Image: 'DangerPup', Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Image: ‘DangerPup’, Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

We are delighted to announce the shortlist for Kill Your Darlings’ inaugural Unpublished Manuscript Award.

The Award is designed to support the development of an early-career author, provide them with the opportunity to work with industry professionals, and assist them in creating publishing pathways in the future.

The winner will receive $5000 in prize money, donated by Kill Your Darlings, and a mentorship with KYD’s Rebecca Starford (non-fiction) or Hannah Kent (fiction).

The award attracted 235 entries from across Australia, and a longlist of 10 entrants was announced on 7 June 2017.

The winner will be announced on 19 July.

Congratulations to the following shortlisted entrants:

Ashley Kalagian Blunt, Full of Donkey: Travels in Armenia
A travel memoir of a journey throughout Armenia, and the discoveries – personal, cultural and familial – that follow.

Amy Lovat, Halfway to Nowhere
A novel about a group of friends experiencing existential crises and experimenting with drugs, sex and religion, as they try to find their feet in an adult world.

S.J. Norman, Permafrost
A collection of contemporary ghost stories set around the world, each exploring the concept of haunting.

Sevana Ohandjanian, Black Grass
A memoir about belonging, migrant guilt, grief and friendship set in Berlin and Australia.

Susan White, Cut
A contemporary novel set in Melbourne about a young doctor who yearns to become the first female surgeon in the male-dominated Prince Charles Hospital.

The judges for the KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award are Penguin Random House Commissioning Editor Cate BlakeKYD Publishing Directors Rebecca Starford and Hannah Kent, and KYD Fiction Editor, Ashleigh Hanson.