Judge Dr Rashida Murphy announced the winners at Mattie Furphy House on Sunday, November 19 at 5pm
The Fellowship of Australian Writers Western Australia is proud to announce that the above writers have been selected as first, second and third place winners in the Stuart and Hadow Short Story Prize 2023. Congratulations to all.
Dr Murphy said "Broadly speaking, the stories reflected the times we are living through, with references to national and local landscapes, the pandemic, isolation and connection and what it means to write through times of global uncertainty".
Above left: Highly Commended entrant Faiza Bokhari (from left), Rashida Murphy, Second Place winner Asha Rajan, and Commended entrant Lyndall Weightman. Above right: Dr Murphy (left), with Emma Bladen from the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA.
"There were stories with unexpected and clever endings, those that transported me to unfamiliar worlds with deft competence and those that spoke from the positionality of feminist and cultural
rage," she said. "The ones I loved most were self-reflexive, ironic and linguistically brilliant, when writer and subject matter became indistinguishable and engaged both my heart and mind."
Please read Dr Murphy's full report by clicking here.
The Stuart and Hadow Short Story Prize began in 1977. Siblings Donald Stuart and Lyndall Hadow contributed significantly to WA’s literary landscape.