Introducing the Speculate Prize

The Speculate Prize is a new award for an unpublished speculative fiction manuscript, presented by RMIT Writing & Publishing and RMIT Culture in partnership with Giramondo Publishing, sponsored by Whispir, and supported by the Speculate Literary Festival.

One winner will receive $5000 prize money, mentorship from Giramondo Publishing and a week-long residency at RMIT Culture’s McCraith House on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria.

This biennial prize is aimed at writers from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand who explore the expansive possibilities of literature: those who imagine other worlds – other realities – that may even exist within our own. We wish to uncover and support writers who embrace new literary modes and extend the possibilities of the novel and short story form.

Submissions are open and close 1 September. The winner will be announced in November.

The 2021 Speculate Prize will be judged by Rose Michael (RMIT), Astrid Edwards (Melbourne Writers Festival), Nick Tapper (Giramondo) and Declan Fry.

The winner will receive:

• $5000 prize money (inclusive of travel costs)
• a mentorship from Giramondo Publishing
• a week-long residency at RMIT’s McCraith House on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria

One highly commended author will receive:

• a twelve-month book subscription (valued at $250) from Giramondo Publishing
• a feedback session with a Giramondo editor

Speculative fiction is the perfect form to write the future, right the past and rewrite the present. This biennial prize is aimed at writers who explore the expansive possibilities of literature: those who imagine other worlds – other realities – that may even exist within our own. We wish to uncover and support writers who embrace new literary modes and extend the possibilities of the novel and short story form.

• The manuscript must be complete, no less than 30,000 words and no more than 100,000 words.
• The manuscript must not be published (in any country or form, including digital and self-published).
• The manuscript must not be under consideration with other publishers or agents.
• The manuscript should be in Word or PDF, a serif font, 12 pt, with 1.5 line spacing and page numbers.
• The manuscript should include a cover sheet with title, author name, and a brief one-paragraph summary. (If you wish, please specify whether you identify with the community represented in your piece. As per Overland’s recent editorial statement on blind judging, this response will only be provided to judges if they ask for it.) The author’s name should not appear anywhere else on the manuscript.
• The Speculate Prize is open to residents of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Visit bit.ly/SpeculatePrize for full details and to enter.