AUTHOR Kaaron Warren has been awarded the top fiction award for “The Grief Hole” at the 2017 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards tonight (December 7).

“These awards play an important role in the fostering of our local writing sector”, said ACT Writers Centre director Sarah Mason. “They highlight the tremendous quality and breadth of work produced in the region.”

The ACT Writers Centre is the leading organisation for the promotion of writing-based culture and support for the professional rights and interests of writers in the ACT.

Winners in the publishing categories

Fiction

Winner: “The Grief Hole” by Kaaron Warren

Highly Commended: “All the King”s Men”, edited by Shane W. Smith

Highly Commended: “Fabel” by Tom Heffernan

Poetry

Winner: “The Last Day Before Snow”, edited by Carmel Summers

Highly Commended: “For all the Veronicas (The Dog Who Staid) by Andrew Galan

Highly Commended: “Afterlives” by Chris Palmer

Children”s

Winner: “Amazing Animals of Australia”s National Parks” by Gina Newton

Highly Commended: “Australia Illustrated” by Tania McCartney

Winners of the ACT Writing Awards

June Shenfield Poetry Award

Joint winner: Penny O”Hara, “third daughter”

Joint winner: Ella Jeffery, “Recycling”

Highly Commended: “The Uses of a Shark” by Damen O’Brien

Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award

Winner: Cherisse Kelly, “273”

Highly Commended: “The Secret Moons” by Frances Seymour

Highly Commended: “Intersection” by James Salvage

Anne Edgeworth Fellowship

Joint recipient: Jemimah Cooper

Joint recipient: Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern

Highly Commended: Ellen Harvey

Highly Commended: Kathryn Hind