The Shortlist

You decide who gets published by Penguin. Take a look at the entries and vote for who you think has written the best short story about what matters to them. Vote for as many people as you like, and help us choose who gets in print.

• Harry Quainton

  Ah England
  
  Ah England,
  The best place on the planet,
  Ah England,
  But I moved away Damn it,
  
  Ah England,
  Home to the Royal Queen,
  Ah England,
  It is polished with Mr Sheen,
  
  Ah England,
  Full of different stuff,
  Ah England,
  The people in Bradford are very tough,
  
  Ah England,
  The friends that I miss so,
  Ah England,
  Ouch I hurt my toe,
  
  Ah England,
  The perfect place for me,
  Ah England,
  Full of friends and family,
  
  Ah England,
  A place of intelligence and class,
  Ah England,
  But with the weather, I think I’ll Pass
  
  

  Vote for Harry!

• Jacob Long

  Books
  
  The labour of love for the pages and pages of text that bring tears, glee, hate, love, and excitement. Accepted or rejected. The design. The illustrating. The checking. The proofing again and again. The first print and again the constant checking. Trees cut and mashed to pulp, pressed thin and dried to harbour the saintly wonder of words. Then printed faster than the eye, cut, trimmed, organised, layered and bound. Packed into their hundreds and shipped far across the earth for the ever loving and imploring eyes of the world, and me.

  Vote for Jacob!

• Bethan Short

  Peace of Mind
  
  Dew on the grass after a night of rainfall.
  Laughter in the morning, crisp and fresh.
  Teardrops in the cold, salty and tangy.
  Sky light in the summer, bright and beautiful.
  The song bird in the evening, melodies of splendour.
  Fires crackling merrily when snow lays thick.
  Revving of an engine, fast and furious.
  Accomplishment in the eyes of someone truly proud.
  Love in the heart of someone really close.
  Friendship so strong a thousand years can pass.
  The future, in the hands of people proud to bear it.
  The past, lost forever, every moment ticking by.
  

  Vote for Bethan!

• Abisha Coome

  Something that matters to me
  Is not a posh house or a tree,
  But something which is my passion
  It’s not the latest fashion.
  
  I have always wanted to act,
  And that, that is a fact.
  Ever since I was about three
  It’s all I’ve wanted to be.
  
  I will be standing in an audition,
  Pursuing my ambition,
  Reciting the script to ‘Broadway’,
  Hoping everything goes okay.
  
  When the audition’s over
  I’ll clench tightly my 4 leaved clover
  And if I win the role
  My dream job will be whole.

  Vote for Abisha !

• Deodosia Chen

  I Love
  
  A powerful rainbow, streaking licks of colour through the spongy snug clouds; and the streams of sunlight splitting flecks of rainbow from glass or raindrops. Greasy paper bags, alluringly stuffed with the sugar buns, all crowned with the many hundreds and thousands of bright sprinkles. I love the sweet, sharp scents of the hot rounded winds of summer, the chorus of hysterical laughter and the infectious smiles, lighting up crowds of sober faces. The unbroken feeling of the thought of eternal exuberance, the cherished feeling of love and the unspoken dreams of total harmony - all left untroubled.

  Vote for Deodosia!

• Juhi Patel

  Racism
  
  I find a copy of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
  Don’t know who it belonged to
  But read it anyway.
  
  Shocked by the racism
  Looked at the history of the South
  And found the Ku Klux Klan
  
  Flaming crosses
  Hideous masks hiding
  The cowards behind them.
  
  Wikipedia showed
  The black bodies swinging from the trees
  Strange fruit.
  
  Twisted
  The murderers laughing at their work
  Vigilantes.
  
  Glittering eyes
  Full of hate
  Atticus Finch held the mob back.
  
  Who will hold the mob back now?
  
  Looking at today
  The news shows the boy’s knife wounds
  So many dead already
  The killing continues.
  

  Vote for Juhi!

• Khuzaimah Batan

  I hate the way I miss you and the way you died on me. I hate the way I can’t sit on the worktop now and pour my thoughts to you. I hate the way everybody else does not understand the special relationship we had. I just hate, hate, hate the empty feeling I now have inside. Most of all I hate the empty space on top of the fridge where your plastic bowl used to be. No this is not a joke I truly think me and my fish were true friends indeed.

  Vote for Khuzaimah!

• James Hickman

  Crying For Roses
  
  Despairing, the sad news tears me apart.
  I’m left to forget all those wonderful memories;
  Those happy times spent with Nana.
  She talked of cruises, confused at UNO.
  She was simple, plain, and easy. Happy.
  But her roses were taken away one year. Sad.
  Planted just outside the house.
  She toiled to see their crisp, rich petals no more.
  Just like me like me.
  Times like this bring you closer.
  

  Vote for James!

• Alex Brown and Jemma Mears

  Falling in love.
  
  Laughing so hard your face hurts.
  A hot shower.
  No lines at the McDonalds.
  
  Hearing your favourite song on the radio.
  Laughing at yourself.
  Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
  Running through sprinklers.
  Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
  
  Sweet dreams.
  
  Watching the sunrise.
  Getting out of bed every morning and thanking God for another beautiful day.
  
  Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
  Waking up and realising you still have a few hours left to sleep.
  Your first kiss.
  

  Vote for Alex Brown and!

• Bartholomew Edge

  Questions
  
  Why do we speak loud to questions that don’t matter, but fall silent at the ones that do? Who defines what’s wrong and right? How can we know the past for certain when there’s nobody left to ask about it? Isn’t learning about discovery rather than memorising? Should we open our minds wide, or keep them shut from corruption? Are the deluded deluded, or do they see things clearer and we can’t accept that? Why do people say they’ve found the answers yet still fight over which ones are “correct”?
  
  Why can’t we just admit that we can’t know everything?

  Vote for Bartholomew!