Rossell wins 2024 Albert Ullin Award

Melbourne author and illustrator Judith Rossell is the recipient of the 2024 Albert Ullin Award, worth $10,000.

The prize judging panel said: ‘It is Rossell’s profound love for creating stories through the artful combination of pictures and words, as well as her dedication to sharing her wealth of knowledge beyond the page, that makes her a worthy recipient of the Albert Ullin Award 2024.’

For over 20 years, Rossell has been writing and illustrating children’s books, including the Stella Montgomery series (Withering-By-Sea, Wormwood Mire and Wakestone Hall). She has illustrated the picture books Pink and Bogtrotter (Margaret Wild) and You Are a Star (Michael Parker). Most recently, Rossell has written the middle-grade adventure fantasy novel The Midwatch (HGCP).

The biennial Albert Ullin Award was created with a bequest from the late Albert Ullin, cofounder of The Little Bookroom in Melbourne. It recognises a ‘body of work by an author or illustrator of children’s books who has made a significant and ongoing contribution to children’s literature in Australia’. The prize is awarded via a panel selection process and administered by the CBCA Victoria Branch.

The 2024 award was announced at a ceremony at the CBCA Victoria ‘Celebration For Creators’ evening at the Bargoonga Nganjin Fitzroy North Library on 17 October.

The award’s inaugural recipient was illustrator Andrew McLean in 2020 and the winner in 2022 was author and illustrator Jane Tanner.

Photo credit: On Jackson Street.

Category: Awards Local news