Winners of the 2026 AAALS Creative Writing Competition
- 2 days ago
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Winner of the 2026 AAALS Indigenous Writers Creative Prose Prize:
"Country Keeps You" by Kyrah Honner, Birri Gubba and Luritja
Honorable Mention: "Battlelines" by Lisa Fuller, Murri
Winner of the 2026 AAALS Indigenous Writers Poetry Prize:
"Rua tekau tau" by Vaughan Rapatahana, Te Ātiaw
Honorable Mention: "Flood" by Hinemoana Baker, Māori
Winner of the 2026 AAALS Creative Prose Prize:
"Persuasion" by Sue Swinburne
Honorable Mention: "Petrichor" by John A.D. Fraser
Winner of the 2026 AAALS Poetry Prize:
"The Skellig Island Conversions" by Damen O’Brien
Honorable Mention: "The Caretaker" by Michelle Aprilis Vespera
Antipodes will publish these works in an upcoming issue.
Thank you to the judges of the 2026 AAALS Creative Writing Competition:
AAALS Indigenous Writers Creative Prose Prize: Nicola Andrews (Ngāti Pāoa) and Allanah Hunt (Barkindji/Malyangapa)
AAALS Indigenous Writers Poetry Prize: Nicola Andrews (Ngāti Pāoa) and Allanah Hunt (Barkindji/Malyangapa)
AAALS Creative Prose Prize: Raindrop Wright and Keren Heenan
AAALS Poetry Prize: Nathanael O’Reilly and Anne Casey