The Sydney Morning Herald Young Writer of the Year Award
Subcategory of Awards Australian Awards
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History

Offered by the Sydney Morning Herald, the Young Writer of the Year was open to secondary students in regional and metropolitan New South Wales and the ACT.

Notes

  • 'The Sydney Morning Herald Young Writer of the Year ... is the premier writing competition for senior students in NSW and ACT. Students submit a piece of writing which is judged by a panel including authors, journalists and teachers, and the winning entry is published in The Sydney Morning Herald. Students must submit an original work between 700 and 1000 words in length on any topic or theme.'

    Source: Sydney Morning Herald Young Writers of the Year website, http://www.youngwriter.smh.com.au/
    Sighted: 12/09/2011

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2013

joint winner y separately published work icon The Midnight Promise : A Detective's Story in Ten Cases Zane Lovitt , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2012 Z1875635 2012 selected work short story crime detective

'John Dorn is a private investigator. Just like his father used to be. It says "private inquiry agent" in John's yellow pages ad because that's what his old man called himself, back before his business folded, his wife left him and he drank himself to death.

'But John's not going to end up like his father. He doesn't have a wife, or much business. He doesn't really drink, either. Not yet.

'In each of these ten delicious stories Zane Lovitt presents an intriguing investigation filled with humour and complex, beautifully observed characters. At their centre is John Dorn, solving not so much crimes as funny human puzzles; but the crimes, and the criminals, are forever lurking nearby, taunting him from the city's cold underworld. It's his job to unravel the mystery, or right the wrong, or just do what the client has hired him to do. Somehow, though, there is a misstep at every turn, and John takes another small stumble towards his moment of personal truth. His midnight promise. Perhaps even his redemption.' (From the publisher's website.)

Year: 2012

Year: 2010

Year: 2009

winner Innocent Bones Cameron Brown , 2009 single work short story horror

Year: 2008

Works About this Award

It's Not What You Know: Gay Love Story Wins Prize Jonathan Swan , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8-9 September 2012; (p. 12)
And a River Runs Through It : Old Title with New Inspiration Rachel Olding , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10-11 September 2011; (p. 4)
Families Real and Imagined Inspired Herald Young Writer James Manning , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 25-26 September 2010; (p. 15)
Katherine Brings Generation Text to Book Josephine Tovey , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 20-21 September 2008; (p. 4)
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