Moorabool Shire Libraries and local writers Jem Tyley-Miller and Wayne Marshall are proud to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Peter Carey Short Story Award. For a decade, this award has honoured Bacchus Marsh's own Peter Carey—arguably Australia's greatest living writer. Born and raised in our community, Carey is the author of fourteen critically acclaimed novels and four works of non-fiction, winning the Miles Franklin three times and the Man Booker twice. Early in his career, he published two short story collections of rare and startling power—The Fat Man in History and War Crimes—both of which remain, decades on, unrivalled in their mastery of the short story form. It was only natural to name this award after one of Moorabool's most gifted storytellers, and for ten years, that choice has inspired writers across Australia to follow in his footsteps.
This award is for short stories between 2000 - 3000 words, and is open to all Australian residents aged over 18.
2026 Head Judge
Longlisted entries in 2026 will be judged by Laura Jean McKay.
Laura Jean McKay is the author ofThe Animals in That Country (Scribe 2020) - winner of the prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award, The Victorian Prize for Literature, the ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year and co-winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 2021. The French edition, Les animaux de ce pays (éditions Dalva 2025, translated by Lise Garond), won the 2025 Prix Gargantua. Laura is also the author ofHoliday in Cambodia and her latest collection is Gunflower (Scribe 2023). An Adjunct Lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey University, Laura was awarded the 2022 NZSA Waitangi Day Literary Honours and is the 2025 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellow to Cork, Ireland.
For more information visit www.laurajeanmckay.com.au
The winning entry receives $2000, while the runner-up wins $1000. The winning story will be published in an upcoming edition of Overland Literary Journal, with the runner-up published at Overland Online.
In 2026, we will also be presenting one outstanding entry with the Moorabool Shire Libraries’ Best Local Entry Award. Writers who enter the Peter Carey Short Story Award and who live, work or study in Moorabool Shire are eligible for consideration. The winning story will receive $500.
Submissions open Monday February 2 at 8.30am and close 6pm AEDT on Thursday March 12 2026. Entries will be accepted via online application only and will be judged blind, so please, no names on your work. The entry fee is $15 per story and you may enter as many times as you like. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know immediately if your piece has been accepted elsewhere. See our Terms & Conditions for further details.
The longlist will be posted on our website in May, while the winner and runner-up will be announced at an awards ceremony held at the Bacchus Marsh Library on Saturday 13 June 2026.
Good luck to everyone.
In recognition of 10 years of the Peter Carey Short Story Awards, we are reconnecting with our origins. Named for Bacchus Marsh's own Peter Carey—a former resident who grew into one of Australia's most acclaimed authors—these awards launched in year one with a Festival of Stories across one May weekend. This year, we are extending that celebration throughout the entire year with events honouring stories and storytelling in all formats: a tribute to our local literary legacy and a vision for the future.
Our first event will be a workshop with Rijn Collins, author of Fed to Red Birds, to be held at the Ballan Library & Community Hub during February 2026. Details coming soon.
In order to discover Australia’s best short stories, we believe it essential to have those at the top of their game judging all levels of our competition. Our longlisting judges are accomplished, amazing writers who love the short story form as much as we do.
Adam Brannigan
Adam writes across genres. He has had his work published in Overland, Meanjin, Meniscus and in Australian and international anthologies. His awards include wins in the inaugural Kuracca Prize for Australian Literature in 2021, the Gary Crew Award for Literature in 2022 and 2024, the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize in 2023 and the Bath Flash Fiction Prize in October 2025. He has placed in the Newcastle Short Story Award in 2023, the Peter Carey Short Story Award in 2024 and the Calanthe Collective Poetry Prize in 2025. He has also shortlisted and longlisted in other awards including the Oxford Flash Fiction Prize, Bath Flash Fiction Prize, Bridport Prize, Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, Plaza Poetry Prize and the Newcastle Short Story Award.
Brooke Dunnell
Brooke Dunnell is a Boorloo/Perth-based writer whose short fiction has been published widely in journals and anthologies. Her collection of stories, Female(s and) Dogs, was a finalist for the Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award in 2020 and shortlisted for the Woollahra Digital Literary Prize in 2021. The unpublished manuscript of her novel The Glass House won the Fogarty Literary Award in 2021 and was published in 2022 by Fremantle Press. Brooke has helped to judge a range of creative writing competitions, including the WA Premier's Book Awards, the City of Armadale Writers Awards and the Katharine Susannah Pritchard Short Fiction Competition. Her latest novel, Last Best Chance, was released in April 2024.
Image credit: Jess Gately
Gillian Hagenus
Gillian Hagenus is a writer, editor, and literary festival organiser living and working on Kaurna land in South Australia. She holds a Master of Philosophy in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide and her Gothic short fiction has won or been short-listed for various short story prizes and published in literary journals across Australia. She is the editor of Strangely Enough, a collection of uncanny short stories from emerging and established writers across Australia and her unpublished manuscript of collected short stories was awarded the AAWP/UWA Publishing Chapter One Prize. Gillian considers herself to be short fiction's pageant mum - she has worked as an organiser and programme coordinator of the Australian Short Story Festival since 2021 and so far shows no signs of "calming down".
Jem Tyley-Miller
Jem Tyley-Miller is an award-winning short story writer from regional Victoria with stories published in Overland, Meanjin, Scarlet Stiletto: The Fourteenth Cut, Margaret River Press, Analogue and other places. In 2022, Jem won the award for ‘Best Body in the Library’ Story at the Scarlet Stiletto Awards. When not writing, Jem directs extras on film sets and co-organises the Peter Carey Short Story Award in her spare time.
Wayne Marshall
Wayne Marshall’s short story collection Shirl was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, and was published by Affirm Press in 2020. His debut novel, Henry Goes Bush, will be published by Picador in 2026. He is the co-founder of the Peter Carey Short Story Award.
- Applicants must be 18 or over and be residents of Australia.
- To be eligible for the Best Local Entry Award, entrants must live, work or study in Moorabool Shire. When submitting your work, please select the Best Local Entry box on the entry form to be considered. The organisers have the right to request proof or residence, club membership or enrolment in a local educational facility before announcing the winner of this award.
- Moorabool Shire Council (“MSC”) staff, MSC Councillors, Peter Carey Short Story Awards (“PCSSA”) / Moorabool Young Writers Awards (“MYWA”) organisers, judges and/or their immediate family members are ineligible to enter.
- Work must be between 2000 and 3000 words.
- Please use 12pt. Times New Roman, double spaced with 2.5cm margins
- Submissions will be accepted as a doc., docx or pdf file only.
- Applications must be submitted online; hard copy submissions will not be accepted.
- Applications will be judged anonymously. Please do not include your name in the attachment.
- Entries will be independently judged. The judges' decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
- First and second prize entries will be published in an upcoming edition of Overland literary journal and agreement for publication is a condition of entry. The winning story will be published in a print edition of Overland, and the runner-up will be published at Overland online. Overland has strong policies around own voices, and although unlikely, retains the right to refuse publication.
- Previously published, accepted for publication by a recognised publisher, or prize-winning stories will not be accepted. (Previous online or print appearance constitutes prior publication.) (Please note: this does not include community publications, local independent publications or blogs. If your piece has been published in such a publication you are still eligible to enter the competition.)
- Entry is to be paid via the website and is $15 per story.
- Multiple entries and simultaneous submissions are fine.
- We are unable to accept entries or notify entrants that do not follow entry guidelines.