Dymocks, Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times essay prize inaugural winners announced
The inaugural winners of a new essay prize for young writers, supported by Dymocks, have been announced by the Age, Brisbane Times and Sydney Morning Herald.
The winners of the Age Essay Prize are:
- Grace Biber for ‘Crossing the Barassi’ (19–24 age group)
- Siya Gauri Singh for ‘The “Fare” Route for Victorian Students: Free public transport’ (14–18 age group).
The awards were judged by senior Age editors and guest judge Maxine Beneba Clarke, who described Biber’s essay as ‘well structured, lyrical and emotive’.
The winners of the Brisbane Times Essay Prize are:
- Gabriella Marcelline for ‘Good Immigrants Are Grateful: The evolution of my cultural identity’ (19–24 age group)
- Sabrina Guse for ‘Dreaming’ (14–18 age group).
‘Sabrina Guse’s Dreaming envisions a future Brisbane that is optimistic, but warns against complacency and inaction,’ said competition judge, novelist Ellen van Neerven, who also said of Marcelline’s essay: ‘The author persuasively encourages us not to abandon “what makes us different”.’
The winners of the Sydney Morning Herald Essay Prize are:
- Flynn Shan Benson for ‘Our Language; Or, How to Say Shibboleth in an Australian Accent’ (19–24 age group)
- Eliza Hoh for ‘Can I Please Borrow A Million Dollars?’ (14–18 age group).
Guest judge Tara June Winch said that Benson’s essay demonstrated he is ‘a writer that can draw from the past to talk about the present, and hold hope for the future in measured arguments’, and that Hoh’s essay used ‘beautiful writing’ to form ‘a great argument for the continued support of public libraries’.
Category: Awards Local news
