May winners 2025 – adult writers

In May, we asked for 50 word fiction stories featuring an elephant.

Congratulations to the winners of our May competition. Feeling inspired? Have a go at this month's prompt.

Adult winner

Murray Stewart

All that remained of the matriarch were bleached bones too large for scavengers to carry away. Yet where her blood had seeped into the earth there was now a verdant oasis. As the herd passed by, following the annual rains, they lingered for a moment to remember.

Gaelic winner

Juliet Wilson

Bha mi a’ coiseachd le caraid anns an dorchadas tro làrach-campachaidh ann an Zimbabwe. Las sinn lòchran romhainn gus nathraichean a lorg air an t-slighe.

Gu h-obann thog mi an lòchran. Stad sinn sa bhad. “Seall!” thuirt mo charaid, “tha ailbhean ann!” Thionndaidh sinn agus ruith sinn air falbh.

Translated by The Gaelic Books Council

I was walking with a friend in the dark through a campsite in Zimbabwe. We lit a torch in front of us to spot snakes on the path.

Suddenly I lifted the torch. We stopped in our tracks. “Look!” my friend said, “there’s an elephant.” We turned and ran away.