$12,000 and a publishing contract up for grabs
Submissions for the 2018 City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award are open. Western Australia’s longest running and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript offers a cash prize of $12,000 from the City of Fremantle and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press.
Fremantle Press publisher Georgia Richter said the Hungerford provided a stepping stone for all shortlisted writers, not just the winners.
‘If I look back at the 2014 award, for instance, every shortlisted contender has since signed a publishing contract with Fremantle Press or another publisher,’ said Richter. ‘Look a little further and you find people like multi- Miles Franklin award-winner Kim Scott losing the Hungerford to Gail Jones but still getting a publishing contract with us for his first novel True Country. Author Natasha Lester is another writer building a strong career off a Hungerford beginning.
Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt was happy to announce that the City of Fremantle would be doing more than ever to support new and emerging authors in 2018.
‘The City has invited shortlisted author, Deb Fitzpatrick, to run a special Hungerford workshop aimed at helping aspiring writers prepare their manuscripts for entry,’ said Mayor Pettitt. ‘In addition, as this will be the first year where all entries will be submitted electronically, writers can book a session with our library staff to get help submitting their entry online.’
The Hungerford has been running for over two decades and is part of Fremantle Press’s mission to find and publish new and emerging Western Australian authors – a commitment to local writers that hasn’t wavered in the Press’s 41-year history. It is the only Western Australian award to be judged anonymously.
The winners will be announced at a special ceremony at Fremantle Arts Centre in November.
The City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award is a biennial award that celebrates literary merit and originality, and is given for a full-length manuscript of fiction or creative non-fiction by a Western Australian author previously unpublished in book form. Past recipients of the award are Brenda Walker, Gail Jones, Natasha Lester, Jacqueline Wright, Robert Edeson, Nathan Hobby, Bruce Russell, Jay Martin, Christopher Murray, Donna Mazza, Simone Lazaroo and Alice Nelson.
Entry forms and full terms and conditions are available from fremantle.wa.gov.au/library or fremantlepress.submittable.com. Entries close at midnight WST on Friday 16 March 2018. The Hungerford workshop will take place on Wednesday 7 February 2018 and bookings can be made fremantle.wa.gov.au/curious.
