2025 Creatives Flash Contest Winners
We received a fantastic response to our 2025 Creatives Flash Contests. Each submission demonstrated how the outdoors has the power to inspire us all in different ways. Take a moment to read through the winners in each of the four categories and use the links to see more on our website.
And as always, we would like to take this opportunity to once again thank The Highland Bookshop and The Fort William Mountain Festival for supporting this year’s contests and helping us showcase the work of so many fantastic creatives.
2025 Flash Poetry Winner – Grief by Ellie Stewart
Weak layers persist
buried in old snowpack
deep below the surface.
Hard to trigger
they remain unstable;
avalanching from thin spots or
round the edges …
Ellie Stewart writes poetry and plays, and facilitates writing workshops in many different settings. Living and working in Scotland, she loves the overlap between dance and climbing, and all manners of walking.
Instagram: @elliemstewart
2025 Flash Fiction Winner – Iolar sùil na grèine by Aila Taylor
A lone climber weaves through the mountain’s teeth. She crests another canine and pauses, hindered by the curious sensation that she is being watched. A westerly wind rakes through her hair as she gazes back across the Cuillins.
“Hmm,” she mutters to herself. “No one there.” …
Aila Taylor is a nature writer, climate activist, conservationist and expedition caver currently based in the Lake District. She primarily writes narrative non-fiction about mountains, caves and fragile landscapes, blending exploration with environmental awareness.
Instagram: @aila.e.taylor
Website: www.ailataylor.com
2025 Flash Visual Art Winner – Strata by Justine Ritchie
Often overwhelmed by the 360 degree landscapes that surround me, I can spend hours immersed in the wilds before raising my camera to my eye. I often venture outside with no specific intention in mind other than to wait and see what mother nature chooses to reveal to me. …
Justine Ritchie is a photographer based in the North West Highlands. Her work is inspired by the wild, elemental landscapes and seascapes of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, and reflects not only the natural world but also man’s interaction with the environment.
Instagram: @justine.ritchie
Website: www.justineritchie.com
2025 Flash Nonfiction Winner – A Walk up Beinn Damh in Autumn by Phyllis Richardson
Green is new; grey is old. To clamber this hill is to go back in time. The newest moment is in the lush emerald of moss and grass and pine bough. Pass then through russetty waves of fern and rushes that still hold recent summer light, heather pinks and purples clinging on through October winds, blips of sun-dappled memory. …
Phyllis Richardson is a writer who grew up in Southern California between the San Bernardino Mountains and the coast. She lives in London, teaches English literature and loves walking in Scotland, with a dip in a loch whenever possible.