The Age Short Story Award is a competition that is run in conjunction with International PEN, the international writers' association. It was established in 1979. From 1979 to 1984 it was run in conjunction with Tabloid Story[1] and was known as The Age-Tabloid Story Awards.[2] The inaugural award was won by Harris Smart.[3]
Entries must be unpublished, and under 3000 words.[4] Three prizes are awarded and the winning stories are published in The Age and online.
Note: There is often confusion in reporting the awards as the award is sometimes announced around December and sometimes around January. Consequently, some sources give the year as the year the competition closed, and some as the year the award was announced. This may account for any apparent discrepancies in the list given below. There is no official listing from The Age to clarify the situation.
| Year | 1st Prize | 2nd Prize | 3rd Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | by Harris Smart | ||
| 1983 | by Connie Gregory | ||
| 1987 | "Tennis with My Father" by Richard Lunn | "Purring Our Way to the Tropics" by Tony Lintermans | "Like the Tail of a Comet'" by Jane Hyde |
| 1988 | "The Wage Earner" by Lin Van Hek | "Little Electric Wheelchair" by Michael Stephens | "Thanks for the Currawongs" by Max Painter |
| 1989 | "What Would Sasha Say" by Tony Lintermans | "Where the Wild Geese Go" by Joan Birchall | "Blue Milk" by Gillian Mears |
| 1990 | "The Road Up and the Road Down" by Margaret Betts | "Hidden Glass" by Sydney Smith | "Cat in Deep Water" by Josephine Barnes |
| 1991 | "Aunt Jessica and the Ostrich-tamer" by Stephanie Green; co-winner, by Margaret Betts | "Photographs from Beneath the Surface" by Judith Duffy | "Imperial Zoo" by David Astle |
| 1992 | "The Green Light" (Full text) by Danny Calegari ; co-winner "The Pleasures of Eczema" by Tony Lintermans | Michael McGirr | |
| 1993 | "The Mummy's Foot" by Beth Spencer | "Winter in Berlin" by Barry Homewood | "The Wide Circle" by Darren Hill |
| 1994 | "The Reasons I Won't Be Coming" by Elliot Perlman | by Norman Bilbrough | by Tim Richards |
| 1995 | "Reply to a Letter" by Wayne Macauley | "The King And I" by Raymond Allan | "The Bands on my Teeth" by Michael McGirr |
| 1996 | by Sue Martin | by Kevin Brophy | by Jane Watson |
| 1997 | "Dumb Things I Gotta Do" by James Hawthorne | "The Vision" by Ruth Learner | "The Letter" by Samantha Hanna |
| 1998 | "Sodasi" by Keith Butler | by Michael McGirr | by Margaret Betts |
| 1999 | by Michelle de Kretser | by Angus Ibbott | by Katheryn Lomer |
| 2000 | by Cate Kennedy | by Craig Cormick | by Michelle Vlatkovic |
| 2001 | by Cate Kennedy | Warhead' by Emma Ashmere (published under Emma Hartwood) | by Jen Alexander |
| 2002[5] | "Snapshot of Strangers" by Paddy O'Reilly | "Silver Apples" by Andrea Mayes | "The Greatest Thing in all Movies" by Patrick Holland |
| 2003 | "The Caribou Herd" by Miles Hitchcock | "The Wheelbarrow" by Patrick Cullen | |
| 2004[6] | "All Fathers the Father" by Emmett Stinson | "Just a Line" by Ross Gray | "Hotel Sheesh Mahal" by Liz Gallois |
| 2005 | "The Reasons for Us Being Here" by Ellen Rodger | "Booligal Sheep Station" by Dennis McIntosh | "The Promise" by Erin Gough |
| 2006 | "From the Wreck" by Rob Williams | "Remaking the Image of this World" by Shane Jesse Christmass | "Suckered into a Perfect Line" by Bill Collopy |
| 2007[7] | "A Parachute Landing in Siberia" by Stephen McGrath | "The Feeder" by Glenys Osborne | "The Heron" by Alison Campbell Rate |
| 2008 | "Home Visit" by Peggy Frew | "A House Was Built Around You While You Slept" by Glenys Osborne | "Frozen Cigarettes" by Bronwyn Mehan |