AustLit
History
Inaugurated in 2016, and named for the late Neilma Sidney. The award is supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation and administered by Overland. It is limited to travel-themed short fiction.
Latest Winners / Recipients
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Year: 2020
winner The Case of G : A Child Raised by Trains 2021 single work short story
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 242 2021; (p. 69-72) -
Year: 2019
winner Kátharsis 2019 single work short story
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 235 2019; (p. 27-31)'I drive the ATV south from the hotel to Jackie O’ Beach Club. Kosta is on the back with one arm around my waist and the other gripping his phone, filming for Instagram. I tell him to put his phone away a lot but this time I get it. I park suddenly.' (Introduction)
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Year: 2017
winner The Trip 2017 single work short story
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 226 2017; (p. 82-87)winner Unspooling 2018 single work short story
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 230 2018; (p. 34-37)'This is the letter the government department has sent Joe, advising him that he could be deported. Here is the number of days until he might go: 28. A number as small and square and bureaucratic as the postage stamp on the envelope. Here is the lawyer’s website. This is the figure the lawyer quoted to help save him and it’s astronomical, eye-watering, but also doable. Essential.' (Introduction)
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Year: 2015
winner K-K-K 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 222 2016; (p. 42-47) Award Winning Australian Writing 2016 2016; (p. 179-187) 'The phone call comes while my mother is rinsing her hair in the kitchen sink, with one of those white rubber faucet attachments that don’t quite fit the tap so water spurts every which way out of its would-be seal. I can see from my vantage point sitting on the countertop that a pool is forming between the back of the sink and the windowpane; a couple of dead flies are floating, exposing their bloated bellies, and the spray from the tap is creating a waterfeature effect so it looks like the scene is missing only a miniature palm tree. My mother wrestles with the tap and hands me the hose. I angle the spray over to the flies and watch as I make them swirl round and round. Mother winds a pink towel into a turban, then jabs at my arm. I take the phone from its cradle and twist the cord around my finger. She slaps my hand, then the tap shut. Her expression says someone had better be dead.' (Introduction)
Works About this Award
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The 2015 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 222 2016; (p. 41)'The article offers the insights of the authors on the winning entries for the 2015 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize. It mentioned the runner up entries that were received by "On the Road to Kuang Si Falls" short story by Ashleigh Synnott and the "Civilisation at Last" by Toby Sime while the "K-k-k" short story by Lauren Foley won the first prize.' (Publication abstract)
