Ada Cambridge Writing Prizes

ENTER THE ADA CAMBRIDGE WRITING PRIZES

Each year the Williamstown Literary Festival is delighted to convene the Ada Cambridge Biographical Prose Prize, Poetry Prize and The Young Adas which are named after one of Australia’s finest colonial writers, Ada Cambridge. In 2021 we were delighted to welcome the Jennifer Burbidge Short Story Award for writing on disability into our prize suite.

Entries are now closed for the 2024 competition.

 

 Ada’s Story

Ada Cambridge

The Ada Cambridge Biographical Prose Prize, Poetry Prize and The Young Adas were named after one of Australia’s finest colonial writers. Ada Cambridge 1844 – 1926 was an English-born Australian writer. She began writing poetry in her late teens, and in her early twenties published two volumes of hymns, with a collection of poems entitled Echoes following in 1869. In 1870, she married a curate destined for colonial service, George Frederick Cross, and the couple sailed for Melbourne later that year.

Overall she wrote more than twenty-five works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works. Many of her novels were serialised in Australian newspapers but were never published in book form. As the wife of the Rev’d George Cross she lived in the Vicarage at Holy Trinity, Williamstown, from 1893-1909, where she wrote some of her most significant work.

 

 

This prize is open to all writers over 18 years of age who live in Victoria. Each writer can submit a single biographical story between 1000 and 3000 words in length. The entry fee is $15.

The winner will receive $500.

Read the Terms & Conditions here.

 

This prize is open to all poets over 18 years of age who live in Victoria. Each poet can submit up to two poems with a maximum length of 30 lines each. Each poem has an entry fee of $15.

The winner will receive $500.

Read the Terms & Conditions here.

 

This prize is open to writers between 14 and 18 years of age who live, work or study in the western suburbs of Melbourne. Each writer can submit a single story that is no more than 1000 words in length.

The winner will receive $250.

Read the Terms & Conditions here.