Since the Mansfield Readers and Writers Festival closed entries for the 2025 High Country Words competition on May 18, a team of accomplished judges has been poring over stacks of submissions, longlisting, shortlisting, and now finally selecting five talented writers as winners.

Both the quantity and quality of the 2025 submissions speak to the growing reputation of the young literary festival held at the gates of the High Country.

The festival, presided over by Dr Dani Netherclift, Andrew Barton, Belinda Crawford and Charlotte Lindsay — four crown jewels of Mansfield's burgeoning literary landscape — has grown year on year and is quickly establishing itself as a credible fixture on Victoria's literary calendar.

As further proof of the festival’s standing, acclaimed author Margaret Hickey (Cutters End, Stone Town, Broken Bay) stepped in to oversee the short story prizes this year.

The Carnivorous River by Dr Cassy Nunan was awarded the Open Short Story Prize, beating out fierce competition from Leave by Shaun McMahon, who took home the Local Short Story Prize.

Andrew and Frederica Furphy, bush poets and raconteurs from Shepparton who judged the bush poetry submissions, awarded Soul Search by David Judge the Bush Poetry Prize.

Maria Takolander (The End of Romance, Narcissism, Ghostly Tales), a multiple award-winning poet and novelist from Melbourne, chose How to Skin a Rabbit by Tim Loveday as the Poetry Prize winner.

The final award, the RB Sellars Local Bush Poetry Prize, went to Maree Mielnik for her piece Young Guns.

This year’s theme was ‘Scrub’.

All winning entries, along with works from the competition’s longlist, will be published in the 2025 High Country Words Anthology, available at the festival and in Ink Bookstore in October.

More to come on this next week, when we’ll hear from all the winners.