The Dal Stivens Award is presented biennially to an author, aged 30 or under, for a short story or essay of the highest literary merit. Your short story or essay must have been published or accepted for publication within the 12 months prior to the Award closing date, with proof of publication supplied in your support material.
Self-published works will not be accepted.
The recipient will receive $15,000. You may submit up to two entries.
The Dal Stivens Award was established in the will of Juanita Cragen in 2007. Dal Stivens (1911-1997) was an Australian writer and founding President of the Australian Society of Authors in 1963. His written works include eight collections of short stories, from The Tramp and Other Stories (1936) to The Unicorn and Other Tales (1976).
Dal Stiven’s contribution to Australian literature was huge. He published his first novel, Jimmy Brockett, in 1948. As a freelance writer, his short stories were regularly published in Lilliput, The Times Literary Supplement, The Observer and John O’London’s Weekly. In 1969, Stivens was described in The Australian Book Review as “in the front ranks of Australia’s short story writers”. He won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 1970 for best Australian novel with A Horse of Air and in 1981 he won the Patrick White Literary Award for his contribution to Australian Literature. He was honoured with a Special Achievement Award in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards in 1994. Dal also wrote under the pseudonyms Jack Tarrant, John Sidney, Sam Johnson and L’Arva Street. Stivens was the Foundation President of the Australian Society of Authors and was instrumental in establishing the rights of Australian authors within the commercial sphere.
The Award is administered by Creative Australia on behalf of Perpetual as trustee.
A list of previous recipients is available here.
For more information, visit creative.gov.au
