The Melbourne Prize Trust has revealed a new opportunity for early-career authors – the Readings Residency Award.

The Readings Residency Award is open to early-career published authors based in Victoria. The winner will receive $5,000 cash, a residency at the Norma Redpath Studio in Carlton and a $2,500 travel voucher from Qantas. The residency will enable the recipient to immerse themselves in their literary pursuits in a unique environment in the heart of Melbourne’s creative community.

The award is supported by Readings, The University of Melbourne and Qantas, and is run by the Melbourne Prize Trust.

The Melbourne Prize runs on a three-year awards cycle, alternating between literature, music and urban sculpture, and provides significant opportunities to reward and recognise published Victorian authors across all career stages. This year, the focus returns once more to books.

Valued at more than $100,000, the full range of prize and awards offered this year are…

• The $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature 2018 is awarded to a Victorian author whose body of published work has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature, as well as to cultural and intellectual life.
• The $30,000 Best Writing Award 2018 is awarded for a published work of outstanding clarity, originality, and creativity by a Victorian writer.
• The $4,000 Civic Choice Award 2018, supported by Hardie Grant Books, will be awarded to one of the finalists across all three award categories
• And the aforementioned Readings Residency Award 2018, which will be awarded to an early career Victorian author.

You can find further information on the prize and awards here.

This year’s judges comprise some of Australia’s most respected literary identities, including esteemed authors Andrea Goldsmith and Nam Le; Marieke Hardy, Artistic Director, Melbourne Writers Festival; Khalid Warsame, Writer and Creative Producer; and Michael Williams, Director, The Wheeler Centre.

Entries for all the prizes can be made on the Melbourne Prize website by the individual artist or by nomination. You can download a PDF of the entry guidelines here. Entries close on 9 July 2018 at 5pm.

Past recipients of the Melbourne Prize for Literature are Chris Wallace-Crabbe (2015), Alex Miller (2012), Gerald Murnane (2009) and Helen Garner (2006).

For more information, please visit the Melbourne Prize website here. The finalists will be announced on 12 September, 2018.