Stories from the ten finalists in the Young Tasmanian Writers' Prize 2025 as selected by Blake Nuto, Lyndon Riggall, Nick Brodie and Rayne Allinson. 

What a joy it is to read and encourage such promising young writers. Each piece shows courage, imagination, and a willingness to experiment with words in ways that truly impressed me. Blake Nuto, Tasmanian author (judge in this year's Junior Section)

The Young Tasmanian Writers’ Prize began in 2014 as a collaboration between Forty South Publishing and the Tasmanian Association for the Teaching of English (TATE) with sponsorship from Fullers Bookshop. It is a short story competition open to Tasmanians enrolled in Years 7–12. 

In this year’s competition, entrants in the Junior Section were asked to choose a theme – either ‘city’, ‘town’, ‘suburb’ or ‘country’ – to play a key role in their story. Entrants in the
Senior Section could select from four themes – ‘connect’, ‘disconnect’, ‘interconnect’ and/or ‘reconnect’.

In 2025 prizes have been donated by the City of Hobart (The Lord Mayor’s Prize awarded to the winner of each section), Jane College (the Jane College Prose Awards) and Fullers Bookshop (awarded to the Runners Up). This anthology is jointly funded by Forty South Publishing and TATE.

JUNIOR SECTION

Zoey Tenaglia, Calvin Christian School - Sunny side up

Izzy B-Bell, Home Education - This Town is Everything

Molly Fleming, Taroona High School - Nameless

Ayla Ogden, Marist Regional College - Alone

Millicent Somann-Crawford, Fahan School - Our Country Castle

SENIOR SECTION

Billie Lowenstein, Elizabeth College -- All That Glitters
Hal Cormack, St Mary’s College -- Little Ollie’s Bedtime
Michael Rayner, Calvin Christian School -- Have You Met the Tates?
Henry Fraser, Mackillop Catholic College -- The Mild Adventures of a Passive Aggressive Lightbulb
Georgina Ward, St Michael’s Collegiate -- In Vodka, Veritas