Melbourne author Anson Cameron has made an impressive return to the short story scene with first place in The Best Australian Yarn competition for his touching story Vanilla …. then Cinnamon. This year’s competition had more than 6000 entries, but it was Cameron’s intimate portrayal of a man in a coma and the nurse who cares for him that captured the judges’ attention. Securing $50,000 as his prize, Cameron told the West Australian that,
“This is one of the only ways, one of the routes into being a writer is to enter these competitions and eventually have some success.
“Silence is expensive and a cheque that size buys silence for you to sit down and write so it’s most welcome for that.”
The competition, which celebrates the world’s most lucrative short story prize, also honoured several other authors. The runner up Frank Leggett claimed the $4,000 prize for Me, Pete and the American while Albany writer Sam Carmody won the $3,000 regional prize for Flutter, a story focused on the aftermath of a fatal shark attack and its effects on a couples relationship. There were other notable winners including Odette Brown, who won the First Nations Storytelling prize for Wattle, a short story on the aftermath of a woman’s mother’s death, and her recalling of stories passed down through generations that she used to tell. The Navitas English as a Second Language prize, claimed by Catherine Ooi for The Desolation of Colour.
The event also recognised emerging talent, with winners in youth and comic categories from Western Australia. These awards highlighted the competition’s commitment to nurturing diverse voices in Australian storytelling.
Garlett Group had the pleasure of assisting The Best Australian Yarn on its journey to finding the incredible short story talent that First Nations Australia has to offer.