Announcing Gloria Burley Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript longlist
The eagerly awaited return of the Whitsundays Writers Festival in September 2024 offers an exciting opportunity for writers, poets, and book cover designers across Australia.
In a bold initiative, the Festival launched earlier this year the Whitsundays Literary Heart Awards, offering substantial cash prizes to recognise and honour outstanding contributions to the literary and design landscape.
The Heart Awards’ mission is to spotlight the diverse talents within the Australian creative community while also paying homage to the captivating Heart Reef—a natural wonder found in the Whitsundays region.
Festival President Karen Jacobsen expressed enthusiasm for the awards program, “Beyond assembling some of Australia’s celebrated authors in Airlie Beach, our Festival will also celebrate and champion homegrown writing and design talent. The Heart Awards epitomise our commitment to nurturing creativity and honouring the legacy of festival founder Gloria Burley.”
Gloria was the driving force in the establishment of the Whitsunday Writers Festival, which ran 2010-17. She penned two books titled A Rolling Stone Gathers No Husbands, chronicled many of her travels, with Gloria visiting more than 100 different countries during her life, and Blood & Guts that sums up her exploits as a nurse in regional Australia. Gloria passed away from cancer in 2018.
Our award for Best Unpublished Manuscript is named in Gloria’s honour, offering $2,500 for first prize and $1,000 for the runner up for the best original and unpublished creative fiction works. The award sought submissions from around Australia of 12,000 words of completed unpublished stories.
Today, we are excited to announce the longlisted submissions competing for the 2024 Gloria Burley Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript:
- Compass: Losing Him, Jessica Ellen Pryor (NSW), drama, romance.
- Condemnation to Beasts, Noah Bennett (Vic), crime/thriller, romance.
- Constant Companions, Tara East (Qld), drama.
- Island Wolf, Rachel Armstrong (Qld), fantasy/sci-fi, romance.
- Italian by Default, Margaret Walker (NSW), drama.
- Rescue Remedy, Jane Carrick (NSW), crime/thriller.
- Rose and Graham, Lesley Boland (Qld), drama.
- Starts with C, Garry R McDougall (NSW), crime/thriller, historical.
- Strange Affliction, Greg Woodland (NSW), horror, romance.
- The Christmas Cult, Catherine Owen (NSW), comedy, drama.
- The Longest August, J.C. Burke (NSW), crime/thriller.
- The Murder Tree, Greg Woodland (NSW), crime/thriller.
- The Paris Artists, Kellie Cox (Qld), romance.
- UnCommon Thread, Meg Dunley (Vic), historical.
Our judging panel have diligently reviewed blind submissions (all author information removed) against five selection criteria of originality and creativity, plot and storytelling, character development, setting and atmosphere, dialogue and voice, and emotional impact.
The longlist submissions are currently under further consideration. From the longlist, a final shortlist will be selected from which our winners will emerge and be announced on Saturday 7 September 2024
“We have been very impressed with the entries for the 2024 Heart Awards, they all highlight the sheer creative talent and proficiency of Australia’s writing community,” remarked Karen.
“What better way to recognise Gloria’s legacy than initiate a creative writers’ award named in her honour. We wish these exciting authors all the very best in the next stage of the competition.”
The Gloria Burley Award is being generously supported by Ivan Lizarralde in honour of her memory.