Young Creatives Awards
The Young Creatives Awards is a platform for the Inner West’s budding writers, artists, and filmmakers.
For the 2023 awards we received a record-breaking number of entries. The entries submitted showed incredible diversity and bucket loads of the creative talent that the Inner West is known for.
Thank you to all the entrants and our expert judges who were given the difficult task of choosing the winners from an exceptional body of work.
The 2024 Young Creatives Awards will launch next winter. Sign up to our newsletter or follow us on social media to be kept in the loop.
See you in 2024.
Young Creatives Awards 2023
Writing Winners
Winner 12 to 15 years: Tape by Sepia-Hope McGovern
Winner 16 to 18 years: A Modern Hauntology by Emily Wu
Winner 19 to 24 years: Eight Metaphors of the Émigré Writer by B Fung-Ling
Runner up 12 to 15 years: Hurting, Beautifully (A Collection) by Jordan Steel
Runner up 16 to 18 years: Gods, Monsters, and Girls by Isabel Steele
Runner up 19 to 24 years: METAMORPHOSIS by Oliver Whitehouse
Librarian’s Choice 12 to 15 years: The Trench by Maisie Morrison
Librarian’s Choice 19 to 24 years: The Immigrant’s Daughter by Joseph Hathaway-Wilson and Let Go by Jackson Ronchi.
View the 2023 WRITING winners
here.
Art Winners
Winner 12 to 15 years: Commute by Chloe Yan
Winner 16 to 18 years: Footprints of Captivity by Chloe Dang
Winner 19 to 24 years: Masked by Scarlett Shine
Runner up 12 to 15 years: From the Universe by Sei-Rynn Oh
Runner up 16 to 18 years: Our Creases by Sara Kamada
Runner up 19 to 24 years: Someone, something, somewhere by Leo Whitehouse
Librarian’s Choice 16 to 18 years: Urban Twilight and Coastal Serenity, Reflection by Hanako Houstone, Goodsey by Max Millgate, A Symphony of Dichotomies by Jim Dawes
Librarian’s Choice 19 to 24 years: Digital Clairvoyance by Oliver Whitehouse
View the 2023 ART winners here.
Film Winners
Winner 12 to 15 years: Heart to Heart by Dylan Wrenn, Kieran Cashin, Joon Denholm and Isaac Brown
Winner 16 to 18 years: The Encounter by Caleb Kwan and Alex Gavrilovic
Winner 19 to 24 years: U Stay on My Mind by Zoë Dubuc
Runner up 12 to 15 years: Shielding by Jessica Lafflan and Kyla Vanderkley
Runner up 16 to 18 years: Romeo vs Juliet by Niran Chaleunthong
Joint runner up 19 to 24 years: Girl Coded by Grace Valerie-Lynette and Windows (of sorts) by Amy Nelson
Librarian’s Choice 12 to 15 years: Kin by Elodie Kliendienst
Librarian’s Choice 16 to 18 years: Dissolved Girl by Hart Ormella
Librarian’s Choice 19 to 24 years: The Hottest Day on Planet Earth by Ira Friedberg
View the 2023 FILM winners
here.
2023 Prizes
- Total prize pool is over $7500 for winners and runners up. The cash prize for the winner of each age group is $500 and the runner up wins $250.
- Artwork in public exhibition at Chrissie Cotter Gallery and Leichhardt Library.
- Film screening night at Marrickville Pavilion.
- Written works printed in anthology catalogue.
- Content producer roles for Young Creatives Take Over festival program in 2024.
- Winner of the FILM, 19-24 age category wins a mentorship session with production company, Cosmic Scream.
2022 Awards
Winning writing entries
Note: All of the following entries are works of fiction.
Runner up writing entries
Note: All of the following entries are works of fiction.
Youth librarian’s choice writing – Highly commended entries
Note: All of the following entries are works of fiction.
Winning art entries
- Winner 12 to 15 years: Rohan Willard - Newnes Tunnels
- Winner 16 to 18 years: Valentina Guarna - Shared Vision
- Winner 19 to 24 years: Augustine Flett - The Eternal Templar
Runner up art entries
- Runner Up 12 to 15 years: Alex Kim - Serenity
- Runner Up 16 to 18 years: Nola Read - Untitled
- Runner Up 19 to 24 years: Mia Economou - Ozark Amy
Youth librarian’s choice art – Highly commended entries
- Vanessa Huan - Childlike Innocence
- Oscar Hartley - Resting Troopers
- Leo Whitehouse - Phone Call
- Noah Kenchington - The self destruction of Matt Murdoch
Gallery of winning and runner up art entries
Click on the image thumbnails to scroll through the gallery.
Meet the 2022 Young Creatives
Writing entries shortlist
12 to 15 years category
Charlotte Wang
Read Watching movies with the sound off (DOCX 15.3KB)
Chloe Huang
Read The Merle Coat (DOCX 15.1KB)
Charlie Wallace
Read The Auditor (DOCX 14.9KB)
Matilda Reid
Read The Upside-down land (DOCX 15.7KB)
Maisie Morrison
Read Tea under the stars (DOCX 15.4KB)
Emma King-Li
Read Drowning, Drowning, Breathe (DOCX 15.8KB)
Billy Dagarin
Read Digging in the night (DOCX 16.1KB)
Harrison Benn
Read Adventure anticipation (DOCX 16KB)
16 to 18 years category
Maria Bangura
Read CA • THAR • SIS /kuh·thaa·suhs/ (DOCX 16.5KB)
Esther Alex
Read Four Letters (DOCX 16.5KB)
Dion Gianniotis
Read Machine Can’t Write (DOCX 16.2KB)
Leslie Prest
Read Mary (DOCX 14.6KB)
Oliver Whitehouse
Read One AM In Shibuya (DOCX 16.4KB)
19 to 24 years category
Eloise Goodhew
Read An Entangled Body (DOCX 15.7KB)
Clancy Reynolds
Read Anorexic Rivers of this Changing Ground (DOCX 22.7KB)
Caitlin O’Keefe-White
Read Daughter from Hell! (DOCX 15.6KB)
Madeline Clark
Read Layna and the Bird (DOCX 15.3KB)
Ceridwen Bush
Read Longbeach Blues (DOCX 16KB)
Pippa Callingham
Read The Origin of Kiwi Fruit Fuzz (DOCX 15.8KB)
Emily Derlin
Read Space Salmon (DOCX 15KB)
Rosie Bogumil
Read The art of dying (DOCX 14.3KB)
Art entries shortlist
Click on the thumbnail image to scroll through the gallery
2022 judging panel
Vivian Pham:
Winner – 2021 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist.
Vivian Pham is a Vietnamese-Australian fiction writer, closet poet, amateur screenwriter, university student and hopeful dropout if any of the aforementioned ventures take flight. Her father was a Vietnamese boat refugee, and she grew up loving stories because she knew there was one inside of him.
In 2018 and 2019, Vivian attended the International Congress of Youth Voices and shared a stage with successful writers and activists like Dave Eggers, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Rep. John Lewis and Khaled Hosseini. It is her greatest hope to have an impact on political issues through her creative work.
Her debut novel The Coconut Children was shortlisted for the Voss Literary Prize and both the NSW and Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
Andrew Pippos:
Winner – Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction 2021
Andrew is an Inner West writer of fiction and narrative nonfiction, and a former journalist. He is of Greek Australian Heritage and his works celebrate the everyday multiculturalism of Australia.
Andrew’s debut novel Lucky’s was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin and Prime Ministers Literary Awards 2021, amongst others.
Carmel Byrne:
Carmel is the founding director of Scratch Art Space in Marrickville. Carmel works in multiple mediums and has won multiple awards for her work. As a working artist for many years, Carmel has exhibited extensively in galleries across the Inner West and beyond.
Alex Bebbington:
Alex Bebbington is an exciting young artist whose works focus on environmentalism and the natural world. He recently exhibited at White’s Creek Cottage in Lilyfield. The Epochs in Ecology exhibition was the culmination of Alex’s research and work during his year-long residency at the cottage.
2021 Awards
In 2021 entrants were asked to submit a piece of writing (1000 words), either a short story, a fan fiction, poetry, review or a piece of prose responding to an item from the Inner west Libraries collection.
Judges in the writing awards for 2021 were Nadia Wheatley and Ursula Dubosarsky and for art awards 2021 are painter and drawer Carmel Byrne and photographer Adrian Cook.
Congratulations to all the winners and runners up and thank you to everyone who took part.
Winning writing entries
Note: All of the following entries are works of fiction.
Runner up writing entries
Note: All of the following entries are works of fiction.
Youth librarian’s picks writing – Highly commended entries
Note: All of the following entries are works of fiction.
Winning art entries
- Winner 12 to 15 years: Isabel Carrig - Homage to Basquiat
- Winner 16 to 18 years: Yesha Young - Girl on The Bus
- Winner 19 to 24 years: Tilda Clarke - Stitched Memory
Runner up art entries
- Runner Up 12 to 15 years: Scarlett Simoneau - Alderman Cat
- Runner Up 16 to 18 years: Valentina Guarna - Decommissioned Past
- Runner Up 19 to 24 years: Hillary Shephard - WEIßRUSSLAND
Youth librarian’s picks art – Highly commended entries
- James Nguyen - Daily Life
- Oliver Whitehouse - Afloat
- Mia Economou - Forest Bathing
Gallery of winning and runner up art entries
Click on the image thumbnails to scroll through the gallery.
Meet the 2021 Young Creatives
2021 Judges
Art award presentation video
Writing award presentation video
Writing entries shortlist
12 to 15 year category
16 to 18 year category
19 to 24 category
Art entries shortlist
Click on the thumbnail image to scroll through the gallery
2020 Awards
Our 2020 awards closed on 31 July and we had over 150 entries.
First prize winners received $500 and runners up $250.
The judging panel: Ursula Dubosarsky and Nadia Wheatley for the writing and Dub Leffler and Ronojoy Ghosh for art.
Entrants were asked to submit a piece of writing (1000 words), either a review, a fan fiction, poetry or a piece of prose responding to an item from the Inner west Council Libraries collection or an artwork inspired by or in response to a resource in the Library.
Congratulations to all the winners and runners up and thank you to everyone who took part.
Winning writing entries
Note: All of the following entries are works of fiction.
Runner up writing entries
Note: All of the following entries are works of fiction.
Winning art entries
- Winner 12 to 15 years: Oliver Whitehouse -Around the Corner
- Winner 16 to 18 years: Mia Economou - Cooks River
- Winner 19 to 24 years: Augustine Flett - Blueprint
Runner up art entries
- Runner Up 12 to 15 years: Suenna Jeong -Ashitakas and the Kodamas
- Runner Up 16 to 18 years; Leo Lorents -Anarchy in Gotham
- Runner Up 19 to 24 years: Bridget Staal - How to do nothing domestic
Gallery of winning and runner up art entries
Click on the image thumbnails to scroll through the gallery.
Meet the winners, runner ups and judges!
Click on the image thumbs to enlarge and for details.
Video presentation
Watch our video and hear what the judges and recipients had to say about the 2020 Young Creatives program.
Writing entry short list
12 to 15 year category
16 to 18 year category
19 to 24 category
Art entry short list