Congrats to the AWC alumni shortlisted for the 2020 Banjo Prize

HarperCollins Australia has released the shortlist for the 2020 Banjo Prize and we’re so proud that all four are from the Australian Writers’ Centre community.

The 2020 Banjo Prize shortlist:

The List by Megan Albany
The Tuesday Afternoon Murder Club by Karli Florisson
Roses of Budapest by Rachael Keene
Flood Debris by Dinuka McKenzie

Karli and Dinuka have also made the longlist for the 2020 Richell Prize for two other novels. What an extraordinary achievement!

From the HarperCollins website:

The Banjo is open to all Australian writers of commercial fiction, offering the chance to win a publishing contract with HarperCollins, with an advance of $15,000. Two runners-up will each receive a written assessment of their manuscript from HarperCollins.

In its third year, The Banjo Prize received almost 250 entries from around Australia. 

The Banjo was launched in 2018 to specifically highlight commercial fiction, such as crime, historical fiction, family sagas, and domestic noir. In its inaugural year, AWC alumna Sonya Bates was shortlisted and went on to secure a publishing contract for her novel Inheritance of Secrets. (Read more about Sonya’s story here.)

The winner for 2020 will be announced on 22 September. Good luck to the amazing contenders!