The Hope Prize, the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s national short story competition, is open for entries

The prize aims to explore resilience in the face of poverty and disadvantage, encouraging Australian writers to look beyond common stereotypes to investigate the strengths that people show in dealing with hardship, whose voices are rarely heard.

Short stories entered for The Hope Prize can be fiction or fact. Whatever the genre, the story submitted must convey the experience of people facing hardship in their lives.

The total prize pool is $17,500, and two Women’s Writing Career Development Scholarships — of $5,000 each — will also be awarded.

Authors must be Australian residents and entries must be between 2000 and 5000 words. The closing date for entries is January 31, 2018.

The Hope Prize was made possible by the generosity of the late Prudence Myer and the support of her family, as well as with the support of Simon & Schuster — which published the Hope anthology of the winning stories from the first competition — and Readings book retailer.

Judges

The eminent judges for the first competition are again judging The Hope Prize. They are former governor general Dame Quentin Bryce, actor Cate Blanchett, and author Kate Grenville.

Prizes

The prizes for the competition are:

First prize— $10,000

Second prize — $4,000

Third prize — $2,000

Highly commended stories — $250

Award for an emerging writer under 18 years — $500

Women’s Writing Career Development Scholarships

Two Women’s Writing Career Development Scholarships — of $5,000 each — will be awarded to recognise the many additional challenges women face in our community. The patron of the scholarship hopes that the scholarships will give two women a special opportunity to thrive.

Please see www.bsl.org.au/events/the-hope-prize for competition guidelines and entry form.

Email: shortstory@bsl.org.au