Express Media is thrilled to announce The 2016 John Marsden & Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers was awarded to Abigail Strangward, Darrelyn Nguyen and Charlotte Head at a special event during the Melbourne Writers Festival on Thursday September 1.

The John Marsden & Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers is an exclusive creative writing prize open to Australian secondary school students. This year, over 250 entries were received across three categories; fiction, nonfiction and poetry. The award was judged by author and Express Media patron, John Marsden, and staff of Hachette Australia.

Fifteen shortlisted writers travelled to Melbourne to meet John Marsden and participate in an exclusive workshop with best-selling author James Phelan, ahead of the announcement of the winners at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Express Media and Hachette Australia were thrilled by the number of entries, and by the high calibre of the writing submitted.

Express Media Creative Producer, Fiona Dunne, said, ‘Among the outstanding entries, we were thrilled to recognise fifteen talented young writers from across Australia. The high standard of work submitted represents an incredibly exciting and diverse future for Australian writing.’

Abigail Strangward won the fiction category with short story Marmalade, Darrelyn Nguyen won the nonfiction category with The Formula for Life and Charlotte Head won the poetry category for Clarity.

Abigail, Darrelyn and Charlotte each receive a $500 cash prize, $500 reimbursement of travel to Melbourne Writers Festival, a selection of YA titles from Hachette Australia, and publication of their work in Express Media’s flagship publication, Voiceworks.

Express Media, John Marsden and Hachette Australia congratulate all of the shortlisted entrants, and we look forward to reading more of their work in the future.

You can find out more about Abigail, Darrelyn, Charlotte and all the 2016 shortlisted writers on the Typeface blog.