Time to pen a story

By Meg Kennedy

It’s time to dust off the notebooks and get typing, as the annual Peter Carey Short Story Award is back on again for 2019.
Named after the iconic Bacchus Marsh-born and raised writer (pictured), the award is for short stories between 2000-3000 words and is open to all Australian residents.
The winning entry will receive $1000, with $500 prize money for the runner-up.
First and second prized stories will also be published in the Spring 2019 issue of Meanjin, and both stories will receive Meanjin’s standard contributor fee for their work.
This year will also see the addition of the Moorabool Shire Libraries’ Best Local Entry Award, with writers who live, work or study in Moorabool Shire eligible for consideration.
The winning story will receive $250 and have an extract of their story published in the Moorabool News.
Nominee for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and event organiser, Wayne Marshall, said the Local Entry Award allows for “fostering and encouraging local talent.”
Longlisted entries will be judged by Nic Low, a Ngāi Tahu Māori and European New Zealand writer of wilderness, technology and politics. Nic’s short fiction, essays and criticism have been published widely in Australia and New Zealand.
Entries will be accepted via online application only, and will be judged blind, so no names are needed.
The entry fee is $10 per story and you may enter as many times as you like. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but Moorabool Shire Libraries need to be informed if your piece has been accepted elsewhere.
The longlist will be posted on the Moorabool Shire Libraries website in early May, while the winner and runner-up will be announced at an awards ceremony held at Bacchus Marsh Lerderderg Library on Saturday June 1st, 2019.
Submissions for the Peter Carey Award open Monday February 4th and close 6pm AEDT on Thursday March 21st, 2019. For more information and how to enter, visit http://www.moorabool.vic.gov.au/libraries.

ABOUT
Peter Carey is the author of 14 critically acclaimed novels and four works of non-fiction. Carey has won the Miles Franklin three times, and the Man Booker twice. Early in his career Carey published two short story collections of rare and startling power—The Fat Man in History and War Crimes—both of which remain, 40-years on, unrivalled in their mastery of the short story form. It seems only natural to name this award after one of Moorabool’s (and Australia’s) most gifted and imaginative storytellers.