High Country Words 2026 is WILD!
Our theme for 2026 is WILD, and we have been blown away by wild ideas that came our way. Thank you to all our entrants and to our judges.
We are delighted to announce the shortlist and longlist…
Shortlist and Longlist
Congratulations to all our longlisted authors, who will feature in the anthology. The asterisked authors have also been shortlisted.
Memoir
*Laila Armsden, Douglas Fir Trees
*Alice Burke, A Million Acres Wild
*Tina Hancock, Winter Storms and Snapdragons
*Erica Wheadon, Towa Ni
*Gay Lynch, Wild Rye
Michelle Bertram, Take a Walk on the Wild Side
J.C. Clapham, Love You. Bye
Jade da Silva, Costume of Grief
Sam Elkin, Even Here, the Dead Reach Us
Helen Knight, High Country Pelican Wild Swimmers
Deborah Skye, Wild Bear
Elizabeth Walton, Why Silence Rings and Piano Strings Sing
Poetry
*Jake Dennis, Emergency Waiting Room
*Jake Dennis, Swan River Cruise
*Robin Hansen, In the Museum of Old and New Art
*Vanessa Hewson, The Wilderness of Grief
*Marjorie Lewis-Jones, Pied
*Jo Parfitt, Left
*Sara Prongers, Woolworth’s Bags
Sophie Bodgan, Last Journey
Virginia Danahae, Grandpa’s Farm
Cathryn E Day, The Process of Annealing
Lieu Chi Nguyen, Woman I Before You
Stephen Measday, Robbery Underarm
Charlie Moten, What Remains After Midnight
Rosie Scriever, Wild
Rosie Scriever, Driving
Short Story
*Michelle Bertram, The Wild Night
*Jim Gill, The Island
*Karys McEwen, Common Throughout Australia
*Sean McMahon, Andy ★★★★★ (Highly Rated)
*Phoebe Smallwood, Manta
*Sue Stevenson, Losing Our Heads
Catherine Bell, Flick
Michelle Bertram, The Last Wild Thing
Vicky Daddo, Rising. Falling
Eartha Davis, Signs, Silences
Sarah Harris, Leave Me Wild
Kristof Mikes-Liu, Power Pinkies Promise
Deb Pugh, A Patch of Blue
Chris Rutter, The Wilding
Maddi Bailes, Trained, Not Tamed
Lesley Boland, In the Red
Theme 2026
The theme is WILD! Take that how you will: wilderness, a wild night on the town, wild weather, the wild state of the world right now. Go wild!
Categories 2026
We have three categories:
- Short story: 2000 words maximum, prizes $500 open and $200 local
- Poetry: 100 lines maximum, prize $500 open and $200 local
- Memoir: 2000 words maximum, prize $500 open and $200 local
Note: Each category now has an open prize and a local prize. We have added a memoir category, which was part of the original Bushy Tales competition. We don’t have a separate bush poetry section this year, but we welcome bush poetry in the poetry category.
Judges 2026
- Short story: Margaret Hickey
- Poetry: Tim Loveday
- Memoir: Maggie MacKellar
Margaret Hickey, award-winning author and playwright with a PhD in Creative Writing, hails from North East Victoria. Her novels include An Ill Wind, Cutters End, Stone Town, Broken Bay, The Creeper, and she published a short story collection Rural Dreams.
Tim Loveday is an award-winning poet, writer, educator and baby academic. His work explores class, masculinity, online radicalisation and climate collapse. He has won numerous awards, and his poetry & prose has appeared in many prestigious publications. He is the new poetry editor of Island Magazine.
Originally from regional NSW, Tim currently resides in North Fitzroy, Melbourne, the traditional land of the Wurundjeri people.
Maggie MacKellar is the acclaimed author of Graft, When it Rains, How to Get There, Core of My Heart, My Countryand Strangers in a Foreign Land. Graft won the Tasmanian Premier’s Prize for Non-fiction and was long listed for the Stella Award.
A writer and historian, Maggie lives on the east coast of Tasmania/Lutruwita. She writes the much-loved newsletter The Sit Spot.
Important Dates 2026
Entries opened: 1st April, 2026
Entries closed: 30th June, 2026 ENTRIES HAVE CLOSED
Longlist and shortlist announced by the end of September 2026. COMPLETE.
The winner announced at the anthology launch in November 2026, date TBC. NOTE, this has changed from October.
High Country Words Guidelines 2026
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.
Please read these guidelines before applying High Country Words Guidelines 2026.
Anthology
We will produce a WILD anthology of selected entries. To see what to expect, check out last year’s SCRUB Anthology.
High Country Words Competition Entry Form
Entries have closed. We look forward to reading your story in our next competition!