SQ Mag and IFWG Publishing Australia are pleased to announce the winners of the 7th Annual Story Quest Short Story Contest, with the theme, Unlikely Partnerships.

This year the number of entries fell compared to the last few, with perhaps the reason tied to a difficult theme topic (we didn’t think it was, though). Nevertheless, the winners and finalist provided quality stories and we very much look forward to publishing them in the new year.

The results are:

‘Papaya Leaf Falling to the Surface of a Puddle Reflecting Streetlights’ by Jamie Killen (winner)
‘Kai’ by Ellen Denton (2nd Place)
‘A Hero for His People’ by Jason Lairamore (3rd Place – tie)
‘Beaver Resplendent’ by Sally Basmajian (3rd Place – tie)
‘An Almost Tidy Case’ by Meghean Major (finalist)

Note that this is the very first time we accepted a tied result – we have two third place awards. It was simply too hard to split them.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Angela Slatter for accepting a late notice guest judge position – her assistance was invaluable.