An Anglia Ruskin University lecturer's short story collection has won the Edge Hill Prize for the Short Story, the UK's only national award for single-author short story collections, launched three years ago by Edge Hill University.

Chris Beckett, who teaches on Anglia Ruskin University's creative writing courses, was nominated for his collection of science fiction stories 'The Turing Test', published in 2008 by Elastic Press. His book was voted top from a short list of five, beating books by Ali Smith, Anne Enright, Shena Mackay and Gerald Donovan. The award was presented at a ceremony at Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool on 4th July.

The quality of this year's entries was praised by Ailsa Cox, from Edge Hill University's Department of English and History, making Chris' success all the more outstanding. "We're thrilled by the range and quality of the shortlist," she commented. "Some of these names are already familiar from the Booker and the Orange Prize, while others are newer discoveries. Not many prizes put a science fiction author from a small press alongside the literary heavyweights. I'm especially pleased that there's so much humour in the writing - another great year for the prize."

The 14 stories that make up 'The Turing Test' feature, among other things, robots, alien planets, genetic manipulation and virtual reality, but their centre focuses on individuals rather than technology, and they deal with love and loneliness, authenticity and illusion, and what it really means to be human.

Speaking about his success, Chris, who is from Cambridge, said:
"I'm proud to have won in a field of such distinguished authors. I'm very pleased for myself obviously, but I am pleased also for the science fiction genre that the judges (none of whom was a science fiction reader) decided to chose this book. Science fiction is a great medium for exploring the world and playing with ideas, and its literary potential isn't always recognised."

Chris Beckett's first story was published in Interzone in 1990, and his stories have since appeared in Britain, the US and Russia. His novel The Holy Machine was published in 2004 by Wildside Press and his second novel, Marcher by Leisure Books, in 2008. He also writes books on social work.

This year's judges included James Walton, journalist and chair of BBC Radio 4's 'The Write Stuff'; Claire Keegan, last year's winner of the Prize and Mark Flynn, Vice Chancellor of Edge Hill University

Not content with just one prize, Chris also walked away with The Readers' Prize, which was judged primarily by Get into Reading, an organisation that gives people who might not normally think of joining a reading group a chance to enjoy stories and poems together.

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