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.
The Whitsundays Writers Festival is a premier literary event dedicated to fostering creativity, dialogue, and appreciation for the written word.
In a bold initiative, the festival launched the Whitsundays Literary Heart Awards, earlier this year.
The awards offer 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,” she said.
“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 from 2010 to2017.
She penned two books entitled ‘A Rolling Stone Gathers No Husbands’ – which chronicled many of her travels, with Gloria visiting more than 100 different countries during her life – and Blood & Guts, which 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Our award for Best Unpublished Manuscript is named in Gloria’s honour, offering $2,500 for first prize and $1,000 for the runner up for the best original and unpublished creative fiction works.
The award sought submissions from around Australia of 12,000 words of completed unpublished stories.
The longlisted submissions competing for the 2024 Gloria Burley Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript are:
- 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.
The judging panel has 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 winners will emerge and be announced on Saturday, September 7, 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,” Karen said.
“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.
For festival program highlights and confirmed speaker line-up visit the website: www.whitsundayswriters.com.
