2025 High Country Words Writing Competition
We’re excited to announce that the Mansfield Readers & Writers and the Bushy Tales writing competitions are joining forces!
Bushy Tales is an annual writers competition that has run in Mansfield for 10 years. It featured prizes for short story, memoir, poetry and bush poetry, culminating in an awards night and a Bushy Tales anthology of its own.
Mansfield Readers & Writers Short Story Competition has been held twice, and has produced the beautiful Heart and Soul Anthologies.
Starting in 2025, both competitions will run under one banner with categories for short story, poetry and bush poetry, and prizes awarded for open and local entries.
The theme for 2025 will be “SCRUB”.
There are three categories:
- Short story: 2000 words maximum
- Poetry: 100 lines maximum
- Bush poetry: 100 lines maximum
The prizes are as follows:
- Short Story: $1000 open and $500 local
- Poetry: $500
- Bush Poetry: $500
The entry fee is $20 for an initial entry with $10 each for further entries.
Local/student/pensioner entry fee $10 .
Arts Mansfield members and Mansfield Readers & Writers members get one free entry.
Important Dates
Entries open 1st February 2025 and close 30th April 2025.
Longlist announced mid-June 2025.
Shortlist announced late July 2025.
The winner announced August 2025 (date to be finalized).
The anthology will launch at the Mansfield Readers & Writers Festival October 2025.