Best Australian Yarn prize pool grows to $75,000

The 2023 Best Australian Yarn short story competition has a $75,000 prize pool, with $50,000 to be awarded to the competition winner.

This year’s award includes two new categories, the English as a Second Language prize and the First Nations Storytelling prize, while the Youth Awards will be divided into two age categories. The awards are presented by the West Australian and new prize sponsor Navitas.

Organisers claim the Best Australian Yarn with its $75,000 prize pool is the richest short story competition in the world. The UK’s Sunday Times Short Story Award—which awards £30,000 (A$56,550) to the winner—is recognised as the richest prize in the world for a single short story; however, the Bookseller has reported the award, on hiatus since 2021, ‘may well have to discontinue’ if another sponsor can’t be found.

The inaugural Best Australian Yarn, worth $30,000, was won by WA writer David Harris, for his story ‘I Shoot Them Now’.

For more information about the award, click here.

Category: Local news