Writers Prize 2025

The Geelong Writers Prize is open to writers who live, work or study in the City of Greater Geelong, Borough of Queenscliffe, Surf Coast, Colac-Otway or Golden Plains shires. The competition is also open to writers who are members of Geelong Writers, wherever they live.

The competition is for prose fiction and creative nonfiction works between 2,000 and 3,000 words. Entrants may submit up to three entries.

First prize:      $1,500
Second prize: $250
Third prize:     $100

Entry fee: $15 per story (for Geelong Writers members)

                  $20 per story (for writers who are non-members but who are eligible to enter because they live, work or study in Greater Geelong, Queenscliffe, Surf Coast, Colac-Otway or Golden Plains shire councils)

To become a member of Geelong Writers, click here.                 

Winners will be announced in June 2025, and shortlisted works will be published in an anthology and on the Geelong Writers website.

 

COMPETITION GUIDELINES

  1. The competition is open to writers who live, work or study in the City of Greater Geelong, Borough of Queenscliffe, Surf Coast, Colac-Otway or Golden Plains shires
  2. The competition is also open to writers who are members of Geelong Writers, wherever they live
  3. Entries must be a minimum of 2,000 words to a maximum of 3,000 words, excluding the title
  4. All works must have a title
  5. Entry fees are $20 per story; $15 per story for Geelong Writers members
  6. Entrants may submit up to three works, each at the specified entry fee
  7. Entries must be received, and entry fees paid, by midnight on 31 March 2025
  8. All entries must be in English, double-spaced, use 12 point Times New Roman font and may be Word documents (.doc or .docx) or PDFs
  9. Entrant’s name must not appear anywhere on the work as the pieces will be blind judged
  10. Stories must be the original work of the entrant and must not have been published (personal blog and social media posts excepted ) or been awarded a prize in any competition
  11. Simultaneous submissions are permitted; however, the writer must notify us if a story is accepted for publication or is longlisted or shortlisted in another competition
  12. Fees will not be refunded
  13. No corrections will be accepted, nor any correspondence entered into
  14. Authors retain copyright of their work
  15. The judge’s decision is final
  16. Any member of the committee of management of Geelong Writers involved in the pre-reading process prior to the final judging shall be precluded from entering
  17. In entering this competition
    • You give permission for your work, should it be shortlisted, to be published in full or part on Geelong Writers website, and/or in any Geelong Writers publications
    • You declare that the work submitted is your own original work
    • You acknowledge that failure to abide by any of the stated rules may make your entry, or entries, ineligible.

 

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Illustration: Writing. Gari Melchers, 1909. Courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).  https://useum.org/artwork/Writing-Gari-Melchers-1909   https://collections.lacma.org/node/229095