Joanne Graham wins Luke Bitmead Bursary 2012

Joanne's debut novel Lacey's House will be published by Legend Press next year, and she was also presented with a cheque for £2,500

Now in its fifth year, the bursary was set up to encourage struggling unpublished writers in honour of Legend Press's first published author, Luke Bitmead, who died at 34.

Legend's managing director Tom Chalmers said: 'Lacey's House is a beautifully evocative and powerful novel with great commercial potential. The judges were enthralled by Joanne's engaging writing style, and felt readers would be gripped by her powerful narrative style.'

Second place went to Stacey Matheson for Hospital Corners, and third to Andrew Stevens for The Poet.