The Deborah Cass Prize committee and Writers Victoria are pleased to announce that eleven writers have been shortlisted for the eighth and final Deborah Cass Prize. The prize is focused on development of unpublished writers who have either migrated to Australia or have a parent who migrated here.
The winner receives a cash prize of $3,000 plus a three-month mentorship with an established writer. The winning manuscript is presented to Black Inc. for consideration and there is also the opportunity for the winning entry to be published in Mascara Literary Review.
There were 99 entries to the Prize this year, and the shortlisting panel said they were pleased and impressed with the high overall quality of the entries received this year.
The shortlisted writers for the 2022 Deborah Cass Prize are:
- Meghalee Bose, for ‘international roaming charges’
- Min Chow, for ‘Melonshine’
- Jing Cramb, for ‘The Baby’
- Olivia De Zilva, for ‘A Bigger Splash!’
- Anneliz Marie Erese, for ‘International’
- Sevim Dogan Ozkan, for ‘To Not Be Forgotten’
- Binh Pham, for ‘Girl on the Move’
- Anne Ryden, for ‘Ashes’
- Ara Sarafian, for ‘Crack’
- Niko Satria, for ‘Meeting Hunter’
- Nilofar Zimmerman, for ‘Kaa’
Row 2: Binh Pham, Anne Ryden, Ara Sarafian, Niko Satria, Nilofar Zimmerman.
The prize winner and runners-up will be determined by the 2022 Prize judges: Paul Dalgarno, Lee Kofman and Sisonke Msimang.
The Deborah Cass Prize was founded in 2015 in the memory of Deborah Cass (1960–2013), an Australian lawyer and aspiring writer, whose grandparents were Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe.
Dan Cass recently announced that this year will be the final the Prize is awarded, writing the following: “On behalf of our family – especially my late parents, Shirley and Moss – I am tremendously grateful to you for supporting the Prize. It’s been a very meaningful way to remember my sister, Deborah, who had a love of writing and a passion for justice… What began as a modest project has had a significant impact on the writers we’ve served. Many writers say that they have been buoyed by the recognition and sense of community the prize gave them.”
Dan also noted that, since the Prize began, the context for Australian writing has changed and it is wonderful to see the introduction of opportunities such as the Liminal & Pantera Press prize for nonfiction writing and SBS’s prize for emerging writers.
The winner and runners-up of the final Deborah Cass Prize will be announced at an online event on Wednesday 16 November at 7PM. The event is free to attend, with registrations open via Eventbrite here.
For more information and updates, visit the Deborah Cass Prize website and @PrizeCass on Twitter, or visit Writers Victoria at https://writersvictoria.org.au/deborah-cass-prize-for-writing/.