Best Australian Yarn: Short story winner Anson Cameron says $50,000 prize will buy him ‘silence’ to write more

An intimate story about a man in a coma and the nurse who cares for him is the rare gem of a short story that took out the $50,000 first prize in The Best Australian Yarn competition.

Melbourne author Anson Cameron was given the judges’ nod ahead of more than 6000 entries for his short story Vanilla ... then Cinnamon.

He was among several authors celebrated at a packed awards ceremony at the State Library of WA on Friday night.

Cameron, who flew to Perth for the event, said the $50,000 prize would buy him time to write more.

“I’d like to thank the organisers and sponsors of this event and the crazy bastard who decided to make first prize $50,000 — it makes it stand out from the pack,” he said.

“This is one of the only ways, one of the routes into being a writer is to enter these competitions and eventually have some success.

“Silence is expensive and a cheque that size buys silence for you to sit down and write so it’s most welcome for that.”

Frank Leggett, a freelance journalist from Balmain, in inner Sydney, won $4000 as the runner-up for his murky tale of Asian intrigue, Me, Pete and the American.

Eight entrants whose stories also made the top 10 received $1000 each.

Albany writer Sam Carmody took the $3000 Regional Prize for Flutter, which charts the effects of a fatal shark attack on a couple’s faltering relationship.

“This is a real thrill and such great encouragement,” Carmody told the crowd during his acceptance speech.

NSW resident Odette Brown won the First Nations Storytelling Prize for Wattle and Catherine Ooi, from South Australia, won the Navitas English as a Second Language Prize for The Desolation of Colour.

The Youth Prize categories went to WA teenagers Alastair Walker (15-18 age group) and Danica Hehre (12-14 age group).

The winners in the new Comic Story Prize categories were all from WA — Nina Dakin won the general category, Ane Greyling the 15-18 age group and Agatha Villazor the 12-14 group.

For Ane Greyline, who just graduated high school, she said winning had given her the encouragement to pursue a creative career.

“Thank you so much and it’s a big encouragement for making comics in the future because I’m sure all the written word artists and writers here understand the love, hate relationship with your own work that often happens,” she said.

“Having exterior approval helps with confidence in pursuing a career in art, which has been a big struggle this year being in Year 12 and graduating.”

Three of the main prize-winning stories will feature in a special edition of the Sunday Times magazine STM this weekend and are beautifully illustrated by Naomi Craigs.

Subscribers can read the winning entries and every story named in the top 50 here.

THE WINNERS

Overall winner

Vanilla ... then Cinnamon by Anson Cameron

Runner-up

Me, Pete and the American by Frank Leggett

Regional Prize

Flutter by Sam Carmody

Navitas English as a Second Language Prize

The Desolation of Colour by Catherine Ooi

First Nations Storytelling Prize

Wattle by Odette Brown

Youth Prize (12-14)

Apocalypse Whenever by Danica Hehre

Youth Prize (15-18)

Roadkill by Alastair Walker

Comic Story Prize

The West Coast by Nina Dakin

Comic Story Youth Prize (12-14)

The Parson’s Nose by Agatha Villazor

Comic Story Youth Prize (15-18)

Endeavor by Ane Greyling

Seven West Media’s national masthead The Nightly is a supporting partner of the competition together with the WA branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, Writing WA, the Perth Comic Arts Festival, the Education Department, through the Premier’s Reading Challenge, and the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage of WA.