Adelaide based giving circle sticks like MUD

The MUD Literary Club is a unique philanthropic group in Australia, uniting passionate literary supporters to fund an annual cash prize recognising an emerging Australian literary talent for their first literary novel, awarded at Adelaide Writers Week.

With some of Australia’s most talented writers having been past recipients, the prize now stands as an important and influential literary award for new writers in the country.

The literary club commenced in 2012 and is now a collective of over 80 members. In addition to the prize, the group also supports two literary festivals dedicated to presenting these authors, being Adelaide Writers Week and Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali.

In 2018 the MUD Club initiated the development of the The MUD Literary Prize fund, driven by committee member, Andrew Saies. “We wanted to secure the long-term future of the prize by creating an investment fund for donations. The aim is to raise enough in donations to enable the investment returns to be used to fund the prize each year and we are well on the away to achieving that goal. With the generous donations from MUD members the fund has grown from $70,800 in April this year to a current balance of nearly $120,000”.

“In addition to the responsible investment of funds, Foundation SA has helped streamline our fundraising,” says MUD Club Chair, Tony Parkinson. “Our donors make tax-deductible donations directly to the fund and immediately receive their tax receipt. We are notified by email whenever a donation comes in, which means we can thank donors in a timely manner – it’s really reduced our administration time.”

This year’s 2022 MUD prize was awarded to Sydney-based writer Diana Reid for Love and Virtue – a brave and daring examination of sexual assault, misogyny, power struggles and the rights of individuals, told through a bright young woman’s turbulent first year on university campus.

The 2021 prize was awarded to Pip Williams for The Dictionary of Lost Words which then went on to win a further three awards.

If you’re interested in learning more about the MUD Literary Club, please click here to visit their website.