We received more than 500 entries in the third year of the Overland Story Wine Prize, the calibre of which greatly impressed our three judges – award-winning writer and screenwriter Michelle Law, novelist and winner of the 2015 Stella Prize Emily Bitto, and winner of the 2015 Overland Story Wine Prize, Melissa Manning.

After reading the entries blind, the judges have selected a shortlist of eight outstanding stories. The winning story will receive a $4000 first prize and be published on the label of a bottle of Story Wine, as well as in Overland’s print magazine. Two runners-up will each receive $500 and be published at Overland online, and on the labels of different Story Wines vintages. Winners will be announced in a fortnight.

Congratulations to the 2016 Story Wine Prize shortlist:

‘Silver Gates’

A boy comes to terms with his brother’s sudden absence. 

Zoë Bradley is a Melbourne-based writer and editor whose work has been featured by ABC’s Radio National, Squawk Zine and My French Life among others. In 2016, Zoë’s short story, Reel, was highly commended in the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers competition. Follow her on Twitter @zbradley_

‘Eternal Return’

Two men caught in the loop of a question mark?

Clinton Caward’s work has appeared in numerous literary journals and his novel Love Machine was published by Penguin.

‘The Kid’

A woman encounters a young boy while making sense of a loss.

Amaryllis Gacioppo is an Australian writer undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing at Monash University and the University of Bologna. Her work has appeared in Award Winning Australian Writing, Going Down Swinging, Two Serious Ladies, Short Fiction, and Transnational Literature, among others.

‘The Fires’

When the fires came through it was too late to leave. 

Anne Myers lives in the Macedon Ranges. Her work has appeared in Meanjin, Southerly, AWAW and The Age. She is currently working on her first novel, The Boathouse.

‘Boy Falling’

A father watches in horror as his only son clings to a runaway horse.

Mark Smith’s writing has appeared in Best Australian Stories, The Big Issue and Review of Australian Fiction, among others. He won the 2015 Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize and the 2013 Alan Marshall Short Story Award. His first novel, The Road To Winter, was published by Text in July, 2016.

‘Sweeping’

A grieving boy contemplates his world, his mother and his future.

Cameron Weston is a writer of short stories and long-form fiction with a novel manuscript currently under consideration. He lives in Melbourne.

‘Sea Legs’

Sea-Legs explores the relationship between father and son upon the unsteady deck of a trawler boat.

Bridgitte Cummings was born and raised in England but is now living in Adelaide.  She has had short stories published in the UK and was short-listed both last year and this year in the Scarlett Stiletto Short Story award.  She is a winner of the 2016 Big Issue Fiction Competition.

‘Silver Linings’

On the edge of an escarpment, two siblings discover a wild horse and the thrill of defying their father.

Johanna Bell lives in Darwin where she writes fiction and runs a live storytelling project called SPUN (www.spunstories.net). She has published two picture books with Allen & Unwin.