'Master' of short story Sarah Hall becomes first to win BBC prize twice

The Grotesques, an unsettling story exploring privilege in a university town, wins the £15,000 national short story award

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Sarah Hall has become the first writer to win the BBC national short story award twice, with judges describing her as a virtuoso of the form. Hall, who previously took the £15,000 prize in 2013, won the annual competition again on Tuesday night for The Grotesques, a “timeless and unsettling” story that explores privilege, inequality and mother-daughter relationships in a university town. The prize, which is supported by Cambridge University, is initially judged blind.

“In perhaps the strongest field in the history of the award, Hall’s story still stood out,” said chair of judges and Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland. “A timeless, unsettling story rendered in exquisite prose, The Grotesques yields more with each reading, offering layer upon layer of meaning. It is the work of a writer who is not only devotedly committed to the short story genre but has become a master of it.”

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