Walker Books establishes biennial Manuscript Prize

Walker Books Australia (WBA) has announced the establishment of a new manuscript prize to coincide with the publisher’s 30th anniversary in Australia.

The inaugural Walker Books Manuscript Prize will offer the winner a publishing contract with an advance against royalties. The prize will be awarded biennially for an unpublished manuscript, containing 5000 to 80,000 words, written for a readership of five years and older, and suitable for formats of junior, middle-grade or YA fiction.

The aim of the manuscript prize is to foster a new generation of Australian voices, who best represent Walker Books’ values of excellence, accessibility and inclusivity. The manuscript will be judged on literary merit, its originality, use of language, and on its representation of Walker’s values. The inaugural prize shortlist will be judged by authors Sally Murphy, Jared Thomas and Kate Foster.

WBA publisher Clare Hallifax said: ‘Walker’s values—of quality of production, but most importantly quality of literature—are at the heart of everything we do. Those values are immutable, and this new prize is our chance to fling open a window, to invite fresh air, fresh stories, new storytellers to speak to our present and future readers. We are very excited to see what may come our way.’

The award is open for the following categories:

• Junior fiction: for readers 5–8 years (5000 to 20,000 words)
• Middle grade fiction: for readers aged 8–12 years (30,000 to 50,000 words)
• Young adult fiction: for readers 12 years and older (50,000 to 80,000 words).

Submissions for the inaugural prize open 12 April and close 1 August, with the winner announced on 26 October 2023. Entries are open to residents of Australia and New Zealand and non-resident citizens of Australia and New Zealand, except employees and immediate families of WBA. More information can be found at the WBA website.

Category: Awards Local news