Member's Spring 2025 Writing Competition
Member's Winter Writing Competition
Guidelines
Entries close 5 pm, Friday 21 August 2026
Submit your entries via the form below
The contest is for members only. Become a member
Maximum word count: 500 words (poems max 20 lines)
Max 2 submissions per member
Winners announced late September.
Prizes
First Prize: $100
Second Prize: $75
Third Prize: $50
Winning entries will be published on the Hunter Writers’ Centre website.
Writing Prompts
Write a piece inspired by one of the quotes or images below
The jetty is empty: that’s the first sign of trouble. It should be lined with
fisherman this early in the morning.
― Liz Allen, Solastalgia, 2025 Newcastle Short Story Award
To be overcome in battle was not fortuitous: it was the sign that the warrior was a warrior no longer, and had begun the transition to victim.
― Inga Clendinnen, Aztecs
She was like a butterfly, full of color and vibrancy when she chose to open her wings, yet hardly visible when she closed them.
― Geraldine Brooks, Caleb’s Crossing: A Novel
I can tell that the distance has changed me in a lot of ways – twelve thousand miles of separation tends to have that effect.
― Jimmy Barnes, Working Class Boy
I gaze at my joggers. They’re covered in red dirt. Part of me wants to risk bringing them through customs so I can take the redness home with me.
― Soul Takawira Joyner, Mazvita
It is better to be defeated on principle, than to win on lies.
― Arthur Calwell
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