Match Point, a literary competition for unpublished short stories in London

Winning, losing, playing the game, common terms in sports competitions are also appropriate to describe many situations in real life: passing a test, succeeding in a job interview, getting a promotion are all occasions when you rejoice, celebrate victory. At the other end, the bitter taste of defeat for the test did not give the desired results.

In sports and in life there is that decisive moment in which everything plays out. It is the moment before victory or defeat, the moment in which one hopes for success and, at the same time, is dominated by the subtle doubt of not being able to achieve it. It is the moment when life changes, for a short time or forever. It’s “match point”.

Match Point is the symbolic title chosen by the Italian cultural association Il Circolo for the first literary competition, in Italian, in Great Britain. It is a competition for unpublished short stories, written in Italian, by adults based in the United Kingdom.

The jury consists of distinguished professionals: Benedetta Cibrario and Katerina Sovici, famous writers and winners of prestigious literary prizes, Olga Campoffrida, fencing champion and writer, Isabella D’Amico, communication expert and literary agent, Danielle DeRosi, scholar-founder and writer Paolo Nilli, well-known author of the Italian literature festival and one of the in London, and Marco Mancasola, founder of the Londra Skrief School, the Italian language creative writing school in London.

Londra Scrive is the organizer of the competition, with Il Circolo, which also benefits from the collaboration of the Italian Library and has received prestigious sponsorship from the Italian Consulate in London.

The jury will select three short stories that will win big cash prizes. Finalists will also be given a professional editing experience, provided by Londra Scrive, in preparation for the publication of short stories in two of the best Italian literary magazines online: cathedral Story Observatory last man, Literary, sports and cultural magazine.

The deadline for submitting works is 7/31/2022 and the awards ceremony will be held at the end of October.

The competition has already aroused much interest and lively curiosity in Italian society and in the Italian associations of the major British universities. It is an initiative aimed at supporting the benign efforts to promote the Italian language made by Italian institutions in Great Britain. The hope is that competitors who are not native speakers but who have learned to love Italian will also participate. What a “match point” for Il Circolo if the competition is to bring out a great new writer!

For more information: https://www.ilcircolo.org.uk/site/en/matchpoint.html