Australian Novels

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 1 September 1928, Page 29

Australian Novels

Women Win £I,OOO "BULLETINS” COMPETITION Once again women have proved that they can triumph over men. The results of the “Bulletin” novel competition, show that the two first prizes of £SOO each were won by women. The third prize of £75 was won by a man. About 60 per cent, of the entrants were women. Miss Eldersliaw, a member of the teaching staff of the Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Croydon, collaborated with Miss Barnard, librarian at the Sydney -Technical College, in whiting “Houses Built,” one of the winning novels; Katharine Susannah Prichard, the well-known West Australian writer, won the other £SOO

with “Coonardoo.” Vance Palmer won the. £75 with “Men Are Human.” The original prize-money had been £SOO for fii-st, £l5O for second, and £75 for third, but the judges were of the opinion that “Houses Built” and “Coonardoo” could not he separated in point of merit, and the “Bulletin” proprietors generously increased the £l5O second prize to £SOO. The judges were Mess Vs. T. B. Clegg, a barrister and a member of the “Bulletin” staff; Mackanness, lecturer in literature at the Teachers’ Training College; D. H. Souter, the wellknown artist and critic; Cecil Mann, of the “Bulletin” staff, who represented the Australian Journalists’ Association and the late T. Heney, the well-known journalist, who died last week. They had a collossal task. They had to read no fewer than 542 novels, of an average length of 80,000 words — a total of 43,360,000 words —between May and August. Mr. Clegg started in the beginning of May, and kept on without a break till the middle of

this mouth. Mr. Mann started a fortnight later. The judges read every novel through, and they worked on Saturdays and Sundays. Every novel that was rejected was read by at least two of the judges before being thrown out. The only condition attached to the competition was that the entrants had to be either horn in Australia or resident in Australia. The vast majority of entries came from residents, but about 75 came from New Zealand and other countries. There were entries from Papua, Burma, Rhodesia, Italy, America and Eng-land-—an indication of the extent to which literary-minded Australians have tramped abroad. There was no limit as to length. One competitor sent in a "novel” of 210,000 words —quite long enough to make one of the “thi-ee-deckers” of the 19th century. The judges, of course, did not know the indentiy of the competitors. They found that there were two stories which they considered in first prize

class, and afterwards they discovered j that these two had been written by women. “Houses Built” is a study of character, a psychological novel, written j on broad lines. It will not be j published as a serial. “Coonardoo” is a far back-country story of the pioneers, and its action , takes place in the North-west of West j Australia. There were 23 novels which the judges considered really good stories. A list has been compiled showing 15 j “highly commended” stories, and eight “commended.” Clergymen, tram conductors, swaggles, flappers, old ladies entered. There was one society woman who entered tffe office with a chaffeur in her train —carrying the precious manu- | script! The Winners The two authoresses of “Houses j Built” have been friends for many years. They graduated from ihe Uni- > versitv together, and have been asso- ! ciated for about 12 years. They have

written little for publication in the past. Miss Eldershaw has had some articles published in her school magazine, but that is about all. Katherine Prichard has written several novels. “The Pioneers'* was the first, and others were “Working Bullocks” and “Black Opal.” She lives near Perth. She uses her maiden name—she is the wife of Hugo Thros sell VjCL Vance Palmer is well-known as a critic, novelist and playwright. “We are quite satisfied about the success of this competition/* said the editor of the “Bulletin** Mr. S. H. Prior) recently. “We expected about 200 entries, and never dreamed that there would be over 500. We were surprised at the number of good things sent in, and the result has been : the discovery of some new talent.** There will be another competition at the end of next year, and an even ! greater number of entries is exnected