A short story has no room to go wrong – it has to grab the reader and hold the reader every moment until its neat and artful conclusion. Speaking to keen writers, Jim Sakkas, on our judging panel suggests “When your story is polished and ready, why not send it to the 2016-17 EJ Brady short story competition?”
The EJ Brady short story competition is contested Australia wide often attracting entries from overseas. The “Mallacoota Prize” for a short story of up to 2500 words offers a 1st prize of $2000 AUD with the runner up receiving $300 AUD, the “Gabo Prize” for a very short story with a 700 word limit offering a 1st prize of $500 AUD and our new category the “Betka Prize” for a humorous short story with a 1000 word limit again offering a $500 AUD 1st prize.
| Named in honour of local poet Edwin James Brady (1869-1952) the competition recognises Mallacoota’s long standing literary and artistic traditions. Mr Brady’s accomplishments were rather varied, as Australian Dictionary of Biography lists his occupations as a agricultural writer, auto biographer/memoirist, biographer, journalist, newspaper editor, poet, short story writer and socialist! |
In its 21st year last year the winner the “Mallacoota Prize” was Julie Woodland from Wembley, WA for her story Bluebone Soup, the winner of the “Gabo Prize” for a very short story was Nicole Gouda from MonaVale NSW for her story Parish Picnic. These stories are published online at http://mallacootaartscouncil.com.au/
The judges will include Bruce Pascoe, award winning author of “Dark Emu” and “Fox a Dox”, Lyn Harwood, editor of the Babe is Wise, short story publisher, co author of “Cape Otway: coast of secrets.” Sue Hines author of short stories for younger readers “Spider Mania”, “Fright Night”, and young adult fiction “Out of the Shadows”, “The Plunketts” and “The Water Boys” joins them in the judging, with Ketzia Wood.
Winner of the Vogel Literary Award, Jim Sakkas continues to offer his assistance to the judging panel.
Information can be found on the website http://mallacootaartscouncil.com.au/ where writers can enter stories online and pay entry fees with direct deposit or Paypal. It is also possible to print an entry form and send a postal copy with a cheque. Entry fees remain at $12 AUD for the “Mallacoota Prize” and $8 AUD for the “Gabo Prize”, while entry into the new “Betka Prize” humorous short story category is $10 AUD.
The deadline for EJ Brady short story entries is Tuesday 28th February 2017.
