Helen Dallas Wins Richard Hillary Creative Writing Prize

Postgraduate Helen Dallas has been named the winner of this year's Richard Hillary Prize for creative writing. Her winning entry, ‘In Just Twelve Weeks’, is a dystopian story about the beauty industry, aging, and family dynamics.

The annual competition was established in memory of the late Richard Hillary, former member of Trinity College and author of The Last Enemy, which was a bestseller after the Second World War.

The Hillary Prize, worth £500, is awarded for the best piece of creative writing by a Trinity student. This year's competition was judged by Elleke Boehmer, Professor of World Literature in English, Wolfson College, Dr Kantik Ghosh and Dr Stefano-Maria Evangelista, Fellows in English at Trinity College.

Helen Dallas is in the fourth year of her DPhil in English at Trinity; she says of winning the prize: ‘I couldn't quite believe it when I heard my story had been selected - it's a real honour, and has been a huge confidence boost for my writing! I've loved stories for as long as I can remember, and have always been scribbling away. I'm lucky to have been given lots of encouragement by my loved ones (I'm happy to say my relationship with my parents is very different to my main character's!), and it means so much to get this encouragement and support from college too, thank you very much!’

Her story can be downloaded to read here: In Just Twelve Weeks