BEGGARS can't be choosers. But local writer Ian Stuart was more than satisfied after picking up the £300 winner's cheque in a York literary competition.

His short story The Beggars Tale was adjudged the best entry in local publishing house ENDpapers' York Tales writing competition.

More than 40 local authors, including students, street performers, teachers, business consultants and journalists, contributed stories to the competition, inspired by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The best 20 are to be published at the beginning of December in an ENDpapers book, The York Tales.

Authors were invited to submit stories about modern life, set in York but inspired by Chaucer.

Ian, a retired English teacher-turned-Ghost Trails of York guide, wrote his about Nev, a homeless man whose encounter with a mysterious figure in a York church - St Laurence's in Lawrence Street - has unexpected results.

Ian got the idea from seeing homeless people huddled in doorways on his regular Ghost Trail walks. "I wondered what must it be like?" he said. "Not just the physical hardship, but the thought that anybody could put themselves through that."

He almost didn't send his story in, believing it wasn't good enough. So he was delighted to win. "I can't remember the last time I won a first prize. I'm delighted," he said.

Runners-up in the competition were David Darton, a part time strategy director at the Equal Opportunities Commission, for his story The Carriage Worker's tale; and York St John College student Ryan de Koning's The Tale Of Fred And Ginger.

York Tales editor Rachel Hazelwood said she was thrilled with the quality of the entries. "I was really impressed with the standard," she said. "It was very difficult to choose the 20 entries we wanted to go in.

"There will definitely be something for everyone in the book, and I think it will say a lot about York. There are some stories that really encapsulate the city itself, and others that capture the spirit of the York people. There is one, for example, The Actress's Tale, in which a famous actress comes to York for Ascot and she is put in her place by the people of York. I love that one!"

Updated: 08:37 Wednesday, October 20, 2004