18 August 2016

Announcing The 2016 Scribe Nonfiction Prize Winner

 Express Media and Scribe Publications are thrilled to announce Deserae Horswood as Winner of The 2016 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers.

 

Winner of the 2016 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers

Deserae Horswood

‘My Parents’ Ashes are in the Boot of My Car’

Deserae’s entry, My Parents’ Ashes are in the Boot of My Car, impressed the judges with its depiction and exploration of mourning and Mexico’s Day of the Dead festival. Deserae describes the work as ‘a series of interwoven narrative and theoretical vignettes around mourning, the performance of commemoration and the ethical mess of writing about lost loved ones.’

Deserae receives a cash prize of $3000, an editorial mentorship to develop her work for publication and a generous selection of new-release Scribe books tailored to her reading interests. Highly Commended writers Ronnie and Emily receive a $250 cash prize, and selection of new-release books tailored to their interests.

“Being awarded The 2016 Scribe Nonfiction Prize is exciting and absurd and wonderful, and I’m so grateful to Scribe and Express Media for their support of young creatives. As an emerging artist, sometimes it can be hard to say writer and feel a sense of certainty; opportunities like this help you believe it.”

Deserae Horswood is a writer, researcher and social psychologist. Her experimental nonfiction integrates critical theory and creative nonfiction, and in 2015 she was awarded Dean’s Honours upon completion of the Masters in Writing at the University of Melbourne. She has worked for The Lifted Brow and Melbourne University Publishing. Deserae is currently running a multi-site UNSW project in Western Sydney, talking with newly-arrived refugee children and families about their resettlement experience and wellbeing.

Read more about Deserae’s writing now.

Two writers were highly commended for their entries: Ronnie Scott for Sights, an essay about shyness in queer culture, privacy and surveillance; and Emily Clements, for The Lotus Eaters, a memoir about the interplay of sex, identity, experience and selfhood.

Ronnie and Emily receive a $250 cash prize and selection of new-release books tailored to their interests.

 

 Highly Commended

Ronnie Scott

‘Sights’

“So many writers I admire have been recognised by the Scribe Prize, and I was thrilled beyond belief to be included on this year’s shortlist. I submitted an odd essay that I did not know what to do with, so it meant a lot that it resonated with the selection committee. Prizes like this give you an opportunity to develop longer work, and let you know that an idea is worth pursuing.”

Ronnie Scott is the author of Salad Days, an essay published by Penguin Specials, and founder of The Lifted Brow. He contributes to The Age, The Australian, The Believer, The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, ABC Radio National, NGV Publications and other venues, and has taught creative writing at the University of Melbourne, Swinburne and RMIT. He is working on his first novel. Read more about Ronnie’s writing and ‘Sights‘ now.

 

 Highly Commended

Emily Clements

‘The Lotus Eaters’

“I am absolutely breathless to have been highly commended for the prize. Writing turns you inwards, and the commendation has drawn me out from myself and shone a light on what I had hidden in dark. It is vital for young people to know that they can speak from their lived worlds, to receive affirmation that their experiences are valid and valuable – and that’s what The Scribe Nonfiction Prize does.”

Emily Clements is a jill of all literary trades. Her flash fiction has been broadcast over Fed Square and performed for Little Fictions in Sydney, and her (much) longer fiction won the Melbourne Young Writers Award in 2014. She finds nonfiction prickly and painful, which is why she has a manuscript full of it. Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Overland NUW Fair Australia Prize and earned her a place in Express Media’s inaugural Toolkits program. She still thinks of puns as the purest poetry there is, and there are many of them on her Twitter @Emily_Clementsy

Read more of Emily’s writing and ‘The Lotus Eaters‘ now.

A huge congratulations to Deserae, Ronnie, and Emily. We can’t wait to see their writing continue to develop and look forward to reading more from them soon!


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