The 2024 Best Australian Yarn competition in partnership with Seven West Media is now underway, giving published and amateur writers the chance to share in an $80,000 prize pool across eight categories, with $50,000 going to the overall winner.
Education provider Navitas has again partnered with Seven to sponsor the competition, which has attracted more than 10,000 submissions since its inception in 2022.
Seven West Media’s new national platform The Nightly is a supporting partner, together with the WA branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, Writing WA, the Department of Premier and Cabinet of WA, Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage of WA, and the Perth Comic Arts Festival.
For the first time, prizes will be awarded for the best Comic Story, both in the general section and in the two youth categories.
Australian romantic fiction writer, Rachael Johns, has joined returning judges Robert Drewe, Terri-ann White, Rachel Bin Salleh, and Holden Sheppard on the Prize Jury.
Indigenous affairs advocate and columnist for Seven West Media, Emma Garlett, returns as the ambassador for the First Nations Storytelling Prize and will be assisted in judging the category by dual Miles Franklin Award-winning author Kim Scott.
Navitas’ chief executive officer, Scott Jones, said: “As a global education provider, we remain committed to offering the best opportunities for our students to grow and succeed every day. Similarly, The Best Australian Yarn provides writers of all ages and backgrounds across Australia with a platform to showcase their creativity and explore their talent as authors and storytellers.”
The Best Australian Yarn is open to all Australians aged 12 and over. Entries must be original, unpublished works of fiction up to 2,500 words long and can cover any genre.
Entries for The Best Australian Yarn are now open and close on Monday 12 August 2024.
The winners will be announced at a live-streamed awards night on Friday 22 November 2024 at The State Library of Western Australia.
Top image: Anthony De Ceglie, Kris Williams, Holden Sheppard, Rachael Johns, Scott Jones, Dr Tony Buti