Honorable mentions went to Paul Dalla Rosa for short story collectionAn Exciting and Vivid Inner Life, Grace Chan for sci-fi debutEvery Version of Youand Eliza Henry-Jones for her novel set on a remote Scottish islandSalt and Skin.
The judges for the prize were critic and novelists Fiona Kelly McGregor and Bram Presser andSpectrum SMH editor Melanie Kembrey.
The judges said Gibson’s imaginative debut collectionWomen I Know showed “astonishing skill with the form - moving easily from actual to fantastical worlds,from sharp,straightforward prose to concrete poetry.”
Gibson said it felt “fantastic and relieving” to be named aHerald Best Young Australian Novelist.
“Short stories are a form with an incredible,rich history. I love the form;I think there’s something you can do with a short story that isn’t possible in longer writing. You can take more stylistic risks or try bolder concepts. The point of a short story is really to pull off one moment or feeling for a reader,and satisfying that is difficult,” she said.