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BLONDE
When he first saw her, she was twirling a lock of blonde hair around her finger. He fell in love. That night he slept with the memory of her hair on his mind; the next night, it was spread across his pillow. Time passed; after a while she started to tie her hair back with a worn elastic band. Then one day she was watching TV when he arrived home. He regarded her for a while in silence and then snapped, ‘Do you have to do that thing with your hair all the time?’
by first prize winner Anna-Louise Jeffery

Judges’ comment
Jeffery’s BLONDE, a standout winner selected unanimously, feels deceptively unhurried while in fact proceeding at lightning speed.

Anna Louise Jeffery and readers’ winner Jonathan Pam (pictured together above) each receive a phone, a year’s free broadband from Orange, and copies of the shortlisted books in the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Five runners-up each receive copies of the shortlisted books. Jonathan
Pam’s story and the 5 runner-up stories can be read here.

Thanks to everyone who entered, to judge Gautam Malkani and to The London Paper, Orange, and Arts Council England for working together to make the competition a success.