Kellogg celebrates alumni talent in Creative Writing Competition 2025

Kellogg College is pleased to announce the winners of its fifth annual Creative Writing Competition, held in association with the Centre for Creative Writing.

This year’s competition took on added significance as it formed part of the celebrations marking the twentieth anniversary of the University’s Master of Studies in Creative Writing. Directed by Kellogg Fellow Dr Clare Morgan, the MSt programme has developed an international reputation for excellence since it was first offered in 2005. Alumni achievements include Booker Prize shortlisting, major publishing contracts, awards in poetry and drama, and a growing presence in non-fiction and literary criticism.

This year’s theme was ‘Celebration’, open to broad interpretation, and submissions were welcomed across a range of genres, including poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, drama and non-fiction.

The 2025 winners are as follows:

Red Thaddeus D. Miguel

First place: Held by Red Thaddeus D Miguel (MSc Evidence-Based Health Care, 2021), a lyrical and emotionally charged poem exploring grief, survival and quiet resilience in the context of loss and end-of-life care.

We asked Red what sparked the idea for his poem:

“This poem came from the memory of the first patient I lost. I was a very young doctor, still learning how to carry both science and sorrow. That moment stayed with me. Writing it down, years later, felt like a way to make sense of it and to honour it.”

Second place: 62 Banbury Road Letter by Alexander Fenn (MSc English Local History, 2021), a moving epistolary piece set in post-war Oxford, capturing the complex emotions surrounding VE Day with historical sensitivity, warmth and humour.

We asked Alex what inspired him to write his entry:

Alex Fenn

“As it was the 80th anniversary of VE Day this year, I was inspired to write a fictional letter in the voice of a wartime occupant of 62 Banbury Road, Oxford, who would have witnessed this national celebration. As a historian of everyday life in Britain during the Second World War, I have encountered numerous wartime letters that demonstrate a wide range of emotions, such a fear, boredom, frustration, grief, and hope. Quite often, deliberate and unintended humour can also be found, and I tried to reflect this in my entry.”

Kellogg College continues to be a centre for creative writing within the University, offering a regular programme of readings, events and workshops through the Centre for Creative Writing. The annual competition provides an important platform for emerging and established voices within the Kellogg community and reflects the College’s longstanding commitment to literature and the arts.

Dr Clare Morgan announcing the winners of the Creative Writing Competition 2025