2023 Best Australian Yarn: Are you sitting on Australia’s next greatest short story?

The Best Australian Yarn has become the richest short story competition in the world, with a record $50,000 to be awarded to this year’s winner.

Leading education provider Navitas has partnered with The West Australian in the contest’s second year to create an astonishing $75,000 prize pool, up from $50,000 last year.

The 2023 awards, which were launched on Friday at the Centre for Stories in Northbridge and are now open, will also include two new categories — the Navitas English as a Second Language Prize and the First Nations Storytelling Prize.

The popular Youth Award will be divided into two categories — one for those aged 12 to 14 and the other for those aged 15 to 18.

The competition for published and unpublished writers is the brainchild of West Australian Newspapers’ editor-in-chief Anthony De Ceglie, who wanted to inspire people who had a passion for writing and help put arts and culture at the forefront of Australia’s identity.

He said he was thrilled that Navitas had come on board and that its valuable sponsorship would allow the competition to continue to grow.

“We had a fantastic response to the competition last year and now, with Navitas, we can take it to the next level,” he said.

“I am extremely proud that we will be introducing awards for First Nations writers and for those whose first language is not English.”

Writers from around the country embraced the concept in its first year, submitting a staggering 4700 entries.

The inaugural competition was won by WA writer David Harris, whose entry I Shoot Them Now told of a kangaroo shooter reflecting on the nature of family relationships after the death of his mother.

Navitas chief executive Scott Jones said the Best Australian Yarn had really resonated with his organisation.

“The competition is born in WA and with our roots also firmly entrenched in this State, we couldn’t be prouder to support this initiative,” he said.

The Navitas English as a Second Language Prize enabled the company to introduce a new dimension to the competition that would build on the enormous success of last year.

“Each year, Navitas teaches English language to thousands of students from all over the world and supports their learning journey, including new migrants to Australia,” he said.

“I have no doubt that some of the best untold yarns in this country are held within those people and communities who do not speak English as their first language. An ESL prize seemed a perfect fit and I’m excited to discover what nuggets of literary gold this new category will unearth.”

Basim Shamaoan and Miles Hitchcock have worked extensively in the ESL field with Navitas and will lead the judging for the ESL Prize. Both are published authors.

“Being from an ESL background, and having just produced my first book about my personal settlement journey, I know it can be daunting to expose yourself through storytelling,” Mr Shamaon said.

“But it’s opportunities like these that help people find the courage and their voice to share their experiences for everyone’s benefit.”

Social advocate Emma Garlett, who writes a weekly column for The West Australian and hosts the YouTube series Paint It Blak, is the ambassador for the First Nations Storytelling Prize and will help judge the category.

She said she was thrilled to be involved. “The inaugural First Nations Storytelling Prize is a significant platform to encourage and promote Indigenous authors and celebrate their writing,” she said.

The Youth Prize is being supported by the Education Department through the Premier’s Reading Challenge. Education Minister Tony Buti said it was important to continue to provide engaging and exciting opportunities to inspire a love of reading and writing in young people.

“The Best Australian Yarn provides a fun and creative way for students to get involved and expand their skills and writing experiences,” he said.

All Australians aged 12 and over are eligible to submit an original, unpublished work of fiction of 1000-2500 words before the closing date — Tuesday, August 1.

The best entries will be compiled into a longlist of 50 stories by a panel of The West’s writers and authors, which will go to a five-person Prize Jury.

De Ceglie will lead the Prize Jury, which again will include acclaimed Australian author Robert Drewe and publishers Terri-ann White and Rachel Bin Salleh.

They will be joined by WA author Holden Sheppard, whose debut young adult novel Invisible Boys won a number of awards, including the 2019 Premier’s Book Award for an Emerging Writer, and whose next novel, The Brink, recently won the 2023 Indie Book Awards young adult prize.

Drewe said he enjoyed the vast scope of last year’s stories — tales from and about the entire country — and seeing the heart and craft of keen writers so eagerly on display.

“It was pleasurable to be part of this fascinating, large-scale literary experiment, one where imagination and effort were to be handsomely rewarded,” he said.

“I envisaged hundreds of Australians of all ages and backgrounds bent over their keyboards in the dead of night.”

Sheppard said he was stoked to be on the Prize Jury and was looking forward to reading the huge diversity of stories.

“As a competition judge, I am looking for a good story, well told – it’s as simple and as impossibly broad as that. I always encourage writers to write a story only they can write. In my experience, leaning into the uniqueness of your own life, your own experience, your own voice, can yield fascinating truths and tales.”

The overall runner-up in the competition will receive $3000, while the eight other entrants who make up the Top 10 will be awarded $1000 each.

The winners of the First Nations Storytelling Prize, the Navitas English as a Second Language Prize and the Regional Prize will each receive $3000. The top entrants in the Youth Prize will be awarded $1500 each and the winner of the Readers’ Choice Prize will pocket $2000.

Each of the category winners is eligible to be named in the Top 10.

To enter and for all terms and conditions go to bestaustralianyarn.com.au