T.A.G. Hungerford prize doubles

writingWA announced today that in 2010 it will match New Edition Bookshop’s $6,000 investment and raise the T.A.G. Hungerford Award prize money to a total of $12,000.

Eligibility for the award will also be broadened to include creative non-fiction manuscripts.

writingWA Chair, Delys Bird said the T.A.G. Hungerford Award was quite simply Western Australia’s most important literary award for emerging authors.

“The Board of writingWA felt that it was necessary to make this investment to give appropriate recognition to the vital role this award plays in uncovering and developing new literary talent in this state,” said Bird.

As well as this significant cash prize, the winner of the 2010 T.A.G. Hungerford Award will receive a publishing contract with Fremantle Press.

Fremantle Press fiction and creative non-fiction publisher Georgia Richter said she believed that broadening the field to include creative non-fiction was timely.

“Some of the most pertinent, moving, and adroitly written books are emerging in this genre, and successful fiction and creative non-fiction will demonstrate excellent narrative skills from their authors,” said Richter.

In October 2010 Fremantle Press will launch the novel of last year’s T.A.G Hungerford award What is left over, after, by Natasha Lester.

“This is a very impressive first novel, a delicately written meditation on grief and loss, disconnection — and the possibilities of reconnection,” said Richter.

First established in 1988, the Award honours West Australian author T.A.G. Hungerford and his outstanding contribution to Australian literature. Previous recipients of the T.A.G. Hungerford Award include Gail Jones, Brenda Walker, and Alice Nelson.

The 2010 T.A.G. Hungerford Award is now calling for submissions of unpublished, original manuscripts only, of at least 50,000 words. The manuscripts must be in English and may be a novel, novella, collection of short fiction, or a work of creative non-fiction, by a resident West Australian author not previously published in book form.

Closing date for submissions is 5pm, Friday 30 July 2010.
The Conditions and Entry Form for the 2010 T.A.G. Hungerford Award are available to download from www.writingWA.org

The 2010 T.A.G. Hungerford Award is presented in a partnership between New Edition Bookshop, Fremantle Press, writingWA, and the West Australian Newspaper.