'Human Heart' wins the 2025 Finchale Award for Short Fiction

Congratulations to Valerie O' Riordan, winner of this year's Finchale Award for Short Fiction for her story 'Human Heart' at this year's Northern Writers Awards.

The 2025 prize was judged by award-winning writer Preti Taneja and musician Paul Smith (of Maximo Park), and was set up by Benjamin Myers to help new and emerging writers from the North of England. It is facilitated by New Writing North.

"I’ve always thought that crafting a great story is just as hard – if not harder – than writing a novel," says Ben. "The prose has to do so much in work in such a limited space; the characters must come alive, their voices established…and ideally some sort of plot helps too. What Valerie O'Riordan has achieved in her short story ‘Human Heart’ really exemplifies the art-form for me. Within the limitations imposed by a strict word count she gives us real insight into the mind of her narrator as he embarks upon a blind date – his fears, his hopes, and his desires. It’s a simple set-up, but one which carries so much, and Valerie really conveys a heart-felt sense of human connection. I congratulate her on this story which is completely deserving of this year’s prize. Thank you to her for the wonderful reading experience, and to this year’s judges Preti and Paul, who have chosen well."

Valerie says: "I’m beyond thrilled to have won this year’s Finchale Award! It’s such an honour and I’m incredibly grateful to the judges. This is going to make a really massive difference to my writing practice over the next twelve months, and I can’t wait to get started."

Valerie O’Riordan grew up in Ireland, but has been based in Manchester since 2009. She holds an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, both from the University of Manchester, and she currently teaches at the University of Greater Manchester, where she is Programme Leader for English and Creative Writing. Her work has been published in The Lonely Crowd, Litro, LitMag, and Banshee, amongst other journals, and she has won the Bristol Short Story Prize (2010) and the O. Henry Prize (2019).

Previous winners of the Finchale Award are Abby Walker in 2024, judged by Fiona Mozley and Rob Doyle; Sarah Davy in 2023, judged by Zaffar Kunial and Adelle Stripe; and Jack Joslin in 2022, judged by Wendy Erskine and Benjamin Myers.