Congratulations!
We're very happy to be announcing the winners and commended entries the 2020 New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing, the six prizes and many commendations being awarded to crime writers from all over Australia. The New England Writers' Centre wishes to thank our wonderful judges and the University of New England for their generous support and co-sponsorship of this year's Thunderbolt Prize.
Just click on the links to find out more about the winning authors, read their submissions and the Judges' reports. Enjoy!
Just click on the links to find out more about the winning authors, read their submissions and the Judges' reports. Enjoy!
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Announcing the 2020 winners
The New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Fiction First Prize: "True Blue" by Kerry James Sponsored by the New England Writers' Centre The New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Non-Fiction First Prize: "The Late Guardian" by Roderick Makim Sponsored by the New England Writers' Centre The New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Poetry First Prize: "The River" by Richenda Rudman Sponsored by the New England Writers' Centre The New England Award "The Late Guardian" by Roderick Makim Sponsored by the University of New England The Emerging Authors Award "Monster in the Dark: The Murder of Betty Thomson Shanks" by Alyssa MacKay Sponsored by University of New England The Youth Award "The Dead Thing" by Eva Mustapic Sponsored by University of New England 
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Commended Submissions
Fiction Highly commended: "Looking for Deidre" by Carmel Bendon Commended: "Mine" by Rebecca Howden Commended: "The Mesh" by Coralie Sanderson Non-Fiction Highly Commended: "The Monster in the Dark: The Murder of Betty Thomson Shanks" by Alyssa Mackay Commended: "On the Desecration of William Lanne" by David Vernon Poetry Highly commended: "EndangeRED" by Margaret Ruckert Commended: "Revenge Takes the Cake" by Kristin Murdoch Commended: "Leah" by Paul Prenter Youth Highly Commended: "Yellow Mist" by Tara Chau Commended: "The Black Square" by Eliza Brown Commended: "UnAustralian Corona-Crime" by Elizaveta Fedotova Commended: "Accidental Murder" by Isabelle Schubert All entries were judged anonymously, and the New England Award and Emerging Author Awards were chosen based on final commendations across all categories. Successful entries, along with judges’ reports, will be published on the website in November.
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Meet the authors
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Kerry James
Kerry James spent many of her earliest years in the New England region and lived there again in her thirties. She now lives in Victoria but memories of New England abound. Thunderbolt remains her favourite bushranger and the romance of Thunderbolt's Rock, where horses could be ridden and hidden, never dies for her. This is her first Thunderbolt Prize win! |
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Roderick Makim
Roderick Makim grew up on a 250 square-mile cattle station in the Australian Outback, learning how to ride a horse shortly before learning how to read. Once the second was learned, it very quickly replaced the first as his much-preferred activity. His first six years of schooling were done via the radio with School of the Air, before attending boarding school and later gaining two degrees in Law and International Relations at university. He has travelled and worked all over the world - teaching English in Peru, bartending in Singapore, cooking in East Timor and freelance journalism in Ukraine and Iraq. In Australia, he has worked as a jackaroo, copper miner, paralegal and journalist. He has written one novel, two collections of short stories and poems and one children's book which was illustrated by his sister, Neroli Makim. He believes life is supposed to be interesting. |
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Richenda Rudman
Richenda Rudman is a former speechwriter and corporate trainer who writes poetry and short stories from her home in Kensington, Victoria. Richenda’s work appears in the 2020 Grieve anthology and soon to be released Poetica Christi’s Joy to the Morning anthology. This year, she was shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prose Prize and last year won the Philippa Holland Award for Poetry and the What’s My Story Poetry Award at City of Stonnington. Richenda has been shortlisted on numerous occasions in the Scarlet Stiletto Crime Writing Awards and in 2014 won the Cross Genre Prize. She hopes to publish a volume of poetry in 2021. |
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Alyssa Mackay
Alyssa Mackay is a writer who likes mysteries to be solved but realises this doesn’t always happen. She was shortlisted for the Flash 500 Novel Competition in 2016 and 2018, and she was recently highly commended in Stringybark Stories Tales With A Twist. She lives in Brisbane with her husband, son and cat. |
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Eva Mustapic
Eva Mustapic is a Year 11 student at Applecross Senior High School where she is in the Art Program and the Music program. She writes poetry and short stories. Eva was a runner up for the 2020 Golden Pen Award, the winner of the Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing 2018 in the youth category, and a joint winner of the 2018 Tim Winton Short Story Award. She hopes to write and publish books in the future. |