Writing Competitions in Western Australia: A Quarterly Short Story Contest From Perth to Broome
Quick answer: Writing competitions in Western Australia mostly close once a year; Writory's short story contest closes every round. Entry is $8 for one story of 100 to 6,000 words in any genre. Judging is blind against a published rubric, every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100 on 5 December 2026, and writers keep all rights.
Entry is $8 for one story of 100 to 6,000 words in English, Noongar or any other language. The deadline is 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, which is 2:29 AM the next morning in Perth, and every entrant receives a certificate and a five-part score out of 100 on 5 December 2026.
The WA calendar: Westerly, KSP, Peter Cowan and the Premier's awards
Western Australia has produced more than its share of the country's fiction. Tim Winton has won the Miles Franklin four times, Kim Scott twice, Elizabeth Jolley once, and Josephine Wilson took it in 2017 for Extinctions. Westerly has published from the University of Western Australia since 1956. The KSP Writers' Centre in Greenmount, in Katharine Susannah Prichard's old house, and the Peter Cowan Writers Centre in Joondalup both run competitions through the year, and the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards and Perth Festival's Writers Weekend anchor the calendar.
Those competitions close once, and most of them tell a non-winner nothing. Writory offers a scored story contest alongside that calendar. The first contest runs from 1 September 2026 to 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, with results and certificates on 5 December 2026 at 8:00 PM IST. Story rounds run every three months, closing on the last day of February, May, August and November. Results follow on the 5th of the next month. The next round opens on the 1st, before the previous round's results. Every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100 against a rubric you can read before you write. Keep the polished story for Westerly or the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival competition; send the one you are unsure about here.
The terms, from the Kimberley to the Great Southern
Stories run from 100 to 6,000 words, in any genre, entered online at /submit-story by anyone aged 13 or over. Write in English, Noongar or any other language; each story is read in the language it was written in and judged in one pool. Your name is removed before the panel reads. The rubric is public: Storytelling & Structure 25, Character & Emotional Impact 25, Language & Craft 20, Originality & Voice 20, Impact & Resonance 10.
The top prize each round is $100, the winner enters the next round free, and free entry is otherwise earned, never open. You keep all rights, and nothing is published without your permission, so a story entered here can still go to Westerly, to Fremantle Press or to a KSP competition afterwards. The first contest runs from 1 September 2026 to 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, with results and certificates on 5 December 2026 at 8:00 PM IST. Story rounds run every three months, closing on the last day of February, May, August and November. Results follow on the 5th of the next month. The next round opens on the 1st, before the previous round's results.
The deadline is 2:29 AM in Perth, and WA never changes its clocks
The round closes on 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Local deadline: Perth: 1 December 2026 at 02:29 GMT+8; Sydney: 1 December 2026 at 05:29 GMT+11. These dates include the local clock change for this round. Results and certificates follow on 5 December 2026.
Use the local deadline above when planning your entry. Allow time to upload, complete payment and check that the story appears in your account; submitting a day early avoids a last-minute rush. The first contest runs from 1 September 2026 to 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, with results and certificates on 5 December 2026 at 8:00 PM IST. Story rounds run every three months, closing on the last day of February, May, August and November. Results follow on the 5th of the next month. The next round opens on the 1st, before the previous round's results.
Paying in US dollars from WA, and how the prize is paid
Writory is based in India and charges entrants outside India in US dollars: $8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five. Pay by Visa or Mastercard debit or credit, or through PayPal, at /submit-story. Your bank converts at the day's rate, which puts a single entry at roughly A$12 at the time of writing; some Australian cards add an international transaction fee of around three percent, cents on a charge this size.
The $100 prize is paid by PayPal, which works with Australian bank accounts and pays out in Australian dollars. Written feedback on a story is an optional extra at entry, priced separately; the certificate and score come with every entry. The Story Craft course at /academy/story-craft requires a paid unlock and takes an evening. It runs from premise to final line in short lessons, each tied to one part of the rubric.
The published rubric, 100 points
- Storytelling & Structure (25 points): Does every scene cause the next, and does the ending pay off the opening?
- Character & Emotional Impact (25 points): Do we want something with your character, and does the story make us feel it?
- Language & Craft (20 points): Clean, deliberate prose: rhythm, precision, and nothing wasted.
- Originality & Voice (20 points): The angle only you could write, told in a voice that sounds like nobody else.
- Impact & Resonance (10 points): What the story leaves behind after the last line.
How it works
Submit an original story of 100 to 6,000 words by 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Every story is judged blind against the rubric above, and results arrive on 5 December 2026: every entrant receives a certificate with their name and a score out of 100. Writers keep all rights. Winners earn free entry to the next round. Enter at https://writoryofficial.com/submit-story.
Common questions
Is the contest open to writers in Western Australia?
Yes, from Perth to the Pilbara, on the same terms as every other entrant. There is no Australian category and no quota. Judging is blind, so the panel sees no name, suburb or nationality, and every story is read in its own language in one pool against the same published rubric.
How much is entry in Australian dollars?
Entry is charged in US dollars: $8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five. Your card converts at the day's rate, roughly A$12 for a single entry at the time of writing. Winning a round makes the next entry free, and entering three rounds in a row earns a free entry as well.
What does every entrant receive?
A certificate in your name and a score out of 100 across the five rubric parts, delivered on 5 December 2026, the same day as the winners. Your rank and the size of the field are not disclosed. Australian spelling is read as correct, as are British, American and Indian conventions.
What time is the deadline in Perth?
The round closes on 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Local deadline: Perth: 1 December 2026 at 02:29 GMT+8; Sydney: 1 December 2026 at 05:29 GMT+11. These dates include the local clock change for this round. Results and certificates follow on 5 December 2026.
Can I write in Noongar or another Aboriginal language?
Yes. A story in Noongar, Yawuru, Martu Wangka or any other language is read in that language, not translated, and scored on the same five-part rubric as every English entry in the same pool. Language & Craft is marked on precision and rhythm within the language you chose.
Can I enter the same story in a KSP or Peter Cowan competition later?
Entering here is not publication; you keep all rights and the story stays unpublished unless you win and agree to publication. Most WA competitions ask only for unpublished work, though some exclude stories entered elsewhere at the same time, so read their conditions and stagger your entries if needed.
More story contest pages
- A Writing Competition Australians Can Enter Online
- A Short Story Contest Open to Filipino Writers
- The Short Story Contest That Answers Every Writer Back
- A Short Story Competition Australians Can Enter Online, Judged Blind
- A Short Story Competition Open to Scottish Writers Every Round, in English, Scots or Gaelic
- A Short Story Competition Open to Welsh Writers Every Round, in English or Cymraeg
- A Short Story Competition Open to Writers in Germany Every Round, in English or German
- A Short Story Competition Open to Writers in France Every Round, in English or French
- A 100 Word Story Competition Where the Drabble Is a Full Entry
- A Microfiction Contest That Marks the Turn, Not the Mileage
- Short Story Competition Rules, in Full and in Plain Words
- Short Story Competition Word Limit: 100 to 6,000 Words, and How to Use Them
- All short story contest pages
- Winning Stories
About Writory
Writory (writoryofficial.com) is an international monthly poetry contest founded in 2025 by Shivay Mehra. Poets from 40 countries have entered, readers come from more than 150 countries, and every submitted poem is judged and scored out of 100 across five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance. Every entrant receives a certificate; winners receive cash prizes and are published by name. Entries close on the 25th of each month and results are announced on the 30th. Writory is listed by Duotrope, Poetry Kit, Christopher Fielden's competition list and Creative Writing NZ, among other organisations. Past results are public at past winners and the leaderboard.