Moorabool council is just weeks away from naming this year’s best entries in the annual Peter Carey Short Story Awards.
Running in its ninth year, the competition accepts short stories between 2000–3000 words and is open to all Australian residents.
Awards will be offered to the best local entry along with first and second place, and according to the council, it has received about 300 stories submitted from writers all across the country since entries opened in February.
A longlisting panel of writers Brooke Dunnell, Eugen Bacon, and Gillian Hagenus narrowed the submissions to 15 entries, then narrowed to seven by head judge and writer Andrew Roff on May 29.
The shortlisted titles are Body Pillow by Jane O’Sullivan, City of Light by Rebecca Burton, Lymets! by Hugo Mathers, Pulau Berhala by Omar Musa, The Book of Empirical Observations by Amanda Hildebrandt, We Won Tickets to the Waterpark in a Radio Competition by Jamie Castellas, and Well Past Milking Hour by Patrick Eades.
The awards ceremony will also coincide with the Moorabool Young Writers Awards – a local competition that aims to promote a love of writing in the region and recognise writing prodigies.
In its seventh year, the Young Writers Awards will be judged by local writers Jem Tyley-Miller and Wayne Marshall.
This year’s award ceremony and afternoon tea will be held at the Lerderderg Library on Saturday, June 14 in Bacchus Marsh, where there will also be an announcement relating to an upcoming art exhibition.
Bookings for the event are essential.
