Supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation and named after the late novelist and poet Neilma Gantner, the Overland Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize seeks moving, powerful and original short fiction of up to 3000 words themed loosely around the notion of ‘travel’. The competition is open to all writers living in Australia and elsewhere, and at any stage in their writing career. This year, first place receives $5000 and publication in Overland, while two runner-up stories will be awarded $750 each and published online, coinciding with the print edition.

Thank you to everyone who entered the prize. The quality of the work we received was very high. We’d also like to recognise the hard work of this year’s fantastic panel of judges: André Dao and Jennifer Down. They rose to the daunting task of reading, considering and narrowing over 500 entries down to a shortlist of ten outstanding pieces.

Congratulations to these ten writers who form the shortlist for the 2024 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize:  

Alessandra Panizza

‘A Gimmick’

Is an online love story a hypertext or a subtext?

Alessandra Panizza is interested in science, language, and the internet. She has co-authored papers for biochemistry journals mBio and BBA Biomembranes. She was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize 2024. She is an Australian living in London, working on her first novel.

Aneeta Sundararaj

‘Harvard Estate Is’

‘Harvard Estate Is’ is a story about the recruitment of indentured labourers from India to British Malaya and its legacy in modern Malaysia.

Aneeta Sundararaj is an award-winning short story writer. Her latest collection is called Tapestry of the Mind and Other Stories (Penguin Random House SEA, 2024). In 2021, Aneeta completed a doctoral thesis entitled ‘Management of Prosperity Among Artistes in Malaysia’. Find out more at http://aneetasundararaj.com 

Bronwyn Rodden

‘Day of Fathers’

Leaving Australia and a father’s awkward distance, daily observances of office work, and guilt from a ‘roo shoot out west, travelling encourages the narrator to examine how a person develops their adult identity.

Bronwyn Rodden holds an MA Writing (UTS) and was awarded an Emerging Writer Grant by the Australia Council for the Arts. She won a Fellowship to the Writers Cottage at Bundanon, was selected for a Hachette/QWC manuscript retreat and won the Patricia Hackett Prize for Short Fiction.

Jessica White

‘Hearkening’

A young woman moves to a farm when she encounters loneliness, drought, and
bees.

Jessica White is the author of the novels A Curious Intimacy and Entitlement, and a hybrid memoir about deafness, Hearing Maud. She has published short fiction, poetry and essays. Her collection, Silence is my Habitat: Ecobiographical Essays, will be published by Upswell in October 2025.

Jo Langdon

‘Off’

A woman and her young daughter approach uneasy friendship dynamics at a children’s birthday party.

Jo Langdon lives and writes on unceded Wadawurrung land. Her publications include two poetry collections, Snowline (Whitmore Press, 2012) and Glass Life (Five Islands Press, 2018), and her honours and awards include fellowships from the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation and the National Library of Australia.

Maks Sipowicz

‘Around the Corner’

A story about feeling like a tourist in your home town after living abroad for a long time.

Maks Sipowicz is a Polish-Australian writer, critic, and occasional musician. His writing has appeared in Overland, Meanjin, Sydney Review of Books, and elsewhere. He’s currently working on a novel.

Omar Musa

‘Sinkholes’

A man travels from Bosnia, where he’s building a boat-shaped house, back to his hometown Queanbeyan, where he must reckon with a misdeed from childhood. 

Omar Musa is an author, visual artist, rapper and poet. He has released four poetry books (including Killernova), four hip-hop records, an award-winning one man play (Since Ali Died), and he was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year in 2015. His debut novel Here Come the Dogs was long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award. His second novel Fierceland will come out in September 2025 through Penguin Random House Australia. He is based between Brooklyn and Borneo.

Rachel Ang

‘Thalassophobia’

‘Thalassophobia’ is a story I wrote while in transit between different species of spaces and life stages, while thinking about my child, our uncertain future, labour, and care.

Rachel Ang is an artist and writer. Their comics and writing have been published in The New Yorker, Meanjin and Island. Rachel’s new book, a graphic short story collection titled I Ate The Whole World to Find You, is out in April 2025 from Scribe (ANZ) and Drawn and Quarterly (global). 

SD Munawara

‘Hurry to Salvation’

A husband questions his usually areligious wife’s sudden observance of the five daily prayers.

SD Munawara is an emerging writer and a student of literature living in Melbourne. In 2024 she was awarded the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing and the Verandah Literary Award. She is passionate about Muslim narratives and is currently writing a short story collection.

Lou Garcia-Dolnik

‘Salt’

Two lovers survive the burial of the city in salt.

Lou Garcia-Dolnik is a poet, editor and arts worker based on Gadigal-Wangal land. Currently editing for Runway Journal, they were the 2023 recipient of the Australian Poetry/NAHR Eco-Poetry Fellowship and attended Tin House’s 2023 Summer Workshop in the poetry faculty.

Congratulations again to these exciting writers. Final results will be announced at overland.org.au soon!

The Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize is supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation