![\"Banjo](\"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Banjo-in-post-banner.png\")
<\/p>\nThe quest for the next great Australian storyteller continues as HaperCollins releases the shortlist for The Banjo Prize.<\/p>\n
The Banjo Prize is a new literary prize open to Australian writers of commercial fiction. The prize was established with the goal of uncovering exciting new Australian voices telling the kind of stories people love to read. Unforgettable stories – addictive page-turners that are impossible to put down. Think sweeping epics, historical dramas, family sagas, heart-stopping romances, compelling mysteries and dark psychological thrillers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Authors submitting manuscripts for The Banjo Prize must be over 18 and have a finished original manuscript. The hope is that the winner may be the next Colleen McCullough, Bryce Courtenay, Judy Nunn, Di Morrissey, Jane Harper, Kate Morton, Graeme Simsion, Liane Moriarty or Matthew Reilly.<\/p>\n
Catherine Milne, Head of Fiction at Harper Collins, commented on the breadth of talent displayed in the shortlist.<\/p>\n
\u2018It has been so wonderful to have received just so many entries to our inaugural Banjo Prize \u2013 big thanks to everyone who entered! It was exciting to feel like we were tapping into a reservoir of undiscovered writing talent out there in Australia. With such a wealth of entries, it\u2019s been difficult to narrow it down to the top five manuscripts, but we\u2019re thrilled with this shortlist. These five writers have so much potential, and each of their manuscripts \u2013 a gritty outback crime story, a pacy mystery, a comic bushranger caper, a gripping police procedural and a compelling country tale \u2013 offer something intriguing, different and appealing.\u2019 – Catherine Milne<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
320 manuscripts were submitted and from these the following five titles were selected for the shortlist:<\/p>\n
Bordertown<\/em> by Gregory James<\/strong><\/p>\n
Nothing Gold<\/em> by Ruth McIver<\/strong><\/p>\n
Burn<\/em> by Tim Slee<\/strong><\/p>\n
When Secrets Come to Light<\/em> by Sonya Spreen Bates<\/strong><\/p>\n
Bail Up<\/em> by Monissa Whitely<\/strong><\/p>\n
One of these shortlisted titles will be win the first ever Banjo Prize, which means the author will receive a publishing contract as well as an advance of $15,000.<\/p>\n
The winner will be announced on the 31st of August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The quest for the next great Australian storyteller continues as HaperCollins releases the shortlist for The Banjo Prize. The Banjo Prize is a new literary prize open to Australian writers of commercial fiction. The prize was established with the goal of uncovering exciting new Australian voices telling the kind of stories people love to read. Unforgettable stories – addictive page-turners that are impossible to put down. Think sweeping epics, historical dramas, family sagas, heart-stopping romances, compelling mysteries and dark psychological thrillers. Authors submitting manuscripts for The Banjo Prize must be over 18 and have a finished original manuscript. The hope is that the winner may be the next Colleen McCullough, Bryce Courtenay, Judy Nunn, Di Morrissey, Jane Harper, Kate Morton, Graeme Simsion, Liane Moriarty or Matthew Reilly. Catherine Milne, Head of Fiction at Harper Collins, commented on the breadth of talent displayed in the shortlist. \u2018It has been so wonderful to have received just so many entries to our inaugural Banjo Prize \u2013 big thanks to everyone who entered! It was exciting to feel like we were tapping into a reservoir of undiscovered writing talent out there in Australia. With such a wealth of entries, it\u2019s been difficult to narrow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":82351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[1095,9093,1373,1630,2265,2352,7214,2921,2995,3222,9088,3595,9092,9089,9091,8611,9090],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Banjo-Social.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82345"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82345"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82357,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82345\/revisions\/82357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}