100 x 100 Competition - the Winner!

Congratulations and £100 prize have gone to our Winter 100 x 100 competition prizewinner,  Laura Tapper, for her winning entry Take a Breath:

They say the pain is worth it, to feel the euphoria afterwards. For me it’s the goose-bumped anticipation of the moment before, standing by the silent water, with snow coated branches stretching their frozen fingers over my bobble-hatted head. I blow out a slow cloud and watch it drift away in the morning light. My finger runs around the right leg of my costume, a habit from my ten metre doggy paddle days at the local lido. Suddenly, I’m swimming and the cold that steals my breath still almost stops my heart. The difference is, this time nobody pushed me.

See the February issue of Link for the judge's comments.