Announcing the results of the 2017 New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing

The New England Writers’ Centre is delighted to announce the results of the 2017 New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing.

The New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing is a national award for unpublished short-form crime writing in three main categories: Fiction, sponsored by the School of Arts, University of New England; Non-Fiction, sponsored by the New England Writers’ Centre; and Poetry, sponsored by the New England Writers’ Centre and the Armidale Dumaresq Memorial Library. There are also three special awards: the New England Award for a writer resident in New England, sponsored by Readers’ Companion Bookshop; the Emerging Author Award, for an unpublished writer over 18, sponsored by Friends on Tamworth Libraries; and the Youth Award, for writers under 18, sponsored by Little Pink Dog Books and Christmas Press, both locally-based children’s publishers in Armidale.

In its fifth year in 2017, the Prize once again attracted a strong field of entries from all over Australia, by writers both published and unpublished. Fiction was particularly well-represented, with both the New England and Emerging Author Award winners coming from that category, and Fiction judge, acclaimed author Emma Viskic, commenting that it was ‘exciting to read so many different approaches and styles’. The quality of writing was also praised by judges in the Poetry, Non-Fiction and Youth categories.

The winners of the 2017 New England Thunderbolt Prize are as follows:

Poetry: Jenny Blackford (NSW), for The Crack.

Fiction: Sarah Fallon (VIC) for Roots.

Non-Fiction: Greg Tuchin(NSW) for All in the Tea Leaves.

New England Award: Ann Lax for Running the Gauntlet. Also Highly Commended, Fiction category.

Emerging Author Award: Daniel Spicer for Superficial Thugs. Also Highly Commended, Fiction category.

Youth Award: Naomi McClarty, age 16 (QLD) for Didn’t Mean To.

The New England Writers’ Centre warmly congratulates all the winners, as well as all those who received Highly Commended and Commended citations. A full list of winners, as well as those highly commended and commended, is attached.

All entries were blind-read by the judges, with all identifying marks removed, other than title and an assigned number. Judges this year were Caroline Tuohey, Poetry; Emma Viskic, Fiction; Michelle and Roy Wheatley, Non-Fiction; and Dr Elizabeth Hale, Youth Award. The New England Award and Emerging Author Award were chosen based on judges’ recommendations.

The winning and highly commended and commended entries will be published on the New England Writers’ Centre website in December.  The New England Writers’ Centre wishes to thank the hard-working and thoughtful judges and the generous sponsors of the New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing for helping to make 2017 another successful year for the Prize. And a big thank you to all entrants!

The New England Thunderbolt Prize continues to receive excellent nationwide recognition for the quality of the writers it showcases. Winners of the 2016 Thunderbolt Prize had their winning entries selected for publication in Award-Winning Australian Writing, an annual publication by Melbourne Books. Maryanne Ross, the winner of the Fiction and Emerging Author Award in 2016, was shortlisted for the Scarlet Stiletto Award in 2017. And Emma Viskic, the winner of the Fiction category in the inaugural Prize in 2013, continues to go from strength to strength, gaining international as well as national acclaim for work. She was our Fiction judge this year and featured guest at NEWC’s Deadly Secrets crime writing weekend in June 2017.