Based on the theme "Inspired by Jane Austen", the third year of the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation short-story writing competition attracted a high standard of entries, which were read by a special panel of judges including Susannah Harker (Jane Bennet, BBC Television Pride & Prejudice 1995), Natalie Jenner (International best-selling author of The Jane Austen Society and The Bloomsbury Girls) and Helena Kelly (writer, academic, and author of Jane Austen–The Secret Radical), to choose the final three short stories.

The stories were published online for a public vote to choose the overall winner. The winning story, "The Boxed Set" by Sheila Walker, captures the extraordinary reach of Jane Austen and the connections we have all made through our shared love of her work. "Finis" by Penny Faulkner beautifully imagines Jane’s last days through the eyes of three women, and "Mrs Darcy’s Needle" by Harriet Bradshaw skillfully tells a family story spanning decades through the eyes of a sewing-machine needle. Narrated by multi-award-winning Jane Austen narrator Alison Larkin.

Run by volunteers, the Foundation was started by Jane Austen’s family in 2014 to connect through literacy and support literacy in developing communities.