Presentation of the 2025 Bronze Quill Award for Short Stories was held at the Novotel Hotel on 18th November 2025, in conjunction with the Inaugural Society of Women Writers WA Book Awards. Over forty members attended the event.
The 48 entries in the Bronze Quill Short Story Award this year were judged by Dr Deborah Hunn who gave a comprehensive report on each of the short stories in her selection of winning entries, keeping the members enthralled as she worked her way from Commended stories to Highly Commended Stories, to the Runner-Up before announcing the winning entry overall. The results and Judge's Report are below.
Bronze Quill Winner for 2025 is Madeleine Tingy for The Visitation
Runner-Up: Shirley Eldridge for Dialogue
Highly Commended: Helen Iles for Beyond the Break
Highly Commended: Irene Jones for Humanities in the Science Wing
Highly Commended: Jacqueline Kelly for The Good Wife
Commended: Moira Yeldon for Where Blood was Shed
Commended: Moira Yeldon for A Long Dark Night
Commended: Wendy Stackhouse for Good Boy
Bronze Quill Award 2025, Judge’s comments
It was a great pleasure to act as judge for this year’s Bronze Quill award, with much to enjoy and admire amongst the 48 short stories submitted. Of particular note in the submissions was a diverse range of styles and themes, including both humorous and tragic approaches (sometimes both, intermingled within a story), close attention to proofing and presentation (always guaranteed to make a judge’s job easier) and a willingness to explore tough, significant topics, such as (amongst other issues) coercive control, financial hardship, environmental issues, depression, workplace conflict, parental anxiety and grief, homelessness, post-traumatic stress experienced by veterans, animal welfare and lost love.
In the top three stories the quality of the writing was distinguished by the authors’ use of imaginative perspectives on characters and situations, by flair with precise yet evocative language and by careful modulation of narrative structure, so that form worked purposefully to support and convey the subject matter. In the third placed story “Beyond the Break” the author utilises a segmented structure to build tension and convey the impending horror of a shark attack, oscillating between the perceptions of mother, child and shark. The runner up, “Dialogue”, delineates a tense, moving encounter on a telephone helpline, building a compelling narrative through balancing cleverly crafted dialogue with the shrewd yet sensitive thoughts of the helpline worker as she succeeds in calming a distressed caller. In the winning story, The Visitation, Lisa, a single mother, struggles with ongoing guilt as she recollects how her choice of an old dairy as a temporary home in a time of need has led to a near fatal threat to her young daughter’s life. The author shows admirable skill in blending carefully observed realistic detail and nuanced characterisation with slow burning imagery of the uncanny. As a ghostly remnant of past disease pierces the seemingly idyllic surface of the present the reader is persuasively immersed in a modern haunting - a visitation, both supernatural and psychological, that lingers in the memory beyond the ending.
Well done to all entrants and good luck for next year’s competition.
Deborah Hunn
