Gunnedah’s Marie Low is thrilled to have won the non-fiction category at the 2024 New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing.

The Thunderbolt Prize is a national award for unpublished short-form crime writing hosted by the New England Writers’ Centre.

Marie’s short story titled the ‘The Gunnedah Sensation’ details the extraordinary Gunnedah court case about a young girl in the 1880s wrapped up in an intriguing ‘whodunit’ mystery surrounding poisoned flour.

“I’m really excited because while it’s a non-fiction story, it’s a lot closer to a creative writing piece,” says Marie, who has been a journalist and communications advisor for more than 30 years.

She has won a number of awards for both writing and photography and has achieved good success at the New York Midnight competition – a worldwide writers’ forum that offers writing challenges with themes and time limits to hone skills.

“I’ve been really trying to break into creative writing with a lot of my stories, and I got up there with the New York midnight competition a few times but this (Thunderbolt prize) is a first,” Marie said.

“It gives me some enthusiasm to keep going.

“Whether you win anything is beside the point, it’s something I really love doing and want to keep doing.”

The accolades keep flowing for Marie with news she has been shortlisted for another writing competition and recently completed another book.

“It’s been a good week for my writing,” she said.

Now in its 12th year, the Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing attracts a strong field of entries from across Australia, by writers both published and unpublished.

Judges this year included Michael Burge (Fiction), Lili Pâquet (Non-Fiction), Catherine Wright (Poetry) and Rowena Beresford (Youth). All entries were judged anonymously.

To read Marie’s story, visit: newc.org.au/2024-thunderbolt-prize-for-crime-writing

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