ACT Writers Centre Awards

The 2011 Award winners and highly commended entrants were announced at the 2011 ACT Writers Centre Christmas party, held on 14 December at Olims Hotel, Braddon.

The ACT Writing and Publishing Award

Poetry section

Judges: Joe Massingham and Charlotte Clutterbuck.
Winner: Michael Byrne for A Man of Emails.

Judges' comments:
Some of the poems in these collections were limited by overuse of traditional forms and either prosy or archaic language and syntax. The winning collection was refreshing in its choice of varied sensual imagery and its generally deft use of traditional forms.

Non-fiction section

Judges: Patricia Clarke and Robert Macklin.
Winner: Graeme Barrow for Who Lied? The Ly-ee-moon Disaster and a Question of Truth.
Highly Commended: Alex McGoldrick for A Memoir of Arabia.

Judges' comments:
Who Lied? (Graeme Barrow) is a detailed, meticulous, well-documented account of a dramatic historical event. The author is to be congratulated on undertaking a great deal of original research. The book is of genuine historical interest, particularly to readers of Australia’s coastal maritime disasters. The story could have been enriched further if set in a wider historical context with some comparative evaluation of legal processes in the era. The author’s answer to the question posed in the title would also have added to the reader’s interest. However, it represents an important contribution to the history of the Far South Coast of New South Wales in the later colonial era.

A Memoir of Arabia (Alex McGoldrick) is a pleasantly written, revealing account of a closed society under the pervading influence of Islam and Sharia Law seen through the eyes of a former Australian diplomat. It covers the dangerous months of the Gulf War and includes a succinct account of the subsequent Iraq War. The book's appeal is confined by its overly 'diplomatic' approach which rather limits its appeal to those interested in life in Arabia at a time now past and/or the operations of Australian diplomacy. However, it is a charming and thoroughly engaging work.

Fiction section

Judges: Maureen Bettle and Peter Papathanasiou.
Winner: Kaaron Warren for Dead Sea Fruit.
Highly Commended: Ian Rae for Rough End of the Stick.

Judges' comments:
Five books were considered in this section; from the judges’ perspective, two of these were standouts. For the other three, we felt those books would have benefited greatly from more editorial input. The stories were well-written but their intense detail did not consistently translate into creating motivating narratives, and so fell well short of the two books we discuss here.

Our selection as Winner of this section was Kaaron Warren’s Dead Sea Fruit. This impressive collection of stories brought to the genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror fiction a confident control of narrative structure, a dark but compelling style, and an underlying concern for subject matter that enriches, and even transcends, each of these individual forms. This author knows how to shock us, to creep us out, and to mess with our heads, but she succeeds in doing even more than that. Warren involves us in situations – from commemorating the dead to exploiting the living – that make us see the familiar in ways that both entertain us and also make us wonder whether the ordinary world  is really very different from the dark places of her imagination.

The short story is a form that really tests authors of fiction. Like the poem and unlike the novel, it leaves no room for passages of ordinary or mundane writing. It must achieve its effects with economy, while at the same time giving us the sense of the wider world that lies beyond on the margins of the page. If achieving a high standard of excellence within the confines of the short story is a challenge, doing so within short pieces of genre fiction is even more testing. Genre writing often seems to rely on epic proportions to draw the reader into secondary worlds, huge volumes with massive plots and many characters. To zap the reader into another place and time and to make the journey convincing requires a rare talent. This is what Warren possesses. Dead Sea Fruit is fantastic and is a standout selection as Winner of this section.

Our Highly Commended selection was Ian Rae’s Rough End of the Stick. Another collection, Rae’s subject matter portraying ordinary Australians would be more familiar and readily accessible to readers, yet he succeeds in challenging the reader by describing situations that are far from ordinary. Rae’s major themes of love and loss are universal human conditions, and he captures their intricacies with a masterful hand. Characters are raw and flawed, but above all they are real. From the judges’ perspective, some stories were weaker than others, which let down the collection as a whole; to have left these stories out would’ve actually served to strengthen the collection. Interestingly, Rae’s shortest story – the three-page 'Shooting Gallery' – was perhaps his best, and a perfect example of how less is more.

Congratulations to Warren and Rae on their wonderfully well-executed reads.

The Z4 Wines Award for Book Reviewing

Judge: Dr Penelope Cottier.
Winner: Stephen Wilks, for his review of The Penguin Book of the Ocean edited by James Bradley, which was entitled 'Swell assortment' and published in The Canberra Times on December 26, 2010.

Judge's comments:
This was not an easy contest to judge, as some fine reviews were published in 2010 and sent in for the competition.  Acting in the position of reviewer of the reviewers proved to be a vaguely surreal, but rather enjoyable activity.

The winner of this year's Z4 award for book reviewing is Stephen Wilks, for his review of The Penguin Book of the Ocean edited by James Bradley, published in The Canberra Times on December 26, 2010. 

Wilks has written an elegant review of a 496 page anthology, which it, of itself, a considerable achievement.  A good review should tempt the reader into dipping her toes into the book, and he does this by commenting enticingly on a few of the luminaries who make up the editor's selection, such as Melville and Darwin and Shackleton. He does not provide a mere list of inclusions, or seek to reproduce the anthology in miniature, but places it within a historical and literary context.  He makes it clear how much he enjoyed the book, while pointing out the brevity of editorial annotation, which might be important to some potential, more academically inclined, readers.

His comments on the anthology are occasionally amusing, as when he assures us that; 'A spot of cannibalism aside, this collection usually shows us at our best.' 

Congratulations to landlubber Wilks on producing a fine review, and I hope he enjoys his river, if not ocean, of wine.

(Please note that a couple of reviews published in 2011 were also submitted, but these were ineligible for this year's prize.)

The Michael Thwaites Poetry Award

Judge: Elizabeth Beaton.
Winner: Jane Vaughan Donnelly for Views.
Highly Commended: Farzaneh Edraki for Listening to Billie Holiday; Sandra Renew for Shiver; and Sarah Rice for Muse.

Judges' comments:
Choosing the winning poem from this year's entries in the Michael Thwaites Poetry Award was a difficult task. The entries covered a diverse range of themes and were written in an equally broad range of styles. While free verse dominated, it was refreshing to see some poets take on the challenge of a formal rhyming scheme. Some writers forged links to tradition with epitaphs from canonical works, while others were entirely avant-garde in content. Whatever their style of choice, it is clear that ACT residents possess both the courage to write and the talent to create strong poetry.

I hope to explain my selection process and also provide some feedback to the authors. Some of the 2011 entrants had a clear message or observation but could have used more technical refinement in executing their vision. Other writers demonstrated advanced technical ability but were keener to showcase this ability than to communicate an insight to the reader. The poems which stood out were those that combined poetic skill and meaning – a difficult combination for any writer to achieve.

The winning poem, Views, exemplifies this combination of content and style. With attention to rhythm and imagery, the author describes taking in a spectacular view from alpine terrain. The poem is at once a celebration and a thoughtful meditation on human nature; it leaves the reader with much to think about, but it is also simply a joy to read.

From a strong range of contenders, I selected three runners-up. Listening to Billie Holiday takes the reader on a journey into a childhood memory through evocative imagery. Shiver; is a short poem, but highly effective in its simplicity, creating a powerful moment of menace. Muse takes up the age-old theme implied in its title, yet it renders the theme anew in a lively manner.

Congratulations to the winners and runners up. I hope that all of this year's entrants will continue to write and share their poetry.

The Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award

Judge: Nigel Featherstone.
Winner: Robyn Cadwallader for The Day for Travelling.
Highly Commended: Manik Datar for As I am a teller of tales and Maeve Castles for Reflection.

Judges' comments:
In total 35 stories were submitted for the 2011 award. As is typical with short-story competitions there was a diversity of work presented, from the realistic to the fantastic. Themes encompassed love, loss, and revenge, many with a good dose of humour and irreverence, which may be a hallmark of Australian short fiction. The stories that rose to the top were those that had an element of humanity, nuance and polish. Characters and their situations could be felt by the reader, and the language was clear and concise. These stories quickly engaged the reader; this is best done dramatically in the first paragraph, if not the first line. Importantly, the most successful stories had an element of moving from A to B. In other words, the main characters were different at the end of the story than at the beginning. The writing flowed, and every word was doing its job, if not more than one job, which is often what's needed in short fiction.

The best of stories linger with the reader, sometimes begging to be re-read. In this way, short stories are closer to poetry than the longer forms of fiction such as the novella or novel – they contain elements of depth and musicality. Above all, however, the very best fiction contains pulse. That is, the reader feels as though the characters are living, breathing people; the predicaments they are in are as real as those we face in everyday existence, perhaps even more so. The winning story, as well as the two short-listed stories, contain that vital ingredient – pulse. Putting it another way, they feel alive.

In How Fiction Works (Jonathan Cape, 2008), James Wood tries to offer a definition of the best modern writing: 'Realism, seen broadly as truthfulness to the way things are, cannot be mere verisimilitude, cannot be mere lifelikeness, or lifesameness, but what I call lifeness: life on the page, life brought to different life through the highest artistry.' That's what this judge looked for in the stories submitted. In the winning and short-listed stories, that's what was found.

The winning story – The Day for Travelling This is a beautifully imaged story about life, death and family. The prose is precise and poetic; it's clearly been worked, reworked, and reworked again. It is filled with detail that lifts the main character and the rather large (for a short story) cast of supporting characters into the realm where they buzz with the lifeness that James Wood talks about. The voice is assured and consistent, pulling the reader along to the powerful conclusion. Like all good stories, there are layers within layers, which can only bring an appropriate sense of gravitas. This story resonates with a desire for life, but also the realisation that all life must come to an end. Ultimately, like good poetry, 'The Day For Travelling' feels as though it's more than the sum of its parts. It is most deserving of winning the 2011 award.

As I am a Teller of Tales offers the reader an intriguing perspective on street life and commerce in a third-world country. The voice is clear and steady, and appropriate to the main character, a street vendor. The author displays considerable depth of knowledge about the topic at hand. Like The Day for Travelling, this story is multi-layered – in a way it's a story within a story – though the multi-layering may not yet have reached its full potential. Nevertheless, it is a work that displays impressive artistry.

Reflection is an effective and surprisingly suspenseful piece of realist fiction, focussing on interiority within a domestic context. It opens strongly, quickly engaging the reader. There is confidence in the writing, and the prose – in the most part – is effective and polished. The main character is particularly solid. In short, the story rings true to its characters and their circumstances. The sense of intimacy and compassion is particularly appealing.