Inaugural ‘Seizure’ novella prize winner announced

3 June 2013 Books+Publishing

Melbourne-based author Jane Jervis-Read has won the inaugural Viva La Novella prize offered by Seizure literary journal for her novella Midnight Blue and Endlessly Tall.

Jervis-Read was announced as the winner of the prize in Melbourne on 30 May as part of the Emerging Writers’ Festival. Seizure said that her novella was ‘chosen out of a flood of submissions … was edited in secret and is now available in print and as an ebook’. Jervis-Read also receives a cash prize of $1000.

The print edition of Midnight Blue and Endlessly Tall is available for $14.99 from the Seizure website and selected bookshops via NewSouth distribution. The ebook is currently available for $9.99 from Amazon and will be added to the iBookstore soon.

Seizure, which is published biannually and is edited by Alice Grundy, launched the Viva La Novella prize in April 2012, calling for works of between 20,000 and 50,000 words based on the theme of ‘Origin’. Seven novellas were shortlisted for the prize and were then judged by Xoum publishing director Rod Morrison.

Grundy told Books+Publishing that Seizure will run the competition again this year, with submissions due to open at the end of June. However, this year Seizure will be looking for four novellas to publish as a result of funding from the Copyright Agency. ‘The 2014 Viva La Novella competition will involve the selection of four editors through a competitive process, who will then each pick a winner from the submissions and bring it to market, under Seizure’s mentorship and guidance,’ said Grundy.

For more information about the prize, visit the Seizure website here.

Category: Local news