We are delighted to announce the winners of our 2018 Short Story Writing Competition. This year’s theme was Shell.

Again, we were lucky to have a talented panel of judges: Maryann Ballantyne, Publisher at Black Dog Books; Peninsula authors Garry Disher and Wendy Orr; literary agent and YA specialist Danielle Binks; and the Publisher of Western Port News, Cameron McCullough.

We thank all the writers who entered their many wonderful stories, our wise judges, and our generous sponsors. Without you the competition would not take place!

The winning stories across the five categories are:

Open Fiction—Judge, Garry Disher
Winner: Resound by Maree Louise Purcell
Highly Commended
Hermit by Rebecca Fraser
Johnny’s First Day by David Gow
What’s Left Behind by Louise Zedda-Sampson

Open Non Fiction—Judge, Cameron McCullough
Winner: Superheroes by Robert Tennyson
Highly Commended
The Shell by Liz Hicklin
Jane Roadknight’s Volute by Jenny Dexter

Teens—Judge, Danielle Binks
Winner: Harbouring Memories by Penny Duran
Runner-up: Oil by Grace Xu

Middle Years—Judge, Wendy Orr
Winner: The Beautiful Shell by Clementine Rowe
Runner-up: Bob the Slug by Audrey & Mack Millen

Junior Years—Judge, Maryann Ballantyne
Winner: The Magic Shell by Isla Killeen
Runner-up: A Wonderful Day at the Beach by Campbell Jaksa

The winning stories are published in the May/June Edition 72 of the Somers Paper Nautilus.

The competition was run with the support of our valued sponsors: Balnarring & District Community Branch of Bendigo Bank, Farrell’s Bookshop, Petersen’s Bookstore and the Western Port News.