I confess I had not heard of the Olga Masters Short Story Award until yesterday, when I discovered that my friend Ruth Armstrong had won the 2022 prize! Her story, Sandcastles, will be published in Island Magazine in November and will appear on the Olga Masters website early next year. Miriam Webster was the runner-up for her story A Look of Extreme Festivity which is available to read now.
The Olga Masters Short Story Award was established by Well Thumbed Books in Cobargo in 2014. Olga Lawler (28 May 1919- 27 September 1986) moved to Cobargo when she was about nine years of age with her family. Her first piece was published in the Cobargo Chronicle when she was fifteen years of age. She married Charles Masters in 1940. They had seven children together. Somewhere in amongst all those babies, Olga was a journalist for local newspapers and wrote screen plays and stories.
The Award is now administered by South East Arts, in partnership with The South Coast Writers Centre and Island Magazine, and funded by the Masters family.
The Award welcomes short story (2000 to 4000 words) entries from writers of all ages who are residents in Australia. The theme is life in rural Australia.
Congratulations Ruth and Miriam!
| This post was written on the traditional land of the Wangal clan, one of the 29 clans of the Eora Nation within the Sydney basin. This Reading Life acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are this land’s first storytellers. |
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I had heard of it but it’s not one of the biggies. However, I love that she is recognised. She died too young. Congrats to your friend.
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