Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award 2026 results.
Congratulations to all winners and authors of listed stories.
Judge: Melanie Cheng
1st prize: Jane McGown – The Kaleidoscope
2nd prize: Fiona Harvie – A Matter of Death and Life
3rd prize: Holly Buykx – 1962 MG
Read the judge's report here.
Shortlisted (alphabetical order)
- Children’s Games – Janice Williams
- Fangs! – Mary Jones
- Old Memories, Young Dreams – Denise Ogilvie
- Stockholm Summer – Marliz Grosseholz
- The Affair – Sandra Thom-Jones
- The Lie Shop – Louise Hopewell
- The Neck – Susan Brooker
Longlisted
- Blessings – Julie Twohig
- Casanova, the Crougar and the Crumb Maiden – Indrani Ganguly
- Ghost Baby – Robyn Black
- Grandma’s Ring – Bernadette Piper
- House Guest – Alina Ali
- Identity 2.0 – Susan Booker
- It’s Manners to Say Thank You – Janice Williams
- Kangaroo Paw – Claire Denness
- Neighbours – Mary Jones
- Over The Bridge – Melanie Powell
- Retrofitting – Julie Twohig
- Satellite Ride – Robyn Black
- Sleep Easy – Julie Twohig
- Tattoo – Nichola Thompson
- The Burning of Undies – Nichola Thompson
- The Click Moment – Nichola Thompson
- The Knowing of the Bees – Robyn Black
- The Light That Remains – Meagan Neil
- The Man Beneath – Alison Knight
- The Weight of Things Unsaid – Susan Booker
Winning stories will be published in the Society’s anthology, Sparx.
Copyright remains with the author.
About our judge:
Melanie Cheng is a writer and general practitioner based in Naarm, Melbourne. Her short story collection, Australia Day, won the 2018 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for fiction. Her short stories have been featured in Meanjin, The Griffith Review, Kill Your Darlings, The Big Issue and World Literature Today, among many others. Her novel, Room for a Stranger was longlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin award and her latest work, The Burrow, was shortlisted for numerous prizes including the Stella Prize, The Age Book for the Year and the Australian Book Industry Awards. She has been a judge for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and the NSW Literary Awards. She is a guest lecturer for the Narrative Medicine Course at the University of Melbourne and a mentor with the Kill Your Darlings Mentors Program.
Background to the award:
In 1970, Margaret Hazzard gathered together fourteen women – journalists, authors, playwrights, illustrators, contributors of articles paid for by newspapers or magazines, and TV and radio writers – to form a Victorian branch of the Society of Women Writers.
In recognition of Margaret’s commitment to women writers and support of SWWV, the Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award was established.
The competition runs biennially and women writers residing in Australia (or members residing overseas) are invited to submit short stories of up to 2,000 words on any theme.