Peter Carey Short Story Award
Moorabool Shire Council and Moorabool Writers Craft are proud to announce the 2018 Peter Carey Short Story Award. Born and raised in Bacchus Marsh, Peter Carey is arguably Australia’s greatest living writer. The author of fourteen critically acclaimed novels and four works of non-fiction, Carey has won the Miles Franklin four times, and the Man Booker twice. Early in his career Carey published two short story collections of rare and startling power—The Fat Man in History and War Crimes—both of which remain, forty years on, unrivalled in their mastery of the short story form. It seems only natural to name this award after one of Moorabool’s (and Australia’s)most gifted and imaginative storytellers.
The award is for short stories between 2000 - 3000 words, and is open to all Australian residents.
Longlisted entries will be judged by Jane Rawson, author of the novels A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists and From the Wreck, as well as the Seizure Viva La Novella Prize-winning Formaldehyde. Rawson’s short fiction has been published widely, in places such as Overland, Sleepers Almanac, Review of Australian Fiction, Griffith Review, and Best Australian Comedy Writing. Rawson’s weird and wonderful fictions, emotionally charged and endlessly inventive, make her a perfect judge for this award.
The winning entry receives $1000, while the runner-up wins $500. First and second prized stories will also be published in the spring 2018 issue of Meanjin. Both stories will receive Meanjin’s standard contributor fee for their work. An extract from the winning story will also appear in The Moorabool News.
Submissions open Thursday February 1st and close 6pm on Monday March 26th 2018. Entries will be accepted via online application only and will be judged blind, so please, no names on your work. The entry fee is $10 per story and you may enter as many times as you like. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know immediately if your piece has been accepted elsewhere. See our Terms & Conditions for further details.
The longlist will be posted on our website in early May, while the winner and runner-up will be announced at an awards ceremony held at the Bacchus Marsh library on Saturday June 2nd 2018.
Good luck to everyone. We can’t wait to read your stories.
Peter Carey Short Story Award 2018 Terms and Conditions
1. Applicants must be 18 or over and be residents of Australia.
2. Work must be between 2000 and 3000 words.
3. Please use 12pt. Times New Roman, double spaced with 2.5cm margins
4. Applications must be submitted online; hard copy submissions will not be accepted.
5. Applications will be judged anonymously. Please don't include your name in the attachment.
6. Entries will be independently judged. The judges' decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
7. First and second prize entries will be published in the spring 2018 issue of Meanjin and agreement for publication is a condition of entry. An extract from the first prize entry will also appear in The Moorabool News.
8. The entries must not have been published or accepted for publication by a recognised publisher, in print or online. (Please note: this does not include community publications, local independent publications or blogs. If your piece has been published in such a publication you are still eligible to enter the competition.)
9. Entry is to be paid via the website and is $10 per story.
10. Multiple entries and simultaneous submissions are fine.
11. We are unable to accept entries or notify entrants that do not follow entry guidelines.