Brotherhood of St Laurence to award two women’s writing scholarships; expands Hope Prize pool to $17,500

The Brotherhood of St Laurence will award two Women’s Writing Career Development Scholarships, worth $5,000 each, as part of its second Hope Prize short story competition.

Women writers who enter the Hope Prize can nominate themselves for the scholarships, which will be awarded to ‘recognise the many additional challenges women face in our community’. Applicants are asked to provide a short statement on how winning a scholarship will help them further develop their writing skills, with winners chosen based on both the literary merit of the short story and their personal circumstances.

The total prize pool for the Hope Prize has also increased from $12,500 to $17,500. The prize for first prize has doubled to $10,000, with $4,000 awarded to a runner-up, $2,000 for third prize and $250 each for highly commended stories. A $500 prize will also be awarded to an emerging writer under 18 years old.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, the competition was first announced in 2015, with the aim of ‘exploring hope and resilience in the face of poverty and disadvantage’. Catherine Moffat won the inaugural prize in 2016 for her story ‘Better Homes and Gardens’.

For the second year in a row, the judging panel will comprise Cate Blanchett, Kate Grenville and Quentin Bryce.

The competition is open to stories of any genre, fiction or nonfiction, between 2000 and 5000 words. Entries close on 31 January 2018. For more information, click here.

Category: Awards Local news