2008 - the year of the short story...

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About the competition

The National Jazz Writing Competition is the only competition of its kind in Australia, with a focus on jazz-related writing.

In its first three years (2005-2007) the competition invited entrants to submit reviews of Australian jazz CDs and concerts. The judges each year represented the spectrum of Australian jazz expertise from education, performance, composition, writing and broadcasting. Each is recognised as being outstanding in their respective field.

2008 - the year of the short story

In 2008 we start the cycle that will be the way the competition operates from now on. Each year will feature a different type of jazz-related writing, alternating between literary and non-fiction genres. In 2008, we focus on the short story and the winning entries will be published in extempore. 2009 will see a call for entries of essays, 2010 will celebrate jazz poetry and then back to non-fiction in 2011 when we come around to reviews again.

Why the change? It seemed like the time was right. Reviewing requires a specialised combination of skills that's hard to find. Meanwhile, we wanted to celebrate some of the wonderful creativity and artistic cross-pollination we've been discovering happens in and around jazz and improvised music, so this is our way of doing that.

What needs to be submitted?

Entrants will need to submit one short story (max 2,000 words). The story must be about, inspired by or responding to jazz or improvised music.

Note: Where the reference to jazz is not explicit in the story you will also need to supply a brief (200 words maximum) explanation of the link. For example, if a story was inspired by the music at a gig or on a recording, name the musician(s) and give details of date and venue or CD.

See the full submission guidelines >

Announcement of the winner

The winner will be announced in late August and there will be a public readings event at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz – Australia’s best loved and most prestigious annual jazz event - on the first weekend in November.

The prizes?

1st prize

$750 and publication in extempore

2nd and 3rd prize

CD Packs from Birdland Records and publication in extempore

Previous years - reviews (2005-2007)

The review competition aimed to raise the profile of jazz reviews in Australia and their writers.  The range of music that sits under the umbrella term of jazz is wider than ever.  Yet only a small proportion of it gets the attention it deserves in the press or from audiences. Well-written reviews can make an enormous difference when it comes to generating enthusiasm for jazz.

Each year, three judges assessed a shortlist of entries against a set of criteria including (but not limited to):

• the writer’s knowledge of jazz
• whether the writer can bring a sense of the music being reviewed into the writing
• the writer’s ability to engage and interest the reader

For an entry to win, it had to demonstrate all these qualities and will also, in the combined opinion of the judges, be the shortlisted entry that did so the best.