Kill Your Darlings is thrilled to announce that the KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award will be open for entries on 15 January 2018.

Held for the first time this year, the award attracted over 240 entries from around Australia, with Onyx B. Carmine named the winner for their manuscript, Permafrost, a collection of contemporary stories that impressed the judges with the calibre of its prose and moody, compelling storytelling.

The KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award was established to support the development of an early-career author, provide them with the opportunity to work with industry professionals,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.

KYD is proud to announce that the 2017 award was particularly successful in this regard. Carmine, as well as several other longlisted and shortlisted entrants, have since found representation with literary agents; longlisted entrant Joshua Pomare has also secured a publishing contract in Australia (Hachette) and in the US (Putnam).

In 2018, the KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award will once again be open to writers of adult fiction and adult narrative non-fiction, and will again seek to support writers in the development of their unpublished manuscripts.

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

Key Dates

Submissions open 9am (AEST) Monday 15 January 2018.

Submissions close 5pm (AEST) Saturday 31 March 2018.

Longlisted entrants will be announced on Friday 8 June 2018, and shortlisted entrants announced on Friday 22 June 2018.

The winner of the KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award will be announced on Friday 6 July 2018.

Please read our 2018 KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award Submission Guidelines and Terms & Conditions here.

The judges for the KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award, including a special guest judge, will be announced in early 2018.