - Worlds Window shows off his technical skill, with the layers of the image coming together.
The rays of sunlight give us all hope that we will soon emerge once more from our isolation.
Bravo to John, a worthy winner, and well done to all our other King Lear Prizes shortlistees!”
A Bit More About… John Wragg
John Wragg is an experienced artist based in Telford in Shropshire. Born in Stockport, John trained at the Salford School of Art followed by St. Martin’s School of Art and the Hornsey School of Art in London .
Much of John’s work is abstract and geometrical in appearance but his printmaking sometimes embraces representational imagery, as in 'Four-Worlds Window'. Whatever the subject matter, the emphasis always focuses on the spatial aspects of the image.
What Our Winner Said…
“‘Four-Worlds Window’ brings four spaces together, all present in the same place, at the same time. These are: the spectator’s space outside the window, the reflected spaces on the window and the two spaces behind and beyond the window.
Thank you to all at the King Lear Prizes for selecting my submission to win the Chairman’s Prize. I am delighted with the best news I’ve had during this challenging time we are all experiencing. ”
CHAIRMAN’S PRIZE
RUNNERS UP
Geraldine Aron with her work Teresa’s Green
A Bit More About… Geraldine Aron
Geraldine Aron was born in Galway. She spent fifteen years of her adult life in Zimbabwe and South Africa and is now resident in London. She is the author of twenty produced stage plays, eleven plays for television and radio and three screenplays – including a rewrite of Maestro for Franco Zeffirelli. Bar and Ger was included in Edinburgh’s Best Ten plays and was the cover story of Other Stages, USA.
Produced plays not listed in the Irish Playography include Mr McConkey’s Suitcase, Zombie, Mickey Kannis Caught my Eye, Joggers, The Spare Room, Why Strelitzias Cannot Fly, On The Blue Train, Olive and Hilary, The Shrinking of Alby Chapman, Rustlers, The My Way Residential and Teresa’s Green. Aron’s hugely acclaimed one-woman show My Brilliant Divorce has been performed all over the world, enjoying a record- breaking seventeen year run in Prague. It was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment in 2004 and released in 2018 as Brillantissime, a French feature film.
Frederick Naftel with his work Villancico for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra
A Bit More About… Frederick Naftel
Frederick Paul Naftel was born in Manchester in 1956. He graduated from Manchester University in 1978 and received a Fellowship in Composition from Trinity College of Music, London in October 1980. After working for a music publishing/record retailing company, Frederick became a Music Instructor for Manchester Education Committee, working at Parrs Wood High School and teaching percussion at a number of Music Centres.
Frederick's interest in composing began when he was fourteen and developed at University. Although largely self-taught, he considers himself to be an "eclectic" composer, able to write in many styles and formats, as befits the occasion.
Dorothy Jenkins with her work Sink or Swim: The Knitted Swimming Costume
A Bit More About… Dorothy Jenkins
Dorothy Jenkins was born in Liverpool and brought up in Bootle, one of the suburbs about four miles from the city centre. After school and teacher training at Chester College, Dorothy moved to London in 1975 and worked in retail, as a singing wench at Tower Hill, the British Tourist Authority and the NHS before retiring in 2014. Dorothy has a daughter and two grandsons who keep her busy. She is active in local amateur drama group the Hampstead Players, where two friends in particular - Hoda and Shereen have been encouraging her writing endeavours!