Best Australian Yarn: Runner-up to win more thanks to Josephine Sarvaas

Young Sydney writer Josephine Sarvaas left quite a big impression on the inaugural season of the Best Australian Yarn.

Her magical entry Nest, about a young girl coming to terms with the death of her father, so captivated judges they wished they could offer her more than the $1000 runner-up cheque after she was narrowly pipped for the top prize.

Sarvaas laughs when she learns her legacy is that this year’s runner-up will win $3000 and happily says the confidence she gained from her success was priceless.

She has been motivated to go back to an unfinished manuscript — a contemporary adult novel — and try to get it published.

“It had been sitting there and I had ideas but they were not written,” she says. “I wasn’t quite happy with it but after doing so well in BAY I got the confidence to work on it again.

“It was really special last year. I’d been placed in other competitions but to be at the awards ceremony, to meet the judges and talk to everyone else on the long list, it was really motivating.”

Sarvaas knows she must now turn her attention to a new short story. “It is very exciting and, yes, I plan to enter the competition again and have another shot,” she says.

“I’ve got a few ideas. The starting point for me is always relationships. The one I wrote last year, the starting point was a parent and a child and this one I would like to be about siblings.

“I have two sisters — an elder and a younger one — and we are really close in age, so I would like to explore that. I’ve got the beginning at the moment but not the middle or the end.”

The second season of the Best Australian Yarn is now open and entries close on Tuesday, August 1. All Australians aged 12 and over are eligible to submit an original, unpublished work of fiction of 1000-2500 words.

Leading education provider Navitas has partnered with The West Australian to create an astonishing $75,000 prize pool, with $50,000 to be awarded to the winner.

The 2023 awards include two new categories: the Navitas English as a Second Language Prize and the First Nations Storytelling Prize.

The GenWest Youth Prize is divided into two categories: one for those aged 12 to 14 and the other for those aged 15 to 18.

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