Twisted Stringybark Short Story Award 2012

The following announcements from Stringybark Stories have landed on the Melbourne Writers Social Group news desk:

Twisted Stringybark Short Story Award 2012

Nothing entertains a reader more than a good short story with a nifty twist at the end. Stringybark Stories is delighted to invite all writers to enter their best work in the Twisted Stringybark Short Story Award 2012. The maximum word length of your story is 1500 words; it must have some link to Australia (no matter how tenuous); and it must have a twist in the tail! There is over A$500 in prizes available, cash, plus publication for place-getters and highly commended stories. There is an entry fee of $9.75 (discounts for multiple entries).

Closing date 4 March 2012.  Details: www.stringybarkstories.net

Results of the Stringybark Australian History Short Story Award 2011 

On 28 December 2011, the judges announced the winning stories in the Stringybark Australian History Short Story Award 2011. From bunyips to war and from Ben Hall to boot-eating, the winning entries are now available in a new anthology Marngrook. The book is named after the winning entry, Marngrook, by Victorian writer, Sean Quentin Lee. The story is beautifully and poetically written (even if it is about football!) and it was the standout winner for three of the four Stringybark judges.

Second place went to Footsteps in the Dark by Elsie Johnstone. This story set at the time of the ‘Brown Out Murders’ that occurred in Melbourne during World War Two. It is a masterful story that has the reader sitting on the edge of their chair…

The Woman at the Back of the Room, the third-place getting story, by J.B. Rowley examines the passion of the suffragette movement and the reader is deftly drawn into the drama of one small moment in time.

A full list of winner and place-getters can be found on the website: www.stringybarkstories.net

Ada Cambridge Biographical Prose Prize 2012 and Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize 2012

Entries are now being accepted for The Ada Cambridge Biographical Prose Prize 2012 and Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize 2012. The prizes are open to any writers and poets who live, work or study in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

The Ada Cambridge Biographical Writing Prize was named after one of Australia’s finest colonial writers and is now, in its eighth year, a signature aspect of the Williamstown Literary Festival. The Poetry Prize is now entering its fifth year. Both prizes seek to support aspiring poets and writers of the western suburbs by exposing their work to a greater audience.

The competitions are ideal for up-and-coming writers who are looking to gain exposure for their writing, and to get their name out into the highly competitive industry.

Entries are accepted until Friday 2 March 2012 and will be announced as part of the Williamstown Literary Festival, 4 – 6 May 2012.

Entry forms and further details are available via the Williamstown Literary Festival website.