The scholarship, run jointly with Dymocks and best-selling Australian author Fiona McIntosh, offers potential novelists a coveted place at Ms McIntosh’s sold-out intensive commercial fiction masterclass in September 2018. The total prize is valued at $7500.

The winning entry was chosen from nearly 80 submissions reviewed by a Dymocks panel and judged by Ms McIntosh. 

Ms McIntosh said Ms Clutton’s compelling domestic drama Cloaked in Privilege was the clear winner with a storyline “which moved at a brisk pace and will have strong appeal to the mass market”.

“The quality of entries was outstanding and making up a shortlist from the breadth of entries was challenging,” she said. Ms Clutton said she was thrilled to be awarded the sought-after scholarship.

“Winning the scholarship has given me renewed confidence in my writing and storytelling ability,” she said.

“I’m thrilled that I’ll have the opportunity to rework my novel under the tutelage of such an accomplished author.

“My hope is that afterwards I’ll be one step further along the notoriously difficult road to publication, and just a little bit closer to spotting my book on the shelf of a Dymocks bookstore.”

The five-day intensive masterclass is aimed at aspiring fiction writers, looking to take their writing to the next level and propel them to publication. Since 2013, Ms McIntosh has built an enviable reputation within the publishing industry for her power to motivate, inspire and instill fresh confidence and professionalism into budding wordsmiths.

She has helped more than 300 writers from all over Australia take a step closer to their own publishing dreams, with more than two dozen graduates now holding publishing contracts or books in print. This also includes twelve graduates having signed with the top five publishers. The scholarship prize covers return airfare, accommodation and course fees to attend the five day September 2018 Masterclass in South Australia.