The Friday Night Live competition has been a highlight of the Jericho Writers Festival of Writing in York for many years. Attendees are invited to submit the first 500 words of a current project and six are selected to read their extracts to a judging panel of agents, in front of a live and lively after-dinner festival audience. The winner is decided by audience reaction, and judges feedback. As with almost everything else in 2020, the three-day festival in York had to be cancelled, but Jericho Writers pulled out all the stops and put together a magnificent three-month long online festival instead, the Summer Festival of Writing.
The Friday Night Live competition went online too, with two live semi-finals across the summer, and a live gala final, with two literary agent judges and a virtual audience vote to decide the winner by poll. I was delighted to make it through my semi-final heat and to the final. I received some glowing feedback from the judging agents and the audience (via the chat bar!) and the whole event was a great way to round off a tremendous festival. Congratulations go to the overall winner Carys Shannon with her powerful opening to her novel Truth Like Water.