The Best Australian Yarn 2024 winner: Melbourne writer Anson Cameron wins $50,000 first prize

A Melbourne author who had taken a long break from writing short stories has returned to the art form with a splash, winning the rich $50,000 first prize in the record-breaking third season of The Best Australian Yarn.

Anson Cameron’s evocative story Vanilla ... then Cinnamon, about the shifting relationship between a man in a coma and the nurse who cares for him, was given the judges’ nod ahead of more than 6000 entries.

Prize Jury judge Robert Drewe said Cameron’s winning tale was, quite simply, a rare gem of a short story.

“In an even stronger field of entries this year it nevertheless stood out, impressing the judges on emotional levels beyond story-telling,” he said.

“Its flavour was so evocative and distinctive that you could almost taste it.”

Frank Leggett, a freelance journalist from Balmain, in inner Sydney, won $4000 as the runner-up for his murky tale of Asian intrigue, Me, Pete and the American.

Eight entrants whose stories also made the top 10 received $1000 each.

All of the competition’s winners were celebrated at a packed awards ceremony at the State Library of WA on Friday night.

Cameron, who flew to Perth for the event, was thrilled to win and said the $50,000 prize money would buy him time to write.

This is a way in to a degree. It gets you noticed, gets people’s ears pricking up, it’s a foothold.

“It’s a serious chunk of prize money, which buys a serious amount of time,” he said.

“You can be any writer in the world and you still need constant affirmation and the cheers of the crowd. It’s a real psychological fillip.”

He praised the competition’s organisers and sponsors for encouraging “the new green shoots of Australian literature”.

“Publishers are a fortress on a hill, unreachable for most writers,” he said. “This is a way in to a degree. It gets you noticed, gets people’s ears pricking up, it’s a foothold.”

Albany writer Sam Carmody took the $3000 Regional Prize for Flutter, which charts the effects of a fatal shark attack on a couple’s faltering relationship.

NSW resident Odette Brown won the First Nations Storytelling Prize for Wattle and Catherine Ooi, from South Australia, won the Navitas English as a Second Language Prize for The Desolation of Colour.

The Youth Prize categories went to WA teenagers Alastair Walker (15-18 age group) and Danica Hehre (12-14 age group).

The winners in the new Comic Story Prize categories were all from WA — Nina Dakin won the general category, Ane Greyling the 15-18 age group and Agatha Villazor the 12-14 group.

Three of the main prize-winning stories will feature in a special edition of the Sunday Times magazine STM this weekend and are beautifully illustrated by Naomi Craigs.

Subscribers can read the winning entries and every story named in the top 50 here.

The Best Australian Yarn went from strength to strength in its third year, increasing its prize pool to $80,000 — the richest in the world for short stories — introducing the new comic categories and attracting a staggering 6020 entries.

Scott Jones, the chief executive of education provider and major sponsor Navitas, said the company had a great passion for literacy and was thrilled to support the competition.

“The Best Australian Yarn provides writers of all ages and backgrounds across Australia with a platform to showcase their creativity and explore their talent as authors and storytellers,” he said.

Seven West Media’s national masthead The Nightly is a supporting partner of the competition together with the WA branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, Writing WA, the Perth Comic Arts Festival, the Education Department, through the Premier’s Reading Challenge, and the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage of WA.

THE WINNERS

Overall winner

Vanilla ... then Cinnamon by Anson Cameron

Runner-up

Me, Pete and the American by Frank Leggett

Regional Prize

Flutter by Sam Carmody

Navitas English as a Second Language Prize

The Desolation of Colour by Catherine Ooi

First Nations Storytelling Prize

Wattle by Odette Brown

Youth Prize (12-14)

Apocalypse Whenever by Danica Hehre

Youth Prize (15-18)

Roadkill by Alastair Walker

Comic Story Prize

The West Coast by Nina Dakin

Comic Story Youth Prize (12-14)

The Parson’s Nose by Agatha Villazor

Comic Story Youth Prize (15-18)

Endeavor by Ane Greyling

Shortlisted Finalists

Remembering the Hungry Ghosts by Emmi Khor

The Bleeding Station by Sam Cecins

Date Night by Alison Davis

Poison Song by Jason Bainbridge

Such Small Hands in the Blue Afternoon by Monica Tanos

La Ricetta Di Famiglia by David Harris

A Tomato Grave for a Tomato Man by Abby Guy

A Smatter of Facts by Anne Vick