The State Library of Queensland has announced the Young Writers Award 2021 winners.
The short story competition was presented in partnership with Griffith Review and was open to Queenslanders aged between 18 to 25. Each participant was required to write a short story of up to 2500 words. The winner of the competition received $2000 and the opportunity of publishing the story in Griffith Review, while runners-up received $500 each.
Ellen Vickerman, the winner of the competition was awarded for her stunning short story, Sun Queens. The judges commented that the story was confidently and evocatively written. It was written with a “vivid, palpable sense of place and impressive use of language”. Besides, Ellen utilised an effective writing style, which was considered the key strength of her story. Ellen is currently an MPhil candidate at QUT and she is working on a short story collection.
The first runner-up, second runner-up and third runner-up were Zarin Nuzhat (Friday), Ellie Kaddatz (Precious Cargo) and Eden Annesley (Halcyon) respectively. In finalising their results, the judges said they “were stuck by the breadth of voices and experiences captured in this year’s stories”.
The Young writers Award has been held by State Library of Queensland for more than 20 years. It aims to encourage young writers, thus enhancing the profile of Queensland’s emerging creative talent and creative career pathways. Arts Minister Leeanne Enoch said, “We recently launched Creative Together 2020-2030, a 10-year Roadmap to transform and renew Queensland through arts, culture and creativity, and these awards support the roadmap’s priorities including to share our stories and celebrate our storytellers.”
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