Spectator competition winners: contemporary reimaginings of A Christmas Carol

In Competition No. 3279, you were invited to submit an extract from a contemporary reimagining of Charles Dickens’s A ChristmasCarol. In 2018, the former children’s laureate Michael Rosen updated the novella – my ‘Ghostly little book’ as Dickens called it – for a 21st-century age of austerity; fast forward a few years and its themes and moral message strike more of a chord than ever.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. This week’s brace of entries was a spirit-lifting pleasure to judge, as were all your submissions over the course of the year. Thank you to veteran competitors and newbies alike.

The festive winnings of £30 each are awarded to those printed below. A Merry Christmas to you all.

‘I am the Ghost of Christmas,’ said the Spirit.

‘Hang about,’ said Scrooge. ‘Don’t you mean “Christmas Past”?’

‘Ah. No,’ it replied. ‘I’m having to do them all, since the other two went off home after Brexit.