ASA announces 2014-15 mentorship recipients

Wednesday, 17 December 2014 Books+Publishing

The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced the recipients of its 2014-15 mentorships for emerging writers and illustrators, including the inaugural Edel Wignell Mentorship.

The 12 applicants awarded mentorships are:

Zhiling Gao (nonfiction)
Gabrielle Gardner (fiction)
Josephine Grieve (nonfiction)
John Hemphill (fiction)
Cynthia Hyde (children’s)
Fionn McCabe (graphic novel)
Tamara Pratt (young adult)
Christopher Przewloka (fiction)
Belinda Rule (fiction)
Eibhlin Scanlon (children’s)
Sarah Tidey (fiction)
Emma Woods (fiction)

The Edel Wignell Mentorship was awarded to Jodi Toering. Each of the 13 successful applicants will receive 25 hours of mentorship to develop a work-in-progress and a follow-up consultation to assist with submissions to publishers or agents.

Five applicants were also highly commended. They are:

John Anthony James (fiction)
Marian McGuinness (children’s)
Karen Beilharz (graphic novel)
Tania McCartney (PBI)
Julie Weatherburn (fiction).

The assessment panel said in a statement that it was ‘pleased with the diversity of the works selected for the program. The successful applicants represent a range of cultural and social backgrounds, geographic areas, and there is representation from all of the program genre categories except poetry.’

The ASA’s annual mentorship program, which is supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, is designed to give writers and illustrations an opportunity to develop a work-in-progress to a publishable standard. For more information about this year’s recipients, visit the ASA website here.

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