Do you have what it takes to write a story that will engage a member of the iPad generation? Can you get a young adult to switch off their iPad (well at least stop playing games) and instead focus on your writing? If so, why not enter the Stringybark Young Adult Fiction Award 2013. Aimed at the YA market (ages 12-18) we would love to hear from you. As long as it is in 1500 words or fewer. The story must have a link (no matter how tenuous) to Australia. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 16 and living on planet earth. There is a total of $770 worth of prizes in cash and books available -- plus publication for place-getters and highly commended authors. There is an entry fee of $9.95 (discounts for multiple entries). Closing date 13 January 2013. Details: http://www.stringybarkstories.net

The Bristol Short Story Prize was founded by the editors of the quarterly cultural magazine Bristol Review of Books in 2007 with the aim of publishing great short stories and raising funds for the magazine, enabling it to remain a free publication.

The 2012 Bristol Short Story Prize was won by Australian writer, John Arnold and the 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize has recently been launched, it is open to all writers, UK and non-UK based, over 16 years of age. Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4,000 words. The entry fee is £8 per story. The closing date for entries is April 30th 2013.

Prizes: 1st £1000 plus £150 Waterstone's gift card 2nd £700 plus £100 Waterstone's gift card 3rd £400 plus £100 Waterstone's gift card 17 further prizes of £100 will be presented to the writers whose stories appear on the shortlist.

For full details on entry and rules click on the link below.

Congratulations to all the entrants of the 2012 Banjo Paterson Writing Awards. We are pleased to announce the winners:

Short Story: 1st Place: Jim Kent, of Port Fairy VIC, for Midwife

2nd Place: Fiona Skepper, of Elwood VIC, for La Primevera

3rd Place: Jessica Hancock, of Maylands WA, for The Hayshed

Bush Poetry

1st Prize: Tom Mc Ilveen Port Macquarie, NSW for – Rainbow Serpent's Progeny

2nd Prize: Debra Dunn, of Orange, for – Monuments of Time

3rd Prize:

Peter Rondel WA for – The Great Flood

Open Poetry

1st Prize: Helen Thurloe, Avalon NSW for Host

2nd Prize: Margaret Bradstock, of Coogee, for Mawson: the Heroic Era

Third Prize:Jo Mills, WA, for Crown of Stars

ABC Local Radio Childrens Award:

1st Prize: Parris Hammond, of Marrickville NSW, for Letter to the Moon

2nd Prize: Charlie Campbell, of Orange, for the poem Just One Day

3rd Prize: Annie Nash, of Coonabarabran, for story Me and a Horse Called Manny.

Yvonne Zola encouragement award to Bella Stoyles, of Orange, for The Sling Shot Sargeant.

The winning entries can be viewed on the Home page - check it out www.wordsoutwest.com.au

Writers keen to enter the Banjo Paterson Writing Awards are reminded entries close Friday 20 April - tomorrow. Entries postmarked with this date will be accepted in the competition.

This year marks the 21st anniversary of the Banjo Paterson Writing Awards and to celebrate the occasion adult category winners will receive a limited edition Banjo bust sculpture by local artist Michael Lewis as part of their prize.

Poet, solicitor, journalist, war correspondent and ballad writer Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson (1864 – 1941) was born near Orange and each year Central West Libraries in conjunction with the Central West Writers' Centre, The Central Western Daily and ABC Central West Radio announce the call for entries to the Banjo Paterson Writing Awards.

There are four categories: Prose or Short Story (Category 1) Open Poetry (Category 2) Bush Poetry (Category 3) and ABC Central West Radio Children's Writing Awards for children aged under 16 years. Entry forms can be downloaded from www.wordsoutwest.com

Author Chris Womersley will be the special guest at Orange City Library's National Year of Reading Book Club Dinner to be held in the Library on Saturday 5th May at 6.30pm. Tickets are $80 pp and available from the Library. He will also be hosting a Short Story Writing Workshop that day.

Chris Womersley's debut novel, The Low Road, won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Book in 2008. His fiction and reviews have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Grant New Writing 14, Best Australian Stories 2010, The Monthly and The Age. In 2007 one of his short stories won the Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize.

His book Bereft was nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2011. Bereft was also included in the vote for NSW in "Our Story" collection for National Year of Reading.

Chris says short fiction relies on a decisive and concise approach to crafting the story. Learn the basics of constructing a short story; creating characters, how to define its shape, voice, tone and point of ending at the workshop.

When: Saturday 5 May Time: 10am – 1pm Cost: $25 Venue: West Room, next door to Orange City Library, 147 Byng Street, Orange Bookings: 6393 8125

For more information about Chris go to: Visit www.chriswomersley.com

This year 280 entries were received in the Banjo Paterson Writing Awards with 128 Prose or Short Story entries, 76 in the Open Poetry, 44 in the Bush Poetry and 32 in the Children's section. This is a huge increase on the number of entries received in recent years. Orange City Librarian Elizabeth Barry said human relationships featured in many entries as well as Mother Nature, rain, storms and animals across all the sections of the competition.

Ms Barry said the Awards recognise Orange's literary history and further encouraged writers to develop their craft. Ms Barry congratulated all the entrants and was pleased to announce the following winners:

Short Story: 1. The Magpie Lucky Dip by Brian Yatman, Erskineville, NSW (Prize $ 1,000) 2. The Snake by Jane Lawler, Prahran, VIC ($400) 3. Jack and the Jillaroo by Trudi Refshauge, Woodstock, NSW ($200)

Bush Poetry 1. The Ghost of Old Ted by Wendy Enchelmaier Whiteside, QLD ($500) 2. Lorraine Carew by Ellis Campbell, Dubbo, NSW ($200) 3. The Battler by Sandy Thorne, Lightning Ridge, NSW ($100)

Open Poetry 1. Orpheus in the Desert by Jo Mills, Greenmount, WA ($1,000) 2. Three Monologues by Ron Stevens, Dubbo, NSW ($400) 3. Saddle Dreaming by Vanessa Page, Rosewood , QLD ($200)

ABC Central West Radio Children's Writing Awards 1. Poem Black Temper by Adam Weitzer, Caulfield South, Melbourne, VIC ($200) 2. Story Traces of Tomorrow by Jesse Lyon, Orange, NSW ($100) 3. Story Annie and the Shed Mystery by Chloe Petersen, Portland, NSW ($100)

The Yvonne Zola Encouragement Award goes to Bec Hobden, Orange, NSW for her poem Falling to our Knees ...We're Proud Australians.

Entries in the Australian Book Review Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, worth a total of $8000, are now invited. Entries should be single-authored stories of between 2000 and 5000 words. Results will be announced in October and the winning story will be published in the October 2011 (Fiction) issue. First Prize: $5000, three shortlisted stories: $1000 plus publication Closing date: 30 June 2011. Visit the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize page for full details and an entry form: www.australianbookreview.com.au

About Elizabeth Jolley: Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO (4 June 1923 - 13 February 2007) was an English-born award-winning writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s. She was 53 years old when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels (including an autobiographical trilogy), four short story collections and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving significant critical acclaim. She was also a pioneer of creative writing teaching in Australia counting many well known writers such as Tim Winton among her students.

Banjo Paterson was born on February 17, 1864 and to celebrate his birthday Central West Libraries in conjunction with the Central West Writers' Centre, The Central Western Daily, ABC Central West Radio announce the call for entries to the Banjo Paterson Writing Awards.

There are four categories: Short Story (Category 1) Open Poetry (Category 2) Bush Poetry (Category 3) and ABC Central West Children's Writing Awards. Your entry must have Australian content – be it theme or style. First prize is $1,000, 2nd $400 and 3rd $200 in each of categories 1 and 2. The third category is bush poetry with prizes of $500 for 1st, $200 for 2nd and $100 for third. Entry is $10.

The prizes for the ABC Central West Children's Writing Awards are 1st prize $200, 2nd and 3rd $100 each. Entry is $5 for these awards and entries must be the unaided work of the entrant to age 16 years on Friday 15 April 2011.

The competition closes on Friday 15 April 2011 and winners will be contacted by phone on Monday 20 June 2011. The winning short story entry will be published in The Central Western Daily and winning entries will also be published on the Central West Libraries website. Go to our Reading and Writing Page or the Central West Writers Centre website for an entry form or email library@orange.nsw.gov.au, or call 6393 8120.

Scribe will be publishing another anthology of short stories, New Australian Stories 2.0, again edited by fiction acquisitions editor, Aviva Tuffield. New Australian Stories 2.0 will be published in February 2011. The anthology will feature established stars of the short-story firmament alongside new and emerging ones. Scribe are collaborating with two partners: Varuna, the Writers' House, will be running the Varuna/NAS national short story competition, with the winners (judged by Peter Bishop, Cate Kennedy and Aviva Tuffield) to be published in New Australian Stories 2.0, and/or to be awarded a week-long residency at Varuna to work with Cate Kennedy, one of Australia's finest writers of short stories. Submissions to the Varuna/NAS competition open on 1 June and close on 30 June. Visit the Varuna website for more details: www.varuna.com.au. And they are teaming up with the Ned Kelly Awards to publish the winner of the S.D. Harvey Short Story Award in New Australian Stories 2.0. This award was established in 2009 in honour of Sandra Harvey, a respected journalist who worked both for the Sydney Morning Herald and the ABC's Four Corners program, and was fearless in her pursuit of the truth. The prize money for the S.D. Harvey Short Story Award will be in excess of $1000. Applications for the S.D. Harvey Award close on 31 May. For more information about entering the award, go to: www.nedkellyawards.com

Australian Book Review is reviving the Short Story Competition, with a first prize valued at $2000. There are two other prizes. All three place-getters will be published in the magazine. Stories in English of between 1000 and 3000 words are eligible, as long as they have not been published previously or are not on offer elsewhere. Multiple entries are acceptable. The closing date is May 10. For an entry form go to: http://www.australianbookreview.com.au/competitions/short-story-competition

or call (03) 9429 6700. ABR now publishes short fiction. They welcome submissions from authors.