It’s advanced the careers of dozens of emerging writers, many of whom are now well established. And it’s put up to $300,000 in the pockets of authors, mentors, judges and readers each year since its inception in 2018 – putting it, in overall cash terms, on par with some of the richest literature prizes in Australia.
Each year 10 writers were selected, awarded a stipend of $15,000, matched with prominent writers to act as their professional mentors over a year , given a writers’ residency in the Blue Mountains and set up with various connections in the publishing industry to further their career. The $15,000 prize enabled Ćehić to stop working full-time at a brewery – only able to write on evenings and weekends – and pay his rent while working intensively on the stories that would eventually become
“I think it’s telling [of the state of Australian arts funding] that something that was such a huge benefit to me is no longer around,” he says. With live events coming to a standstill through the pandemic, organisations like The Wheeler Centre have had little opportunity to court corporate sponsors. And, in the midst of mounting financial pressures, sponsors have had less motivation to open their wallets.The Aesop Foundation has been a real outlier in its support of literacy and storytelling, committing $7 million to local organisations since 2017, but the support for Next Chapter was only intended to be a four-year commitment.