Christian wins 2016 Text Prize

Playwright and former teacher Claire Christian has won the 2016 Text Prize for YA and Children’s Writing for her manuscript Beautiful Mess.

The winning manuscript, which was shortlisted under the title Waste, tells the ‘dual stories of Ava, lost and angry at the world, and trying to figure out how to live without her best friend by her side, and Gideon, awkward, anxious and trying to figure out how to get by without freaking out’. It was chosen from a shortlist of five and a total of 298 entries.

Text publisher Michael Heyward said Beautiful Mess is ‘a moving novel about grief and love by an author who is intensely curious about her characters’. ‘Ava and Gideon will lodge themselves in readers’ hearts and minds,’ said Heyward. ‘Their stories are witty, real, warm and raw.’

Christian, who lives in Brisbane, is also a podcaster, youth arts facilitator and theatre-maker, with several plays published by Playlab Press.

The Text Prize for YA and Children’s Writing is now in its ninth year. The winner receives a publishing contract with Text and a $10,000 advance against royalties.

Text will publish Beautiful Mess in September 2017. Last year’s winning entry, Kimberley Starr’s The Book of Whispers, will be published in October 2016.

Category: Junior Local news