The Australian and HarperCollins Australia announce that entries are now open for The Australian Fiction Prize.
The Australian Fiction Prize is an annual prize for an unpublished, book-length work of fiction. The winner will receive prize money of $20,000, plus an advance of $15,000, and publication by Australia’s leading publisher, HarperCollins Australia. The prize is open to all Australian writers, regardless of age or publishing history.
The winning entry will take its place on bookshelves alongside novels by celebrated HarperCollins writers, including Trent Dalton, Dervla McTiernan and Holly Ringland. In 2024 the inaugural winner was Katherine Johnson with A Wild Heart, her propulsive and emotional novel set on a remote Tasmanian island, to be published in 2026.
Judge Caroline Overington, The Australian’s Literary Editor, said: “My head is still spinning from the reaction to last year’s prize: more than 500 entries! I realise now that this is a tough competition to win. The standard is high and the competition is fierce, but we encourage all writers to keep their eye on the prize, which is to get their book in front of the talented publishers at HarperCollins. I’m urging everyone to have a go, because you just never know.”
HarperCollins Australia Head of Fiction, Catherine Milne said: “We couldn’t be more pleased with how the Australian Fiction Prize launched last year – with 500 entries, the uncovering of a brilliant winning manuscript and to top it off, a second manuscript acquired for publication – it was an outstanding success. HarperCollins has a long history of discovering and championing iconic Australian voices, from Banjo Paterson to Trent Dalton, so we couldn’t be more excited to open the portal for entries in 2025 – I can’t wait to see what we’ll find.”
Entries for The Australian Fiction Prize will be open from 10 March 2025 to 30 May 2025 and the winner will be announced on 15 November 2025.
The entry page is available here: https://harpercollins-au.myshopify.com/pages/the-australian-fiction-prize
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Hannah Lynch
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