We are delighted to announce Beejay Silcox as the winner of the inaugural KYD Flash Fiction Prize for ‘Mefloquine’!

Beejay Silcox is a writer and book critic. Her review work appears in high-profile publications across three continents and is renowned for its resolute (some might say, foolhardy) honesty. In addition to her literary commentary, Beejay works as a professional reader: she’s an interviewer, prize judge, festival programmer, editor and educator. And she has stories to tell. Beejay eloped to Las Vegas, escaped from quicksand, and once had to be rescued—unironically—from a picnic at Hanging Rock.

KYD publishing director and CEO Rebecca Starford says:

Formally intriguing, confident, evocative, Beejay Silcox’s ‘Mefloquine’ does everything we hoped for in the prize—to surprise, to entertain, to trouble. In just a few short pages, she captures perfectly a woman fragmenting. I could not stop thinking about this story.

Read Beejay’s winning story here.

We’re also delighted to announce three runner-up stories, which will be published in Kill Your Darlings in 2025:

• ‘After’ by Linda Atkins
  

A story about a woman who looks back on her now deceased husband’s infidelity.

Linda Atkins is a medical practitioner and writer, living in Dharug country. She has been published in ABR, Inside Story, Persephone and Grieve 2024, among others. Atkins has been shortlisted in the Olga Masters Prize and the Ernestine Hill Prize.

Stay tuned for Linda’s story.

• ‘Wake Up Call’ by Tui Rose Butler
  

A Facebook marketplace exchange with a priest offers an unlikely moment of understanding.

Tui Rose is a writer, student and a proud Aboriginal Palawa woman living on the stolen land of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people and the Bunurong Boon Wurrung people. She grew up between Aeteroa and (so called) Australia. She is currently completing Honours in Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne.

Stay tuned for Tui’s story.

• ‘The Spoiled Cassata’ by Isabella Trimboli

As the mourning desserts go limp and the funeral speeches grow boring, a young deceased woman may just have the last word yet.

Isabella Trimboli is a writer based in Melbourne. Her essays, criticism and fiction have been published in places such as The Nation, the Times Literary Supplement, HEAT and New Left Review, among others.

Stay tuned for Isabella’s story.

KYD editor Suzy Garcia says of the runners-up:

Our submissions readers were spoiled for choice with so many entries from around the country. Our runners-up are three distinct and exciting voices in Australian fiction. We look forward to sharing the tender reflection of Linda Atkin’s ‘After’, the frenetic energy of Tui Rose’s ‘Wake Up Call’ and the biting humour of Isabella Trimboli’s ‘The Spoiled Cassata’. Each story shows a skilful ability to bring to life a unique character—and their worlds—all in quick time.

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Beejay receives $1000 in prize money. Linda, Tui and Isabelle each receive $500. All three runners-up stories will be published in KYD in 2025.

Designed to challenge writers to be faster, punchier and more focused in their storytelling, the inaugural prize attracted 290 entries from around Australia. Thank you to everyone who entered!