2026 Island Nonfiction Prize
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We are delighted to present the 2026 ISLAND NONFICTION PRIZE.
What are we looking for? We want to read about what fascinates, excites or enrages you. Your entry doesn’t have to be zeitgeisty – there are so many ways to be curious and about so many things. We encourage you to investigate, experiment, wax lyrical and manifest. Introduce us to new ideas, new worlds and new forms of expression.
The judging panel will be chaired by Island's Nonfiction Editor, Keely Jobe, with Hayley Singer and Sam Elkin guest judging (bios below). Judges will read essays without any identifying information attached.
The prize The winning writer will receive $3000 and their work will be published in Island issue 179, due out September 2026.The winner will also receive a four-issue subscription to Island*.
All other entries will be considered for publication in 2026/27 under Island's usual terms and conditions. For more info, see https://island.submittable.com/submit
Eligibility Entry is open to Australian citizens and residents only. No age limit applies. Current Island magazine staff, interns and board members are not eligible.
Timelines & Terms and Conditions
Entries are now open and close at 5pm AEST on Monday 8 June Entries must be under 4000 words, or up to eight pages for graphic narratives.
We are looking for works suitable for a general audience, rather than scholarly/academic works. If you have previously submitted your work to Island, you may resubmit it for the prize.
The expectation is that the winning work will require little editing. However, any editing involved will be undertaken by Island’s Nonfiction Editor, Keely Jobe, and Editorial Manager, Jane Rawson, in discussion with the author. The author will have final approval of the work.
A fee of $20 per entry applies. You can enter as many times as you wish but each entry must be entered separately.
All entries are via Submittable only and your work must be attached as a text document (acceptable file types: doc, docx, txt, rtf).
Entries will be judged ‘blind’, so please do not include your name on or in your work.
The judges’ decision is final, and no individual feedback will be provided.
Works previously published are not eligible.
Writers must guarantee that their work is original, does not plagiarise or infringe the copyright of any other party, and does not breach any other law or ethical principle of publication (e.g. defamation, libel, obscenity).
Copyright remains with the authors; however, writers must give Island exclusive publication rights for the work for three months from publication. Any further reproduction must publicly acknowledge Island as the original publisher.
The winner must agree to participate in any reasonable media events relating to their work, including radio and television interviews and online discussions.
*Subscription can start with either issue 179 (due out September) or 180 (due to be published in December). If you are a current subscriber this can either be added to your existing subscription, or you may gift the subscription.
MEET THE JUDGES
Keely Jobe Keely is a writer of fiction and non-fiction living on the east coast of Lutruwita/Tasmania. Her work has been published in The Monthly, Island, Australian Geographic, Cosmos and Signals Magazine. Her debut novel, The Endling, was published by Scribe in 2026.
Hayley Singer Hayley Singer's first book, Abandon Every Hope: Essays for the dead, was published by Upswell in 2023 and shortlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize. Her essays and reviews have been published in The Sydney Review of Books, The Monthly, The Lifted Brow, Lit Hub, Cordite Poetry Review and Art + Australia. Right now, she is writing about two women who came to live in a timber shack at the top of a cliff in coastal isolation. Not quite biography and not exactly history, this is a slippery work of outsider truths, small-town fictions and everyday omissions. Hayley is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Melbourne.
Sam Elkin Sam Elkin is a writer, radio-maker and community lawyer. His debut book is Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga, which was published in 2024 and shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Humour Writing and the National Biography Prize in 2025. He is also the co-editor of the anthology Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia. His essays have been published in Griffith Review, Australian Book Review and Sydney Review of Books and he co-hosts the 3RRR radio show Queer View Mirror.
Thank you to Michael Livingston for supporting this year's prize.
Further information For more information about Island please visit islandmag.com.