Shortlisted writers, judges, special guests, FLA alumni, and members of the Furphy family gathered at Shepparton Art Museum in Shepparton, Victoria, in late July to find out who would be named the winner of the 2025 Furphy Literary Award (FLA), one of the richest short story competitions in Australia. The Award continues to grow in popularity and prestige, evidenced by the number and quality of entries received.
The judges were extremely busy this year, working through the impressive 788 entries that were submitted. The number of entries was the second highest recorded in the Award’s six-year history, since the 2020 expansion into a national competition. The judging panel – Anson Cameron, John Harms, Margaret Hickey, Stephanie Holt, John Kerr and Thornton McCamish – revealed the longlist of 84 on June 30 and the shortlist of 16 on July 4.
Serena Moss, a startling talent brand new to writing competitions, is this year’s Furphy Literary Award winner for her entry The Eulogy Business. Serena receives $15,000 and publication in The Furphy Anthology 2025 (out in late November), along with the other 15 shortlisted stories.
The Eulogy Business is about a person who makes their living writing eulogies, advertising on Gumtree under ‘creative services’ [Need a Eulogy? Ghostwriter Available. No Judgment. Quick Turnaround. Reasonable Rates] but most of the jobs come through word of mouth. The story is written in taut, spare sentences, and right from the start, demands your attention:
Extract: The first time I made someone cry for money, I was twenty-two and hungover, sitting cross-legged on my mum’s laundry tiles with a Bic pen and a half-eaten sausage roll. It was a eulogy for a man I’d never met – a butcher named Stan with gout, three daughters, and an “infectious laugh.” I wrote it in twenty minutes and charged two hundred bucks.
FLA judge Anson Cameron had this to say about the winning entry: “Your hope when you’re reading a story entered into a competition like this is that you’ll eventually hear a voice, a new voice, a voice both profound and hilarious, a true voice that makes you listen wholeheartedly and joyously, a voice that might become a name … a name in Australian literature. The judges heard that voice while reading this story.”
2025 Furphy Literary Award winner Serena Moss writes fiction that lives between the sacred and the everyday — usually about men who don’t talk, and the people who wish they would. Her work explores themes of grief, memory, and the quiet complexities of Australian life.
A voracious reader, aspiring author, and lifelong scribbler, Serena was shortlisted for the 2025 Fogarty Literary Award, offered by Fremantle Press, for her debut novel Wreckage. Currently living in Geraldton where she works in real estate, Serena spent her childhood between Perth and a handful of tiny WA towns.
Click here to read Serena’s winning story The Eulogy Business.
Serena Moss joins an esteemed list of previous FLA winners: Kathryn Lomer (2024), Jen Rewell (2023), Cate Kennedy (2022), Thomas Alan (2021) and Ruby Todd (2020).
Reporting on the judging process on behalf of the judges, John Harms said: “What struck us this year was the variety in the wonderful stories we received. They really have depicted Australian life in its diversity. It’s intriguing to read the bios that the authors submit with their stories – bios which only become available when names are revealed after the judging process has been completed. They come from the length and breadth of the country, are of all ages, are clearly diverse in their cultural backgrounds, and their day-to-day lives cover many occupations. It’s no wonder we enjoy the process.”
Runner up ($3,000 plus publication in The Furphy Anthology 2025) was Charlotte Askew for Somewhere Above the Artesian. Charlotte is another young writer on this rise, she is the 2024 Rose Fellow at Texas State University where she is currently completing an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Creative Writing.
“There’s a mystery here, we are never quite sure of what is unfolding in the minds of the narrators, but as the highway stretches on, as we travel further above the Artesian, the reader’s anxiety increases to boiling point, relieved only by the devastating conclusion. This story, as the boy in the story suggests, is ‘all about pressure and release.’ Wonderful!” Margaret Hickey, FLA Judge
And in third place ($2,000 plus publication in The Furphy Anthology 2025) was All the Moments I Still Live In by Amy Montague. Amy is a Melbourne-based writer of Maltese-Australian background whose creative work explores memory, identity, and the way everyday experiences shape our lives.
“The author of All the Moments I Still Live In opens by taking us straight into main character Maria’s now; her present; and then – almost imperceptibly – into moments Maria still lives in. ‘Imperceptibly’ can be a sin in a writer, a negation of duty to a reader. The author’s handling of this is masterful.” John Kerr, FLA Judge
Furphy Literary Award (FLA) Director Sam Furphy said: “The Furphy Literary Award is more than a competition—it’s a celebration of Australian storytelling and a commitment to nurturing writers at every stage of their journey. It was inspiring to have so many shortlisted writers in attendance on Saturday night, and especially heartening to witness the energy and promise of the emerging younger writers who submitted stories and swept the top three spots this year!”
Click here to see the 2025 Short List and Long List.
