Vallance wins 2023 Rosie Award
University of Queensland Press (UQP) senior editor Cathy Vallance has won the Rosanne Fitzgibbon Editorial Award, known as the Rosie, for her editorial work on Zana Fraillon’s middle-grade verse novel The Way of Dog (UQP).
’I have never been prouder of a book and believe it represents the best editing work of my career,’ said Vallance, who accepted the award, worth $4000, at the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) conference on 3 May.
Judges Julia Carlomagno, Rachel Bin Salleh and Sara El Sayed said Vallance’s work on The Way of Dog demonstrated great sensitivity and skill in her undertaking of a complex brief: to work with the author to refine a poetic verse novel with an animal as the protagonist. ‘Vallance honed voice and character through her edits, and played a significant role in shaping the story,’ said the judges.
Author Zana Fraillon said, ‘Rather than providing simple possible alternatives for text, Cathy would question the reasons behind the choices I had made. This, in turn, led to us identifying and exploring why sections weren’t working as well as they could, and discovering alternatives that perhaps neither of us could have reached on our own. Not only did this result in a far superior manuscript, it injected energy and excitement into the process, which is often difficult to find and maintain during the editing stage.’
Judges commended the editors nominated for the 2023 Rosie for keeping open the lines of communication with authors, offering motivational boosts during longer stretches, and for demonstrating skills of adaptability, flexibility and creativity. They said, ‘Most of these edits were undertaken during a pandemic, when lockdowns and other changes to our lives meant the need to find new ways to communicate and keep in touch—and, often, to keep an author’s spirits buoyed during an uncertain time.’
The biennial award honours the editorial contribution of the late Rosanne Fitzgibbon and recognises a dedicated editor who has helped an author deliver the best possible outcome on a fiction or nonfiction publication. The winner of the 2021 Rosie was Johannes Jakob. See the 2023 shortlist here.
Picture: Cathy Vallance holding The Way of Dog (Zana Fraillon, UQP).
Category: Awards Local news
