Liz Allan takes top prize in 2025 Newcastle Short Story Award

newy.com.au – Hunter Writers’ Centre has named Liz Allan’s Solastalgia the winner of the 2025 Newcastle Short Story Award, announcing the results on Sunday 14 December 2025 at Nobbys SLSC.

The annual prize is now in its 13th year and has been running since 2012, with Hunter Writers’ Centre director Katherine McLean saying it offers “emerging and established writers the chance to showcase their work” through a national anthology.

Cassie Hamer placed second with Migration and Afnan Al Banna placed third with Sun, Do Not Die, while Maggie Wairimu Hari received a highly commended for The Cow Pen.

Karen Whitelaw won the Members Award for Braving the Jump and Rob Stewart took out the Local Award for Paddling Blind, with Hunter Writers’ Centre publishing the winners and shortlisted stories in the 2025 Newcastle Short Story Award Anthology.

The 2025 entries were judged by authors Catherine McNamara and Mirandi Riwoe, alongside associate judge Claudine Tinellis, and the judging panel said they were “impressed by stories that attempted to make sense of our lives […] raw and aware, intense and yearning”.

Hunter Writers’ Centre says it is open to Australian citizens and permanent residents aged 18 years or older, and entries must be original, unpublished fiction of up to 2,000 words, submitted anonymously under a blind system.

The competition’s lists a $3,000 first prize, $1,500 for second and $500 for third, plus a $500 members prize and other awards, with entry fees set at $22 for members and $27.50 for non-members, and a requirement that any use of AI tools be declared.

Hunter Writers’ Centre said it serves writers across the Hunter region and beyond, running workshops, residencies and other programs from the Lighthouse Arts precinct on Nobbys headland, as well as competitions including the Newcastle Poetry Prize and The Grieve Project.

Entries for the 2026 Newcastle Short Story Award are scheduled to open on 1 May 2026, while the 2025 anthology is available through the centre’s bookshop.