AVERIL ROBERTSON

What an honour to take first place in this competition run by the Society of Women Writers WA.

I flew over to Perth from Melbourne for the presentation. It was such a pleasure to be in the room with these women so passionate about the written word. Even better, I was given the opportunity to read the winning story, Tree Change, to them. Hearing their reactions as I read was an invaluable experience as a writer; I hope they got as much out of it as I did.

The judge, Gillian O’ Shaughnessy ,said this about Tree Change:

This speculative fiction story was a standout in its originality and fresh take on the potentially well-worn themes of climate change and a pandemic. The character and setting were vivid, the dialogue was beautifully executed. I appreciated that the writer took advantage of the short story form to make use of present tense which can be so tricky to maintain in longer prose. It paid off, it added a sense of immediacy and tension that brought this story alive.

Thank you to the Society of Women Writers WA for having me, and for awarding me this prize! And many thanks to Gillian for her extremely kind words. It was a delight to meet you all!