2022 OLGA MASTERS SHORT STORY AWARD

At the recent Headland Writers Festival, Ruth Armstrong was announced as the winner of Olga Masters Short Story Award for her story Sandcastles. Ruth's winning entry will be published in Island Magazine in November, which is available for purchase through their website and will appear on the Olga Masters website early next year. Miriam Webster was the runner-up for her story A Look of Extreme Festivity which is available to read now on the Olga Masters website.

Ruth Armstrong has worked as a doctor, a medical journal editor and a public health blogger. Sydney based for many years, she returns often to her natural habitat in the waters off Magnetic Island. She has an MA in creative writing from the University of Technology Sydney. The winner of the 2018 AAWP/ASSF Emerging Writers’ Prize, her short stories have been published in Meniscus, and the ACE and UTS anthologies.

Miriam Webster writes stories in and around Melbourne/Naarm. Her stories are available in places like Aniko Magazine, Island online, swim meet lit mag and FDBNHLLLTTFPLAGIARISM. Her stories have placed in this year’s major prizes, and she is currently working on her debut short story collection.

Congratulations to all entrants of the Olga Masters Short Story Award 2022. The calibre of stories received from all over Australia was extraordinary! The Award is managed by South East Arts and supported by Island Magazine and South Coast Writers Centre. The prize is funded by the Masters Family and the competition was originally established by Well Thumbed Books in Cobargo.

A note from Ruth:
Who better to inspire a short story award than Olga Masters?

I discovered her work recently, and found much delight in her use of the Australian vernacular, her spirited female protagonists, her quirky depiction of rural Australia, and her earthy exposition of her characters’ domestic lives.

But it was a quote from Masters on the competition webpage that I found both relatable and liberating.

Many people have said to me, “What a pity you had such a big family to raise. Think of the novels and the short stories and the poems you never had time to write because of that.” And I looked at my children and I said, “These are my poems, these are my stories.”

I don’t have seven kids, but like most women, I lead a complex professional and family life. Olga’s quote is a reminder that some of our best stories are the ones we never write – the ones woven into the lives of those we touch, and carried forward in their stories.

So I feel doubly honoured in having won the Olga Masters award. Awards like these are a huge encouragement to writers and I am deeply grateful to South East Arts, The South Coast Writers Centre and Island Magazine for keeping this competition going, and the Masters family for continuing to support it.  

Here’s to all our stories -- the living and the written -- and to many more years of nurturing Australian writers in Olga Masters’ memory!