The shortlists for the 2022 Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing (NPCW) have been revealed.
Nillumbik Shire Council received almost 500 entries from right around the country. Our expert reading panel has shortlisted 63 entries across six categories for consideration by the judges to select the overall winners.
Entries ranged from Haiku to genre-bending science fiction, intimate reflections on human relationships and much more.
Nillumbik Mayor Frances Eyre said that Council was thrilled so see so many entries; with talents ranging from brilliant young emerging authors, to well-established professional authors.
“The expert reading panel all remarked on the high quality of entries, and the very difficult process of shortlisting from this year’s entries,” Cr Eyre said.
The NPCW is awarded every two years and builds on the Shire’s strong tradition of supporting contemporary Australian writing.
Entries this year were accepted in the categories of ‘Fiction’ and ‘Poetry’, with ‘Open’, ‘Local’ and ‘Youth’ sections.
The Alan Marshall Short Story Award is presented to the best short story in the open section of the ‘Fiction’ category.
Winners will be announced at an official event on Saturday 28 May along with the launch of the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing 2022 Anthology featuring the winning entries.
The NPCW is presented in association with Yarra Plenty Regional Library.
To view a complete list of the shortlisted works, titles and authors visit: nillumbik.vic.gov.au/npcw
Our finalist judges:
Poetry
Cassandra Atherton is an international expert on the prose poetry form and an award-winning prose poet. Cassandra has authored and edited more than 30 critical and creative books and has been invited to edit 12 special editions of leading refereed journals.
Paul Hetherington is a distinguished Australian poet. He has published 16 full-length collections of poetry and prose poetry and has won or been nominated for more than 30 national and international awards and competitions, recently winning the 2021 Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize. Paul is Professor of Writing at the University of Canberra, head of the International Poetry Studies Institute (IPSI) and joint founding editor of the journal Axon: Creative Explorations.
Fiction / Alan Marshall Short Story Award
Tim Richards is a Melbourne-based writer, script consultant and screenwriting teacher. He is the author of three story collections. His latest book is Approximate Life: The Prince and Other Stories (Ligature, 2022).
Bec Kavanagh is a Melbourne-based writer and academic. She has written fiction and non-fiction for a number of publications including Westerly, Meanjin, Review of Australian Fiction and the Shuffle anthology.
