City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award

Submission dates for the 2018 City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award will be announced in late 2017.

The prize is biennial and is awarded to an unpublished manuscript by an unpublished Western Australian author. The winner receives a cash prize of $12,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press.

T.A.G. Hungerford (1915–2011)

T.A.G. Hungerford was widely admired as a quintessential Western Australian writer and identity. He was a major contributor in helping us define our sense of self and place in a rapidly changing world. His first collection of short stories was published in 1976 by Fremantle Press. In 1987 T.A.G. Hungerford was made a member of the Order of Australia. In 2002 he was the recipient of the Patrick White Award and in 2004 he was declared a Western Australian State Living Treasure. He was always a great supporter of new and emerging writers and was proud to have the award named for him. A collector's edition of Stories from Suburban Road will be released in March 2016.

The award is proudly sponsored by

2016 winner Jay Martin

Jay Martin is a Fremantle-based writer, social researcher, and ukulele player – one of which pays the bills. At 16, she opted for hitchhiking to north Queensland and backpacking around South-East Asia over finishing high school in Melbourne – a decision she was told would ruin her life that she has never regretted for a second. She lived in the UK, India, Vietnam and Japan before coming to Perth for ‘six months, maybe twelve’ – some 25 years ago. She spent a decade away in Canberra as a government social policy adviser. Someone in the Department of Foreign Affairs staffing section pulled ‘Warsaw’ out of their hat, and Jay was off with her newly minted diplomat husband to Poland – where the best and the worst days of her life followed over the next three years. While there, she worked as a freelance writer for Australian and European publications, volunteered for the Warsaw Uprising Museum, and came to understand snow and vodka – although never pickled herring. While initially having to be convinced to make the move from north of the river, she is now firmly ensconced in Fremantle with her husband and a Polish cat called Very.

Past recipients of the award are Madelaine Dickie, Brenda Walker, Gail Jones, Natasha Lester, Jacqueline Wright, Robert Edeson, Nathan Hobby, Bruce Russell, Christopher Murray, Donna Mazza, Simone Lazaroo and Alice Nelson.