“It’s never too late … to learn to read” writing competition

$30,000 in prizes for Australian writers. Competition closed 6 August 2012

The National Year of Reading 2012, in partnership with the Tasmanian Writers’ Centre, has been given a grant by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, to run a writing competition as part of Adult Learners’ Week 2012 (ALW).

“It’s never too late… to learn to read” is a short story competition for unpublished, new, emerging and established Australian writers. For some, it will be the chance to tell their own stories; for others, it will be the opportunity to imagine the experiences of an adult learning to read. Our aim is for the creation of exciting, inspiring and challenging stories to support and encourage adult learning, and to highlight the fact that “it’s never too late… to learn to read”.

Published writers will have the opportunity to win a $3,000 cash prize for their work, and unpublished, emerging writers, $1,000. The judges will be looking for stories that excite, inspire and challenge audiences. Fourteen stories (8 from published authors, 6 from unpublished) will be chosen as winners, and these will be announced during The Reading Hour 2012

People’s Choice voting

There is an additional component to the competition this year – People’s Choice voting. Everyone can participate in Adult Learners’ Week by asking them to vote for a winning entry of their choice. This will be in addition to the judges’ voting. People’s Choice voting will launched at The Reading Hour 2012 on the 25 August 2012.

Why not get your students involved in deciding which story they think should win?