2024 – OutStanding

The Outstanding LGBTQIA+ Short Story Competition 2024 Winner:

First place winning $1000 and 2 Mardi Gras Parade viewing tickets

Bio: Cameron Bayley is a freelance journalist currently based in Melbourne and New York. A Fan of pop culture, literature and film, he’s passionate about the importance of LGBTQIA+ stories being told on the page and on the screen.

Second place winning $400 and a Writing NSW Voucher:

Emily Patterson: “Witches’ Eyes”

Bio: Emily Patterson is a Year 11 student at Ryde Secondary College and has been writing since she was 5 years old. In 2019, she won a second-place prize in Australia’s Biggest Poetry Competition and has basked in the glory for the rest of her school career. She as always loved reading and telling stories, especially ones that let her escape into another world. She enjoys knitting, crochet and passing exams.

Third place winning $250.

Mama Alto: “Her Mysterious Smile, As Always”

Bio: Mama Alto is a jazz singer, cabaret artiste and gender transcendent diva. She is also a writing & author – including as a recipient of a Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas fellowship, and having been published in print and online including with the National Gallery of Victoria, Archer Magazine and Hachette Books and in the news and street press media. As a playwriting she has also been recognised with works in development including at Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC Cybec Electric 2019) and Antipodes Theatre Company.

Highly Commended winning $150
Phil Soliman: “The Moustache”

Bio: Phil Soliman is a writer, filmmaker, photographer, artist and DJ. Born and raised on Darug Land (Western Sydney) and now based in Naarm-Melbourne. He’s fascinated by the ways in which we make sense of reality, and how these ways harmonise and collide with others.

Highly Commended winning $150
Timothy Collard: “Click”

Bio: Timothy was born and raised in Brisbane. He studied Japanese at the University of Queensland and has since lived on the Gold Coast, Hamilton Island, Sydney, Osaka, Paris and London. He’s been married to his husband for seven years and enjoys travel, cooking, foreign languages and 80s pop music.

Highly Commended winning $150
Julien Furnace: “Dateshifter”

Bio: Julien Furnace (any pronouns) came from France 10 years ago thinking they’d just do one year of a working holiday visa and then go back to their birth country but now they’re Australian. They were doing stand-up comedy so far – you may have seen their show Faguette at Midsumma 2020 – for which they would tell funny stories about being a gay immigrant, in unsettling detail according to some audiences. Then Covid hit and they sobered up from their stage addiction but did not lose their thirst for creativity, therefore they decided to try their luck at storytelling. After being shortlisted for Midsumma’s Pearl Prize last year, they are happy to present Dateshifter, which is part of a bigger project that has been in the works for a while. Julien is attracted to speculative fiction, especially optimistic science-fiction, and is interested in how technological progress and scientific discoveries can impact gender, sexuality, identity and raison d’etre at a personal or social level. Yeah, they have recently turned 40 and you can tell they are definitely having a midlife crisis.

Madeline Shaw Youth Prize winning $250 and a Writing NSW Voucher
Rose Ginter: “The Other Mother”

Bio: Rose Ginter (She/Her) is a unit student studying ecology, conservation, and marine science. She has a deep love for all types of living things and the stories that come with them. When not reading or writing you can find her playing yet another sport that she probably doesn’t have time for.

Youth Prize running up winning $150 and a Writing NSW Voucher
M.K Han: “Heaven Sent”

Bio: M. K Han currently studies English and Latin. In 2023, he won the Ballarat Writers Inc. Southern Cross Short Story Competition.

The Administrators Prize winning $150
Roshelle Franco: “Timeline”

Bio: Roshelle has been an LGBTQIA+ Ally for over 20 years and will always be grateful to the community for giving her the love of her life and her to incredible children. She likes to use her life experiences as a springboard to create meaningful works of creative nonfiction. She is honoured to have the people at Outstanding appreciate her story.