After almost not entering the competition at all, the Gunnedah local's short story 'Chicken Salt' has been awarded the top prize in The Best Australian Yarn competition.

She watched the livestream of the awards held in WA while at work at the Dorothea Mackellar Centre.

"It was a whirlwind of emotions," she said.

"Disbelief, excitement, shock."

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The prize package includes $3,000, a plaque, "and all the fanfare".

After she takes her family out for dinner, she plans to put the money towards writing.

She won a flash fiction competition in Berry this year, and is shortlisted for a poetry competition.

"That's why I'm hoping it's a sign of things to come," she said.

"Obviously something's working after all this time."

The 28-year-old said being a writer is something she's always wanted to do "deep-down", and her regional postcode gives her an "edge".

"I think it can give me a different perspective," she said.

"And its paid off in this instance."

Chicken Salt centres around kids in a corner shop meeting a nice old man.

"It was inspired by the fact that I grew up in a small town, live in a small town," she said.

"It's about being surprised by the kindness of strangers."

She will revisit work on her self-published book, Enchantment.

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