Poetry and Fiction Competition

By Right Now
writing on notepad

Right Now is holding a short fiction and poetry competition! We encourage creative and striking compositions, and the entries must have some connection to human rights in Australia – whether those rights pertain to children, women, Indigenous people, asylum seekers, prisoners, the LGBT community, and so on.

The winning poem and the winning short story will be awarded $500 in prize money each and will be published in Right Now’s highly anticipated print anthology. All shortlisted pieces will be published on our website.

The fiction competition will be judged by Anna Funder and Tony Birch, and the poetry competition will be judged by Benjamin Solah, Maxine Beneba-Clarke and Amanda Anastasi.

Writers may submit up to 3 pieces of work. Fiction should not be longer than 3000 words, and poetry should not be more than 50 lines. All submissions must be previously unpublished. All entires will be read anonymously.

Send your entries to submissions@rightnow.org.au with either “fiction competition” or “poetry competition” in the subject line.

Feel free to email Erin (erin[at]rightnow.org.au) if you have further questions about the competition.

The competition closes at 5pm on Friday, 31 January 2014. Shortlists will be announced on 1 March 2014.

Our first Poetry and Fiction competition has drawn to a close. We received an overwhelming number of submissions and thank everyone who submitted their creative work. We would like to congratulate all shortlisted writers – their works are listed here in no particular order.

Poetry:

They Leave by Night, by Sharon Hammad

Number 631, by Robert Verdon

Hope Road, by Kathleen McLeod

The Long House, TM Collins

No Asians. Your desire, by Jake Dennis

The Single Father, by Tiggy Johnson

Another World, by Margaret Ruckert

Borderlands, by Hayley Elliott-Ryan

Fiction:

Wednesday is Cooking Day, by Laura McPhee-Browne

Short Story ideas about Violence, After Doris Lessing, by Sam Wilson

Anna Be Quick, by Jamie Derkenne

Akinyi Martha (full stop), by Filipa Bellette

Sediment, by Alice Bishop

After, by Christy Collins

Here are the Dogs, by Laura McPhee-Browne

Hard Rubbish, by Rose Hartley

All shortlisted pieces will be published on the website during the month of March. Be sure to check this page for links to read these incredible works.

Additionally, we will now announce the competition winners and runners up:

Poetry Winner: No Asians. Your desire, by Jake Dennis

Poetry Runner Up: Number 631 by Robert Verdon

Fiction Winner: Akinyi Martha, by Filipa Bellette

Fiction Runners Up: Hard Rubbish, by Rose Hartley; and
Short Story Ideas about Violence, After Doris Lessing, by Sam Wilson

We hope you can celebrate these creative pieces with us at the launch of the anthology, around 29 May 2014.

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