The New England Writers’ Centre is delighted to announce the results of the 2018 New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing.
The New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing is a national award for unpublished short-form crime writing in three main categories: Fiction, sponsored by the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education, University of New England; Non-Fiction, sponsored by Moin and Associates, Lawyers; and Poetry, sponsored by the New England Writers’ Centre. There are also three special awards: the New England Award for a writer resident in New England, sponsored by Readers’ Companion Bookshop; the Emerging Author Award, for an unpublished writer over 18, and the Youth Award, for writers under 18, sponsored by Christmas Press and Little Pink Dog Books, children’s publishers based in Armidale.
The winners of the 2018 New England Thunderbolt Prize are as follows:
Poetry: Ivy Ireland (NSW) for Grey is not your colour.
Fiction: Nic Lesley (NSW) for Bottom of the Harbour Scheme.
Non-Fiction: Christopher Ryan (NSW) for Sins of the Fathers.
New England Award: Phillipa Trelford (Armidale) for Chiaroscuro, Madgwick. Also Highly Commended, Poetry category.
Emerging Author Award: Nic Lesley(NSW) for Bottom of the Harbour Scheme. Also Winner, Fiction category.
Youth Award: Eva Mustapic, age 14 (WA) for Laundry Day.
In its sixth year in 2018, the Prize attracted a strong field of entries from all over Australia, by writers both published and unpublished. Fiction was once again well-represented, with the winner of the Fiction category also taking out the Emerging Author Award, but all categories fielded strong entries and this year the New England Award went to a Highly Commended entrant in the Poetry category, while the winner of the Non-Fiction category also received a Commended citation for another entry, this time in the Fiction category. This year, NSW writers featured strongly in the winners list, unlike other years when Victoria has dominated, while the winner of the Youth Award this year came from WA. There were also a number of Highly Commended and Commended citations awarded by judges in every category, with successful entries coming from all over Australia.
The New England Writers’ Centre warmly congratulates all the winners, as well as all those who received Highly Commended and Commended citations. A full list of winners, as well as all those highly commended and commended, plus judges’ comments, is attached.
All entries were blind-read by the judges, with all identifying marks removed, other than title and an assigned number. Judges this year were Jean Kent, Poetry; Sulari Gentill, Fiction; Pip Cummings, Non-Fiction; and Beattie Alvarez, Youth Award. The New England Award and Emerging Author Award were chosen based on judges’ commendations.
The winning entries will be published on the New England Writers’ Centre website in December. The New England Writers’ Centre wishes to thank the hard-working and thoughtful judges and all the generous sponsors of the New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing for helping to make 2018 another successful year for the Prize. And a big thank you to all entrants!