Five applicants who were shortlisted from Saturday read 500 words. The audience complete feedback sheets which are given to the applicants. The winner will be announced at Festival Closing ceremony and will reads their story at the Festival Wrap-up event in September 2025. The winning entry will be published on the festival website. Prizes include a week-long writer-in-residence opportunity at a Eumundi B&B and a Berkelouw book voucher.

Judges

Nikki Gemmell writes novels, memoirs, essays and columns. She is the bestselling author of some twenty books, including Shiver, The Bride Stripped Bare, After, The Ripping Tree and Dissolve. Her books have been translated into twenty-two languages. She was born in Wollongong, New South Wales. Nikki's latest book, Wing (2024), is an incendiary novel about what it means to be a woman today. Wing is described as an explosive, contemporary literary thriller from international bestselling – “Wing is Lord of the Flies meets Picnic at Hanging Rock meets Promising Young Woman”.

Phil Jarratt is the author or co-author of more than 40 books, written over nearly 50 years and ranging from best-selling bios (Evonne Goolagong Cawley, round-world yachtsman Ian Keirnan and surfers Jeff Hakman and Kelly Slater) to popular histories (Bali Heaven and Hell, Salts and Suits, Place of Shadows) and memoir (Life of Brine). He has worked in Australia, US, UK and France as a journalist, editor, publisher, marketing executive and events director, as well as in sports television and in independent documentary film production. Phil lives in Noosa.

Tony Wellington is a writer, photographer and artist. His written works include Freak Out: How a Musical Revolution Rocked the World in the Sixties, Vinyl Dreams: How the 1970s Changed Music, and Mixtapes and MTV: Triumphs and Tragedies in 1980s Music, all published by Monash University Publishing. He has also authored Happy? Exploding Cultural Myths about Happiness and a history of Noosa's environmental movement titled Noosa and Cooloola. His nature photography books include Wild About Noosa and The Nature of Noosa. For many years Tony worked in the film and television industry, and he lectured film studies. He also worked as a visual artist and book illustrator. Tony holds a degree in Media Studies from Macquarie University and is a former mayor of Noosa Shire.

Mary Garden is an author and a journalist, with a PhD in journalism (USC). Her memoir The Serpent Rising: a journey of spiritual seduction, first published in 1988, won the 2021 High Country Indie Book Award. Sundowner of the Skies ‒ the story of Oscar Garden, the forgotten aviator was shortlisted for the 2020 NSW Premier’s History Award. Her latest book My Father’s Suitcase has won multiple awards. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, including The Humanist, The Guardian, Meanjin, and New Zealand Geographic. Born in New Zealand, Mary settled in Queensland in the late 1970s.

Host

Dr Suzanne Campin is the Inaugural Eumundi Writers Festival Director. Suzie and husband David have been supporting artists of multiple genres by providing artist-in-residence programs at Eumundi Guesthouse for many years. Suzie has had multiple careers including in the arts, as a researcher and a community advocate and is now an art guide, small business operator and is working on her first book. She is a community advocate who loves Eumundi and the Noosa Hinterland. Her PhD thesis is about business ethics and she assures us there is such a thing.

Presenter

Gay M. Liddington, resident of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, and author of her recently published memoir, Will I ever be who I am?: from broken to brave, is a freelance writer whose comedy, poetry, and stories, span 40 years . A founding member of Mackay Writers, Gay's involvement with community projects includes, the book, Earth Dreams Magic: A journey through the Blackall Range Region, and stories of the volunteer history of Mary Cairncross Nature Reserve. During the past 11 years, Gay Liddington's features in the Hinterland Times have gained a loyal following.

Discover more about the Eumundi Writers Festival here: https://eumundiwritersfestival.com.au/