THE winners of the first Gazette web site thisisthelakedistrict and Word Market E Short Story and Poetry Contest were announced at Word Party 3, Ulverston.

The winners are the short story My First Lover and I Were Like Wood, by Mollie Baxter, from Morecambe, and the poem, Trench, by Elizabeth Burns, from Lancaster.

"With more than 40 entries, coming from as far away as Australia, we found both the volume and strength of the writing showed a great amount of talent from our global writing community," said The Westmorland Gazette web editor, Kate Whiteside.

"They all tackled the set theme of elements - some were stronger than others," said Adrian Mullen, Gazette arts reporter and one of the judges. "They all used their imagination, which is what made selection challenging."

"Each writer had approached the subject in a unique and original way and the entries for the poetry contest were of a consistently high standard," said Linda Graham, Word Market project co-ordinator and one of the poetry judges. "Judging proved to be far more difficult than any of us had imagined."

Runner-up in the poetry section, Mary O'Brien, from Australia, emailed to say: "I'm delighted to have done so well in my first international competition. I'm looking forward to reading the winning entry online. It's wonderful to have access to you."

Judges from the local writing community included South Cumbria Poet Laureate Lucy Crispin and Wordsworth Trust writer in residence Owen Sheers. Prizes were supplied by The Bookshop at Tinners' Rabbit, Ulverston; Word Market; and the Gazette web site.

The next E Short Story and Poetry Contest will focus on the theme Space'. Details were announced yesterday (Thursday) at Word Party3 and registration details will be posted on the web sites www.thisisthelakedistrict. co.uk in the Artists in Residence section and www.word-market.co.uk in the ESSP 2005 section.