Shortlists announced for national writing prize
Published on 04 December 2023
The shortlists for the 2024 Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing (NPCW) have been revealed.
The Writers Victoria reading panel has shortlisted 65 entries from more than 550 entries across the various categories for consideration by the judges to select the overall winners.
Nillumbik Mayor Ben Ramcharan said we received a wide range of submissions from across Australia, from a diverse range of age groups.
“We’ve heard from Writers Victoria that stories covered a range of subject matter from family life, self-discovery, technology, coming of age, and social issues,” Councillor Ramcharan said. “In particular, the reading team were impressed by the powerful and beautifully crafted narratives.”
The NPCW is awarded every two years and builds on the Shire’s strong tradition of supporting contemporary Australian writing.
The Prize offers contemporary writers an opportunity to win cash prizes and to profile their work.
Entries this year were accepted in the categories of ‘Short Story’ and ‘Memoir’, 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 ‘Short Story’ category.
The winners will be announced at a public award event and anthology launch on 4 May 2024.
To view a complete list of the shortlisted authors, categories and titles, visit: nillumbik.vic.gov.au/npcw
Our finalist judges:
Memoir
Eloise Grills
Eloise is a writer and artist living on Dja Dja Wurrung country.
Her work has been published by journals both here and overseas, including The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Rumpus and Meanjin.
Her illustrated memoir, big beautiful female theory, was shortlisted for the 2023 Stella Prize, the Indie Book Award for Illustrated Nonfiction and highly commended for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award.
Eda Gunaydin
Eda is a Turkish-Australian essayist and researcher whose writing explores class, capital, intergenerational trauma and diaspora.
You can find her work in the Sydney Review of Books, HEAT Magazine, Meanjin and elsewhere. She has been a finalist for a Queensland Literary Award and the Scribe Nonfiction Prize.
Her debut essay collection Root & Branch: Essays on Inheritance (NewSouth Publishing) won the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Matt Richell Prize for New Writer of the Year at the 2023 ABIAs.
Short Story / Alan Marshall Short Story Award
Dan Hogan
Dan (they/them) is a writer from San Remo, NSW (Awabakal and Worimi Country). They currently live and work on Dharug and Gadigal Country (Sydney).
Dan's debut book of poetry, Secret Third Thing, was released by Cordite in 2023. Dan’s work has been recognised by the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, Val Vallis Award, XYZ Prize, Harri Jones Prize, Woollahra Digital Literary Award, and a Next Chapter fellowship.
Dan’s fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in Meanjin, Overland, Going Down Swinging, and The Guardian, among others. In their spare time, Dan runs small DIY publisher Subbed In. More of their work can be found at their website.
Rijn Collins
Rijn is an award-winning Melbourne writer with over one hundred short stories published in anthologies and journals, performed at literary festivals, and broadcast on Australian and American radio.
In 2016 she won the inaugural Sarah Lawrence Award for International Audio Fiction in New York. In 2021 she won the Strange Days Writing Award judged by Helen Garner.
Her collection of memoir, ‘Voice’, was published in 2021 by Somekind Press. Her debut novel, ‘Fed to Red Birds’, was published in 2023 by Simon and Schuster, and was inspired by her writing residency in Iceland.
Her current work is a novel set in Melbourne’s western suburbs, drawing on Gothic themes in an exploration of identity and intimacy. She lives in Melbourne with her husband, step-daughter, and three-legged cat.