Bridie Noonan wins EWF Speculate Prize

Bridie Noonan has won the 2026 Speculate Prize for Emerging Writers for “The Inbetween”.

Speculate Prize judges said, “Judging this award is both an honour and an exciting glimpse into the creative energy of emerging writers from around Australia – writers who celebrate curiosity and explore curiously, write boldly, create experimentally, and embrace the possibilities of both genre and form. ‘The Inbetween’ was a unanimous standout for the judges; a clearly realised and confident dive into an ‘other’ world that lingers with the reader.”

As winner of the Speculate Prize for Emerging Writers, Noonan receives $1,500 prize money, inclusive of a $250 stipend towards a week-long writing residency at the RMIT McCraith House on the Mornington Peninsula, as well as a free full pass to the 2026 National Writers’ Conference run by the Emerging Writers’ Festival.

Alina Ivanova’s “The Woodpecker” was highly commended, while the shortlisted pieces were “Sleepwalking” by Isaac Hogarth and “Oh What a Legacy” by Gigi Bone.

Presented by the Emerging Writers Festival (EWF) in partnership with RMIT University, the Speculate Prize for Emerging Writers is a developmental prize open to Australian emerging writers studying at VE or university who are keen to share short work that speaks to the otherness, complexity and expansiveness of “speculation” through literature in either content, genre or form.

Last year’s inaugural winner was Melissa King for her short work “The Bungalow”.

Category: Awards Local news