Mayor's Creative Writing Program

Announcing the winners of the 2023 Darebin Mayor's Writing Awards

On Wednesday 6 September Darebin Arts and Darebin Mayor Cr Julie Williams awarded Madison Pawle and young writers Alice Lumsden and Meadow as winners of the 2023 Darebin Mayor’s Writing Award, an annual initiative to recognise and celebrate local stories and writers.

Pawle was recognised in the Adult category for their original piece (fiction, non-fiction or poetry), Sometimes Mountain, Sometimes Sea; Alice Lumsden and Meadow were recognised in the Youth category (aged 12-17) for their original pieces, Contemplating My Transition, and You, in the Bathroom at a Party and King Fishers at Merri Creek.

William Stanforth and Nicolas Ling were also awarded for Highly Commended prizes in the Adut category for their pieces, The Landlord and We Sing Anyway. The ceremony was held at Darebin Arts Centre in Preston.

“Congratulations to all the contributing writers both young and old for their wonderful, poetic, and often moving written work,” says Darebin Mayor Cr Julie Williams. “Darebin City Council is committed to supporting creative practice and maintaining our much-loved reputation for being a hub for creativity within the Victorian arts sector, and I'm thrilled to award the talented recipients of these inspiring pieces of writing."

Earlier this year, local writers aged 12 years and older were invited to submit new and unpublished works of all genres in response to the theme ‘Transformation’. More than 80 submissions were judged by three independent judges – Yugambeh writer, editor and curator Dr Arlie Alizzi; performance poet, radio broadcaster, journalist and arts critic Jinghua Qian, and renowned fiction writing judge and arts and culture writer Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen.

These award-winning writings and other submissions from this year’s callout are now featured in Darebin’s annual publication, d-SCRIBE.

Free copies of the publication are available for pick up at Darebin local shops, community centres and libraries. Alternatively, readers can access the publication in digital format here.

Pictured above (from left to right): William Stanforth, Nicolas Ling, Cr Julie Williams, Alice Lumsden, Meadow and Madison Pawle. Image by Nicole Cleary.

Read about our 2022 Award winners

Read about our 2021 Award winners

Read about our 2020 Award winners