An emerging Claremont writer with a passion for Australian wildlife was crowned this year’s Hungerford Award winner out of more than 100 submissions from across the State.
Ecologist and soon-to-be published author Greg Taylor was crowned the 2026 winner at a ceremony last Friday for his debut manuscript, Wildlife In The Open Eucalyptus Forests.
This year 128 manuscripts were submitted to the Fremantle Press for consideration — the largest number in the award’s 35-year history.
Taylor’s “ongoing passion” for ecology was a large force behind his writing, but he said he never expected to be shortlisted, let alone win.
“It was really weird, it was a bit overwhelming. It was almost like ... ‘oh no, I’ve been pulled into this alternate reality where things like this actually happen to me’,” he said.
“It was really nice and it’s definitely very encouraging for me personally in terms of Australian wildlife, and just confirmed for me that there’s something in their stories that reaches a broader audience than I anticipated.”
The work is a collection of narrative-based introductions to 24 animal species living in Australia’s eucalyptus forests, written from the perspective of the animals to expand readers’ understandings of these familiar creatures.
The idea formed soon after Taylor moved to Australia from San Francisco, when he realised he knew very little about Australian wildlife and struggled to find books that told the full story.
“There’s all kinds of really excellent field guides, there is really excellent non-fiction written on more broader strokes like conservation and ecology in Australia, but nothing that tells these species’ stories,” he said.
“Science doesn’t really come naturally to us as humans, so I just wanted to be able to relate these species to the reader in a way that came naturally to them.”
Researching the story was not an easy process, involving reading “a few dozen” scientific papers about each of the 24 species and then observing them in the wild.
But by chapter two, he was already feeling bored and realised he needed to spice things up.
“Four of five of the stories draw pretty heavily on mythology to help me tell these animals’ stories, and that was not planned,” he said.
“I finished the second chapter and I was like ‘well, I have 22 to go and I’m bored’. And I said if I can’t tell this in my way and be creative and take a risk, then I’m not going to be able to do this.”
As part of his prize, Taylor was awarded a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a $15,000 cash prize, giving him a bit of financial comfort to focus on writing.
He’s hoping the book will be published sometime next year, and already has plans for two more.
“This is my first book that I’ve finished, and this is also the first non-fiction thing and the first environmental thing,” he said.
“Maybe the strangest part is just now knowing that I am an author ... it’s very weird to now have hundreds of people not only know about the book, but will actually read it.”