Newcastle is host to gorgeous beaches, boutique shopping, and great cafes. But it's also host to the Newcastle Short Story Award, with $3000 worth of prizes up for grabs.
The judges this year are Newcastle's own Michael Sela and award-winning short fiction writer Glenys Osborne.
The competition is open to Australian residents 18 years and over. Submissions must be 2000 words maximum. Entry costs $15, and you can enter as many stories as you like.
Here's an excerpt from the 2012 winning piece The Mercreature by Ellen McGeoch:
All it took was a few boys to start a crowd. By midday the throng of onlookers had reached hundreds, standing in a crescent moon around Morgan as she reeled and gasped. Her skin felt raw and itched even as the sea water reached her; she thrashed her tail once in the water to great applause and camera phone sound effects, but her body was too heavy and weak to be carried out on the tide. She cried out. She cried out for someone to save her, for her father to swim past and find her, for a human to carry her back out to the water.
Entries close 31st January 2016.
Read more and submit your entry on the Hunter Writers Centre website.
