Woollahra Digital Literary Award
The Woollahra Digital Literary Award is a national literary award supporting innovation in Australian literature and publishing, encouraging writers producing work in a digital medium. Please subscribe to the Newsletter for updates on the Woollahra Digital Literary Award.
2023 Award: Now Open!
Entries are now open for the 2023 Woollahra Digital Literary Award. The award seeks original literary submissions that are digitally born - originating online or in electronic or multi media form.
Whether you have published an ebook, released your poetry in video form, developed an interactive multimedia storytelling experience, or published a poem, short story or long essay in a digital literary magazine, we hope that one of the below categories supports your writing and that the Woollahra Digital Literary Award can help showcase new digital ecologies for emerging literature.
Categories and prizes
Fiction ($2,500 prize)
A short story, short story collection, novella or novel - published in the first instance online or in an electronic format that can be accessed on a computer, tablet or mobile device. Novella or short story entries, 3,000-30,000 words. Novels over 30,000 words can be entered by providing a PDF sample of 1-2 chapters. Judges may request access to full novel for reading based on initial read of a sample.
Non-Fiction ($2,500 prize)
A monograph, collection of essays or a long essay - published in the first instance online or in an electronic format that can be accessed on a computer, tablet or mobile device. 3,000-30,000 words. Longer digital monographs can be entered by providing a PDF sample of 1-2 chapters. Judges may request access to full monograph for reading based on initial read of a sample.
Poetry ($1,000 prize)
Works of poetry published in the first instance online or in an electronic format that can be accessed on a computer, tablet or mobile device. Video and multimedia poems accepted, as well as text-based poetry that has been published online in the first instance. Maximum word count is 3,000 words. There is no minimum word count.
In addition to the above categories, you can also enter:
Digital Innovation ($1,500)
Works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry (or a hybrid of these) published in the first instance online or in an electronic format that can be accessed on a computer, tablet or mobile device. This is a professional writing category where digital technology is used in an innovative way to enhance written storytelling. We are looking for works that seamlessly integrate digital elements in the story in a new and dynamic way to generate mood, tone and genre.
Entries can solely be entered into the Digital Innovation Category if they don't easily meet the criteria for Fiction, Non-Fiction or Poetry (above).
The Readers’ Choice Award is an additional prize of $250 that is offered once the shortlist is announced. This Award invites everyone in the community to read the shortlist and cast a vote for their favourite entry.
For more information about categories and eligibility, check conditions of entry and frequently asked questions.
Key dates
Entries open: Thursday 1 June 2023
Entries close: Thursday 31 August 2023
Shortlist announced: Friday 3 November 2023
Winners announced: Thursday 23 November 2023
Judges
Please subscribe to the Newsletter for updates regarding the Judges of the 2023 Woollahra Digital Literary Award.
Meet our judges:
Fiction: Claudine Tinellis
Claudine Tinellis is a Sydney-based author, podcaster and presenter. A former corporate lawyer, Claudine ventured into the world of publishing in 2014 in the years since has dedicated herself to writing fiction. She is the host and producer of Talking Aussie Books – a popular podcast bringing readers and writers of Australian fiction together. With more than 250 authors interviewed to date, Talking Aussie Books has been ranked number one Australian reading and writing podcast (Feedspot) in 2022 and 2023. Claudine is also a founding executive member of the Northern Beaches Readers Festival, a biennial festival on Sydney’s northern beaches dedicated to connecting readers with their favourite authors.
Non-Fiction: Tiffany Tsao
Tiffany Tsao is a writer and literary translator, and the erstwhile editor of The Circular – a Sydney Review of Books newsletter aimed at keeping the best Australian digital nonfiction in circulation. Her novel Under Your Wings was longlisted for the Ned Kelly Award. Her translation work was awarded the 2023 NSW Premier's Translation Prize and the 2023 PEN Translation Prize. She has a Ph.D. in English from UC-Berkeley.
Poetry: Ali Whitelock
Ali Whitelock is a Scottish poet and writer. Her poetry collection, the lactic acid in the calves of your despair is long listed for the ALS Gold Medal for an outstanding literary work in 2020 and is published by Wakefield Press. Her debut collection, and my heart crumples like a coke can (also Wakefield Press) has a forthcoming UK edition by Polygon, UK. Her memoir, poking seaweed with a stick and running away from the smell (Wakefield Press & Polygon) was launched at Sydney Writers' Festival to critical acclaim. She has just released her third book of poetry, a brief letter to the sea about a couple of things.
Digital Innnovation: Brett Osmond
Brett Osmond has been Managing Director at creative and digital agency, Leading Hand Design since 2016. He is a former Marketing and Publicity Director at Penguin Random House where he became Head of Digital and was part of the ebooks leadership team. Brett was Director of the Federal Government’s Books Alive campaign.
Eligibility
The Woollahra Digital Literary Award is open to all Australian Residents aged 16 years and over, who have published work online in the first instance in last two years.
Submitted works must be available online as: .epub, .pbd, .mobi/azw, .ibooks or .pdf file from a known e-book vendor or platform (such as iBookstore, Google Play, Amazon, Bookworld, Kobo, Baker & Taylor or Overdrive), or as an multimedia piece, story, article, essay or poetry available on an online magazine, journal or website that has an editorial selection process.
Please note: Entrants must provide a URL to the web location where digital work can be accessed as proof of publication. It is the responsibility of each entrant to provide a working URL. Only works that were published in a digital format in the first instance will be accepted for judging.
Check the conditions of entry and frequently asked questions.
How to enter
All entries must be submitted via our online entry form, and include a link to a URL where the work can be accessed (at no cost to access). If your submitted work is only available via a paywall (eg via an ebook vendor), please provide a version of your work for judging in a PDF format via our online entry form.
For judging, if you are providing a sample of a longer work, or if your work is housed online behind a paywall, please help us to access and read your submission easily by if possible formatting an electronic document as an A4 double spaced PDF in 12 point font with a page number on each page.
Please ensure PDF filenames include the name of the author and the title of the work.
Example: Woollahra Digital Literary Award NAME TITLE.pdf
Past winners
Find out about our past winners, including judges comments and shortlisted entries.
Enquiries
For more information, please contact:
Woollahra Libraries Programs Team
Woollahra Libraries
Telephone: 9391 7100
Email: dla@woollahra.nsw.gov.au