BAME short-story prize goes to Lisa Smith

£1,000 award supported by the Guardian and publisher 4th Estate goes to Auld Lang Syne, which saw off a ‘startlingly strong shortlist’

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A short story about an elderly man behind bars on New Year’s Eve, which takes a subtle and sly look at ageing and masculinity, has beaten a strong field to take the Guardian 4th Estate BAME short story prize.

Auld Lang Syne by Lisa Smith scooped the award from a shortlist of six that was “startlingly strong”, according to Sian Cain, judge and Guardian books site editor. The story, which follows septuagenarian Rufus Samuels during an evening in jail after a fight with his much younger girlfriend, was, said Cain: “A perfect example of what the short story can do when the form is at its best: containing as much of an emotional blow as that of a 800-page novel, regardless of its brevity.”

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