The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2010

New Zealand's most distinguished novelist and poet, C K Stead, aged 77, won the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for 'Last Season's Man.' The winner was announced at an awards dinner at The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on Friday 26 March 2010.

'Last Season's Man' is set in Croatia where a young writer criticizes a hugely respected elder in an article, bruising his ego and damaging his reputation among the intellectual community. The bitter-sweet ending reveals who has the last laugh.

Judge Hanif Kureishi commented:

 "Last Season's Man" is a wry, perceptive look at rivalry and love. It was a pleasure to read, and is a fine example of how a short story should be constructed and written. It is a dignified and apt choice for the first occasion of the prize.

C K Stead commented:

 I was excited by the idea of this Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Award - treating the short story with the kind of seriousness it has received for example in France; and I'm immensely pleased and grateful to have won it.

'Last Season's Man' was published in The Sunday Times Magazine and online on Sunday 28 March 2010.

Read an interview with C K Stead about his win

The shortlist for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2010 was announced on Sunday 7 March 2010.

The shortlisted writers were from four countries in three continents: England, Wales, USA and New Zealand.

Judge A S Byatt commented about the shortlist:

 It was quite a task for us to make the final selection from such a huge entry but that choice is a testament to the liveliness and new inventiveness of the form. We had wonderful examples of polished conventional stories and others written with new kinds of ideas.

Will Cohu 'Nothing But Grass'

Cohu's love of the countryside- he is an environmental journalist and the author of Out of the Woods: The Armchair Guide to Trees- informs his intensely imagined story of an accidental murder in the Lincolnshire countryside.

Joe Dunthorne 'Critical Responses to My Last Relationship'

Still only 28, and the youngest of the shortlisted authors, Dunthorne is already the author of one prize-winning novel, Submarine (2008). Fresh, crisp and very funny, 'Critical Responses to My Last Relationship' is the caustic account of a music journalist's coming-of-age and his infatuation with Indu, a member of a startlingly experimental music group called Dead Rails.

Adam Marek 'Fewer Things'

Adam Marek is used to being on shortlists - his collection Instruction Manual for Swallowing (2007) was nominated for the Frank O'Connor Prize, and he has been a Bridport prize-winner twice. An intense and subtly crafted story, 'Fewer Things' explores the awkward relationship of a father and his lonely son, and their attempts to save a colony of terns on a Scottish island.

C K Stead 'Last Season's Man'

The veteran of the shortlist at 77, and the author of 11 novels, two collections of short stories and 15 books of poetry, CK Stead is New Zealand's finest living writer. Immaculately crafted, 'Last Season's Man' tells of the intense, venomous rivalry between two Balkan dramatists.

David Vann 'It's Not Yours'

Born in Alaska, and a professor of English at the University of San Francisco, David Vann won near-universal plaudits last year for his short-story collection Legend of a Suicide. Full of energy, humour and the most haunting prose, 'It's Not Yours' tells of a young boy's hunting expedition with his uncle after the death of his father.

The 20 longlisted writers and the titles of their short stories were:

•    Richard Beard 'James Joyce, EFL Teacher'
•    Nicholas Best 'The Souvenir'
•    Sylvia Brownrigg 'Jocasta'
•    John Burnside 'Slut's Hair'
•    Will Cohu 'Nothing But Grass'
•    Joe Dunthorne 'Critical Responses To My Last Relationship'
•    Jackie Kay 'Reality, Reality'
•    A L Kennedy 'Saturday Teatime'
•    Adam Marek 'Fewer Things'
•    Charles Mosley 'Constraint'
•    Chris Paling 'The Red Car'
•    Ron Rash - Burning Bright'
•    Simon Robson 'Will There Be Lions?'
•    Kay Sexton 'Anubis and the Volcano'
•    Helen Simpson 'Diary of an Interesting Year'
•    C K Stead 'Last Season's Man'
•    Rose Tremain 'The Jester of Astapovo'
•    Gerard Woodward 'Legoland'
•    David Vann 'It's Not Yours'

Judge Hanif Kureishi commented about the longlist:

 This has been a fascinating and stimulating exercise.  I've learnt a lot about what people are thinking and writing about at the moment. That for me was the pleasure of reading the longlist. We applaud the Sunday Times and EFG Private Bank for their financial support of this venture.

The judges chose from 1,152 entries.