Letter Review has announced the winners of the Letter Review Prize for Short Stories, Poetry and Flash Fiction.
Joseph Friesen has won the $600 (USD) Letter Review Prize for Short Stories. His winning work, ‘Every Once in a While’ is ‘a masterful piece of fiction’ which evocatively draws attention to the complexities social workers face’, says Letter Review.
‘It’s a challenging and often thankless line of work, and Friesen, himself a social worker, has written an honest and affecting story about finding balance when supporting those who are most vulnerable’, writes Letter Review.
Friesen was chosen from a shortlist of seven. Second place ($250 USD) went to Francesca Newton for ‘Try-Hard’ and third place ($150 USD) went to Annie Dawid for ‘The Coroner’s Version’.
Melbourne-based poet Darrelle Spenceley has won the $400 (USD) Letter Review Prize for Poetry for ‘Data Breach’, chosen from a shortlist of six. The two runners up for the prize, who receive $250 USD and $150 USD respectively, are Michael Dufresne for ‘The Dangle Unreleased’ and Deja Jones for ‘POVerty Line’.
Andi Van den Berge has won the $400 USD Letter Review Prize for Flash Fiction for ‘Trashy Humour’, chosen also from a shortlist of six. Second place ($250 USD) went to Andrew Nest, also from Melbourne, for ‘Everest’ and third place ($150 USD) went to Mahara Heslop for ‘Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow’.
‘We were regularly moved to tears by the enormous compassion displayed in the work’, Letter Review has noted of the entries. ‘As you would hope, we also laughed ourselves silly’ and appreciated the ‘brilliant and shining comic moments entrants served to us with sizzling finesse.’
For more information about the prizes see the Letter Review website here: https://letterreview.com/
If you have any questions please reach out to us (the Editors) by replying to this email: [email protected]
