The Hill of Content 2006 Hal Porter Short Story Competition
Winners for this competition have now been announced


Portrait of Hal Porter courtesy of Jacqueline Mitelman and ArtsNet East Gippsland © Jacqueline Mitelman
William McInnes presented awards to winners of the The Hill of Content Bookshop 2006 Hal Porter Short Story Competition at Hill of Content Bookshop on Wednesday 28 March 2007.

The Winner

The $1000 First Prize, courtesy of The Hill of Content Bookshop, was awarded to Lucy Jean Mrozik from Victoria for her story, Sparrow. Jean’s story will also be published in the forthcoming issue of gerald’s artichoke, a publication of ArtsNet East Gippsland. You can find out more about Jean and gerald’s artichoke from www.artsnet.net.au

Runners Up

The Runners Up who receive $500 each, courtesy of ArtsNet East Gippsland, are Cheryll Fitzell from New South Wales for The Alchemy of Ruby, and James Hughes from Victoria for Platoon.

The Shortlist

The short list in random order from 257 entries:
Vanishing Point by Rosemary Allan, Queensland
Sea Lake by David Arnold, Queensland
No Through Road by Danielle Ellis, New South Wales
The Unsuitable Wife by Carrolline Rhodes, New South Wales
Short listed entries receive a certificate and book prizes donated by the University of Queensland Press.

The judges, The Hill of Content, ArtsNet East Gippsland and the competition sponsors congratulate the winner, runners up and shortlisted writers.

Background

29 September 2006 marked the twenty-second anniversary of Hal Porter's death. To celebrate his literary life, ArtsNet East Gippsland launched The Hill of Content Bookshop 2006 Hal Porter Short Story Competition. The first prize is $1000, with two additional prizes of $500 as well as book prizes and certificates for short listed stories.

Hal Porter came to full time writing when he was 50, and the majority of his writing was done in the latter part of his life. He wrote various collections of short stories as well as a number that were published in magazines, mostly in Sydney and Melbourne.

Although he used settings such as Earl’s Court, Venice, Japan and Milan, Hal Porter still considered himself a regional writer. As he said, “I am unavoidably an Australian writer because of a passionate wish to record clearly an extraordinary country and its unique inhabitants.”