Margery Hellmann, Wave Words, Photo: Washington Library
Winning a literary prize can be an invaluable starting point for an emerging writer. It can give the winner a lot of exposure and can open doors to meeting publishers and to begin building a readership. It can also provide a sense of validation for the writer which can give them a massive confidence boost. 2013 Monash Prize winner, Rebecca Slater, said that winning ‘was incredibly validating and made this whole writing business seem like a real-life, actually-plausible thing.’ The prize money is an amazing opportunity to travel or rent a studio in order to work on your next piece. Or you could just throw a party and buy a shiny new bike; the money is yours to spend how you please!
Even being shortlisted can have a huge effect on your writing career. At the opening night of the Emerging Writers’ Festival in 2013, Grahame Simsion (The Rosie Project) emphasised that everything snowballed from the time when he was shortlisted. Winning the Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2012 was a bit of a bonus.
Even if you don’t win, use the experience to your advantage. Enter the piece in another prize or submit it to a literary journal. Being published will give you the experience of working with an editor and then your piece will come out all polished and professionally edited. Voiceworks offers feedback on all submissions, so if you are under 25, this can be a good place to start.
‘My advice would be to not consider it and just enter. Just get involved. Don’t wait and wonder, hoping that something will just plop onto your lap – nothing will ever eventuate like that. Send off your story, you’ll be surprised at what can happen’ Kallen Johnstone
‘Make this the deadline you want to work towards. By which I mean, work on something you love. It’s not a uni assignment, there’s no marking criteria or overall theme. If you’ve got an idea or a half-formed thing, use this opportunity to take your work seriously and commit to making it the best it can be’ Rebecca Slater
‘So long as you submit, it’s never too late to be in with a chance – my piece went in all of three seconds before the deadline! And while it can be a great opportunity to find a home for completed, polished work you might already have lying around, it can also be a wonderful chance to work up something outside your usual form or style, and see where that leads.’ Tully Hansen
‘Make sure that you care about the story being told. Develop a strong and fleshed-out character. Also, just do it. There’s nothing more worth it!’ Michelle Li
The Monash Prize for Undergraduate Creative Writing is open to Australian and New Zealand undergraduate and honors students. The top prize is worth $4000, and the highest-placed Monash University student will receive $1000.
Monash Prize entries are now open until 28 April. Details here.
This article was first published by the Emerging Writers’ Festival blog.
