The Oxford Review's £1,000 Prize in Literary Excellence Goes To....

3,000 Entries-We Finally Have a Winner

Jake Kendall has officially been awarded` The Oxford Review’s £1,000 Prize in Literary Excellence for his forthcoming November article The Parisian. 

After combing through over 3,000 entries—which flooded into our Dousumo in the very few weeks submissions were open—we were delighted to discover Mr. Kendall’s short story The Parisian.

The Parisian is a spirited story of adventure nested amid masked balls, dazzling theatres, the oppressive Lycée Louis-le-Grand and something no artist can live without—rebellion. Our unlikely truant is none other than Edgar Degas. The story brilliantly portrays him as adventurous and sometimes rebellious young boy and traces his artistic awakening.

His harsh living conditions at Lycée Louis-le-Grand sharply contrast to the freedom of the more tempting glitter of the Parisian nightlife.

It also possesses something that The Oxford Review simply cannot live without—humour.

So, please join us in congratulating Jake Kendall whose wit and imagination have earned him The Oxford Review’s Excellence in Literature honour.

And really, don’t be snide, poke him, follow him, send him a message or something to let him know that you are proud of him.

Author Bio:

Jake Kendall is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh's MSc programme in Creative Writing, and he continues to live and work in the city. His work takes much inspiration from the visual arts. His debut collection of prose, "The Vanitas & Other Tales of Art and Obsession" (Neem Tree Press, 2024), refracts contemporary anxieties through the timeless imagery of Bosch, van Gogh, Géricault and others. He is also a theatre and arts writer for the Skinny Magazine in Scotland.