After many months of hard work, long hours and little sleep, we are very excited to announce that "Gem Street" will soon be available for purchase. We'll be adding a new page containing ordering information shortly.
We want to thank the authors whose remarkable stories make up this very special book for their commitment and collaboration during an intense and focused time. And thank you to our friends and family for the ongoing support.
Deborah
Due to the high standard of stories entered into our first annual International Short Story Competition, we wish to award the following Honourable Mentions. To everyone who entered and to those on this list we thank you and wish you all the very best for the future.
Emigration: reflections on loss Marina Byrne
The Holburn Christopher Catley
Coffee Cake Jennifer Cox
Countdown to Glory Noreen Cussen
Twenty To Eleven Catherine Gleeson
Just Rewards Caroline Graham
The Industrious Frankie Wall Joey Hehir
The Shawl Brian Kirk
Leaving Dawn Lowe
Family History John (Ron) Lynch
A Walk Maylena McEvoy
Annemarie’s Home Truth Peter McGinnis
Walking among Ruins in Babylon Alan McMonagle
A Death in the Family Sarah Martin
What’s Done is Done Emma Nolan
Jeremy Siobhan O’Tierney
The Recipient Thomas Pitts
The Takeover of a South American Prison Shiko
Warning Signs Judy Walker
Orange as in jaded orange and not those
deep tangerine oranges Margaret Zheng
We've added a new page. To see the list of Memorial Prize winners for the first collection of stories to be published in "Gem Street" please go to the Prize Winners page.
We will post notice of the Long-Listed stories awarded an Honourable Mention on the News Page soon.
In the meantime, we are flat out and forging ahead with our preparations to bring the anthology from concept to published work, but not too busy to stop and wish everyone a very chocolate-covered....Happy Valentine's Day.
Deborah
_ We’re back and would like to thank everyone for their patience this month while we dealt with technology issues.
The decision to select the following stories for the Long List was not easy, nor was it straightforward.
It is not something we took lightly in any regard.
Choosing to write takes guts. It is a game of perseverance. For most of us the discomfort and fear of sending out work is great and because of this we treasured every story we received. It has been an honour reading them.
Labello Press is a labour of love and because this first anthology is a memorial to my father, it is dear to us. Your involvement and support is greatly appreciated.
Due to publishing guidelines and page limitations this first time around, we sincerely regret that we are only able to select eleven finalists.
But please bear with us. We are committed to creating as many opportunities for writers as possible and our aim is to increase the number of finalists for the next and subsequent anthologies.
We are also planning additional publishing opportunities for writers including the acceptance of short story collections and manuscripts by single authors. We will keep you posted.
For now, we are pleased to announce the Long List. Reaching this point in the competition is a huge accomplishment.
Congratulations to:
The Woman in Her Head Carol Brick-Stock
Cake, Bang and Elm P.W. Bridgman
Folie a Deux Paul Burns
Emigration: reflections on loss Marina Byrne
The Holburn Christopher Catley
OX Christian Cook
Coffee Cake Jennifer Cox
Countdown to Glory Noreen Cussen
The Trotternish Ox-men Zoe Gilbert
Twenty To Eleven Catherine Gleeson
Just Rewards Caroline Graham
Animation Evan Guilford-Blake
The Industrious Frankie Wall Joey Hehir
The Locust Years Helen Kampfner
The Shawl Brian Kirk
Leaving Dawn Lowe
Family History John Lynch
A Walk Maylena McEvoy
Annemarie’s Home Truth Peter McGinnis
Walking among Ruins in Babylon Alan McMonagle
The GyPSy Line Michael Madigan
A Death in the Family Sarah Martin
What’s Done is Done Emma Nolan
As Grey Sky and Sea Blend Noel O’Regan
Jeremy Siobhan O’Tierney
The Recipient Thomas Pitts
The Takeover of a South American Prison Shiko
For the Children Steve Wade
Warning Signs Judy Walker
Apples Wynn Wheldon
Orange as in jaded orange and not those
deep tangerine oranges Margaret Zheng
In the next few weeks we will select the Short List Finalists to receive one of the Leonard A. Koval Memorial Prizes and to appear in our first issue of “Gem Street.”
Again, heartfelt congratulations and warm thanks.
Hope you are all well.
Deborah
Labello Press's International Short Story Competition is now closed to entries.
Thanks to everyone who has submitted work to be considered for publication in this first and very special edition of "Gem Street."
We treasure each of these stories because we know the tremendous amount of work that goes into crafting short fiction. We understand the joys but also the frustration and long hours, the rewriting and hair-pulling faced by writers each time they contemplate the page.
For us the tough part has begun; selecting from the broad range of high-calibre stories received.
Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year.
It has come to our attention that some entries received for our Short Story Competition have been previously electronically published and are available to the general public for reading.
Anyone yet to submit an entry should bear this in mind as sending us anything already published will lead to automatic disqualification.
Thank you.
Deborah.
With only 8 days left until our Short Story Competition closes for this year, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone for their support and to the wonderful writers who have graced us with their stories.
A special thanks to Thomas Crosbie Group for their bountiful advertising, to Martin at www.write4all.ie, to Pam at National Association of Writer's Groups, to the libraries and writers' groups across the globe for their support and enthusiasm for the competition, to Carol at Kudos, to Sally the Arts Officer at South Tipperary County Council, Michael Clarke at ClonmelOnline.ie, The Kilkenny People, The Nationalist, The Kerryman, our friends and family for the ongoing rah-rah-rahs, all of the bloggers who have lent a hand including Louise Philips for her post and tweets and to everyone who has retweeted, mentioned or otherwise given us a big thumbs up.
And thanks to Bryan Murray for coming on board as our fabulous Guest Judge and to my dear father, the late Len Labello for his inspiration and support, his endless friendship and love.
Happy Holidays to you all and a maaahvalous New Year.
Great news! We are excited, thrilled, and honoured to announce that multi-talented Irish Stage and TV actor Bryan Murray will be joining us as our very special Guest Judge for our inaugural International Short Story Competition.
With such a busy schedule, we are grateful that he is making himself available to assist us in the exciting launch of this yearly event.
Please visit our Submission Guidelines page for more information on Bryan's career to date.
Remember, if you're sending your submission by post we will accept it post-stamped right up to 31st December.
Deborah
We're now into the final month accepting submissions for our annual anthology 'Gem Street.'
Just a reminder that the closing date for the competition is midnight 31st December. If you are using our postal option, your submission must be postmarked by this date.
We want to thank those of you who have already sent in a story and look forward to receiving more in the coming weeks.
We will announce the Long-Listed stories in January (date to be confirmed) with the Short-Listed winners following at the end of February.
Hope you are all having a lovely Autumn.
Deborah
We have also added a postal option for submissions:
Labello Press c/o Unit 4C Gurtnafleur Business Park, Clonmel,
County Tipperary. Ireland.
Include your entry fee in cash or
enclose your paypal reference number.
Also, coming soon, full details of The Anatomy of Writing Worshops in Ireland, commencing January 2012.
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