🌞 The amateur book prize

And good morning to all 65,000 of you. I’d love to hear from you: what are your favourite types of good news stories to read about? Hit reply to this email!

In today’s edition, we’ve got some feel-good animal stories, an amateur book contest and everyone’s current hyperfixation: hockey. I have it on good authority that this newsletter is best accompanied by a hot coffee and warm uggs.

You’ve heard of the Booker and the Pulitzer – now meet the Libraro Prize.

Libraro is an online platform where emerging authors can publish drafts of their work and receive feedback from readers and publishers. 

The platform launched the Prize in partnership with the publishing company Hachette this year, aiming to find “the next bestselling fiction or crossover YA book in the English language.” 

Unlike its traditional counterparts, the Libraro Prize is quite unconventional. The award is intended to make the book industry more accessible and allows readers to select a shortlist from manuscripts uploaded by writers. 

The winner of the prize is British-born, Queensland-based writer Donna Fisher. Her book, Sheep’s Clothing, is about sexual power, cancel culture and consent. She won a £50,000 prize ($AU94,000) and a book deal with Hachette. 

Libraro also gave an award to the reader who most actively engaged with the prize entries, and the reader who referred the winning writer. 

A newly discovered fish species has been officially named after a Sesame Street character.

Australian marine biologist Dave Harasti was diving in Papua New Guinea in 2003 when he spotted a “strange, shaggy” red fish. After decades trying to match it to any known species, Harasti made a breakthrough in 2020 when he found a male-female pair on the Great Barrier Reef.

With help from the Australian Museum and his collaborator Graham Short, Harasti’s discovery has now been formally recognised as a seventh ghost pipefish species (a relative of the seahorse).

The NSW-based scientist named the fish after Big Bird’s best friend, Mr Snuffleupagus, because of its “long snout, shaggy filaments, [and] whole vibe”. There have now been multiple recorded sightings of the solenostomus snuffleupagus across the southwest Pacific.

A young calf nuzzles an adult bison as snow falls in the Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Lucy Tassell, TDA’s copyeditor, had this to share:

“I’ve always been interested in sampling in music - those little bits of melody or sound you hear over and over again. This channel breaks down where you’ve heard samples or sounds and where they came from, and sets the whole thing to a shifting beat that changes throughout the video.

Hard to explain without watching it, but I dare you not to be enthralled once you press play!”

Do you remember that one day in high school you took the day off, but then it felt like Harry Styles, Taylor Swift and Tom Holland all rocked up?

What if they actually did? 

Celebrity Substitute involves celebrities subbing in as teachers, and in most cases, getting deeply humbled by their students. They’ve questioned A$AP Rocky on his relationship status with Rihanna, grilled Ed Sheeran on his hair colour and asked Malala… who she is. 

It’s wonderful. 

It’s no surprise that hockey has been all over everyone’s social media lately. While the Heated Rivalry and Off Campus discourse are no doubt extremely important, I’d like to contribute an IRL feel-good hockey story. 

The Montréal Victoires won the Walter Cup this week – the championship trophy for the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL.) 

Their coach, Kori Cheverie, became the first female head coach to win the Cup. 

In a later interview, Cheverie said the players celebrated her with a “nice beer shower,” ambushing, lovingly dousing her in beer while she was trying to do an on-ice interview. 

The Victoire are also the first Canadian team to win the Cup in the PWHL (over in the men’s competition, no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since 1993). 

The win also represents progress in women’s hockey. The PWHL set a new playoff attendance record, with more than 113,000 fans across 13 games, a 35% increase from 2025’s postseason. 

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Hundreds of critically endangered Corroboree Frogs have been released in NSW’s Brindabella National Park. Born and raised in Taronga Zoo, the frogs were part of state government initiatives to strengthen the wild population. 

Wildlife Conservation Officer Michael McFadden said: “This is the largest Taronga-bred Northern Corroboree Frog release ever undertaken for this critically endangered species… Releasing larger cohorts help boost population success”. 

This approach also means the population is more genetically diverse, more resilient to long-term threats, and more likely to establish stable breeding groups in the wild. 

Our favourite prickly mammals are getting some help. Cambridge researchers have been developing a new AI tool called TESSERA to help hedgehogs in the UK. 

British surveys suggest hedgehogs have fallen by up to 75% in rural areas since 2000, and garden sightings are rare. 

TESSERA analyses data from satellites to create super detailed scientific maps of our planet. Researchers working on TESSERA partnered with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative to map hedgehog habitats in the UK. 

Hedgehogs frequently live in bramble patches, and TESSERA was trained to look for patterns in the data that match how bramble bushes scatter light from above. Researchers found the AI model performed “very well,” with brambles being found in every location TESSERA had flagged.

TESSERA even surprised researchers by finding bramble hotspots they thought would be unlikely. Researchers are still working through the hedgehog habitat maps, but hope to publish results later this year.

Yesterday was World Turtle Day, and to shell-ebrate (sorry), we have some feel-good news for you that is (sorry again) turtley amazing. 

Work is underway on the Green Island Turtle Rehabilitation Centre. It’s located on the Great Barrier Reef, which houses six of the world’s seven species of marine turtles. The centre will deliver important care for injured turtles and strengthen conservation efforts in the region. It’s set to open this December. 

Meanwhile, baby green sea turtles have been “thriving” in the GBR’s Agincourt Reef, with research revealing that the site is an important habitat for young turtles. Researchers have identified 37 young green turtles with a combined 339 recorded sightings. My favourite part? The names of three of the most commonly-sighted turtles: Jasper, Little Foot, and Charli. 

Anyway, I hope your Sunday is shell-axing (that’s it, I promise).