THE PRIZE FOR EXPERIMENTAL NON-FICTION
The prize opens every year in March and entries close the end of May. Writers can submit pieces up to 5000 words or equivalent.
PRIZES:
First prize is AU$5000 + publication in The Lifted Brow
Two runners-up each receive AU$500 and discussion with editors w/r/t publication of their pieces
JUDGES:
2018: Nadja Spiegelman, Ander Monson and Ellena Savage
2017: Claudia La Rocco, Wayne Koestenbaum, Eileen Myles, Leslie Jamison, Fiona Wright
2016: Helen Macdonald, Dodie Bellamy, Kate Zambreno, Maria Tumarkin
2015: John D’Agata, Daniel Mallory Ortberg, Rebecca Giggs
WINNERS:
2018: Maybe you??? (More info here.)2017: 'An Architecture of Early Motherhood (and Independence)', by Stephanie Guest and Kate Riggs
2016: ‘Trashman Loves Maree’ by W.J.P. Newnham
2015: 'Humans Pretending to be Computers Pretending to be Humans' by Oscar Schwartz
Submissions to this prize need to be able to be published on the printed page. We applaud the current focus and fascination with boundary-pushing non-fiction that is published online, but we still believe there’s scope to further experiment on the page, using facts, maybe-facts, words from life, journals, journalism, collage, theory, photography, illustration, tricks, arguments, etc. The essay, as the end of experience, is a malleable form, and we want to celebrate that with this prize.
What is ‘experimental non-fiction’? Like all non-fiction writing it is steeped in facts, real events and real people, with the aim of communicating information, argument, and truth. It differs from traditional non-fiction in that it tries to convey its meaning using unorthodox form, or style, or voice, or point-of-view, or etc. The best pieces of experimental non-fiction are those in which any unorthodox element deepens the meaning and authenticity of the subject matter.
2018

2017
