Young Creatives Awards past winners

Ages 12 to 15

Ages 16 to 18

Ages 19 to 24

People's Choice

Librarians Choice

Ages 12 to 15

Winner: 12 to 15 years: "River" by Alec Compton

Runner up: "Scoot Life" by Beatrice Smith

Ages 16 to 18

Winner: "Habbit the Rabbit" by Niran Chaleunthong

Runner up: "Protocol One" by Blake Alberts and Morgan Booth
 

Ages 19 to 24

Winner: "Not a Documentary About Jorts" by Beatrice Nell

Runner up: "GRAF: Meaning and Mark-making" by Violet Powter
 

Librarians' Choice

"Given or Created?" by Zahra Wiradilaga (16-18 years)

People's Choice

"Love Under the Rubble" by Rehana Tlais (19-24 years)

Young Writers

Ages 12 to 15
Winner: Henry Tulloch
ALL SKATERS GO TO HEAVEN
 

Runner up: Iris Gai
CICADA

Ages 16 to 18
Winner: Chloe Huang
The Shape of the Ache

Runner up: Thomas Soo
Little Phoenix Mountain

Ages 19 to 24
Winner: Claudia Blane
Thudding

Runner up: Alexandra Plotnikoff
On Watching Cats and British Television
 

Librarians Choice
Scout Nichols Tomlins
Monday Morning
 

People's Choice
Ramona Saraf
Something Scared

Download all the shortlisted entries as a PDF here. (PDF, 37.10MB)

Writing 

Winners

• 12 to 15 years: Evgenia Damjanovski, "Kvachka"
• 16 to 18 years: Ruby Norman, "Memory of a Headless Snake"
• 19 to 24 years: Jaden White, "For My Grandmothers"

Runners up

• 12 to 15 years: Chris Pantelis, "Hot Off the Press"
• 16 to 18 years: Jade Huang, "This Android Doesn't Want to Dream of Electric Sheep Anymore"
• 19 to 24 years: Ira Freidberg, "Half Empty, Half Full"

Librarians' choices

• Jonathan Smyth, "It" (12 to 15)
• Kane Arriagada, "Of a Thousand Faces" (16 to 18)
• Joseph Hathaway Wilson, "After School" (19 to 24)
• Jaya Kortegast, "Father: A Love Ode, a War Song" (19 to 24)

Art 

Winners

• 12 to 15 years: Caydence Sumantri, "Teatime"
• 16 to 18 years: Carmi Pirola, "Mono No Aware"
• 19 to 24 years: Millicent Lee, "What Do Things Dream About?"

Runners up

• 12 to 15 years: Chris Pantelis, "Hot Off the Press"
• 16 to 18 years: Jade Huang, "This Android Doesn't Want to Dream of Electric Sheep Anymore"
• 19 to 24 years: Ira Freidberg, "Half Empty, Half Full"

Librarian's choices

• Jonathan Smyth, "It" (12 to 15)
• Kane Arriagada, "Of a Thousand Faces" (16 to 18)
• Joseph Hathaway Wilson, "After School" (19 to 24)
• Jaya Kortegast, "Father: A Love Ode, a War Song" (19 to 24)

Film

Winners

• 12 to 15 years: Francesca Nagle and Greta O’Donoghue, "Obsession"
• 16 to 18 years: Noah Luckett, "Day At the Office"
• 19 to 24 years: Oliver Whitehouse, "Myth"

Runners up

• 12 to 15 years: Indianna Thompson, "Don't Look"
• 16 to 18 years: Dutch Young, "Sandwich"
• 19 to 24 years: Yarno Rohling, Matt Shepard and Tom O'Meara, "Rescues"

Librarians' choices

• Anoushka Keswani and Yevin Yung, "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" (12-15)
• Zoe Duarte, "GOV_FILE42" (16-18)
• Joshua Danger Cresp, "Individuals" (16-18)
• Jack Moran, Ruby Blinkhorn and Euan Hart, "Ego"

Prizes

Total prize pool was $8,400.
 

• Winner of each age group and category: $500
• Runner up of each age group and category: $250.
• Librarians Choice for each age group and category: $100
• People's Choice Award for each category: $250

Finalists' artwork in public exhibition at Chrissie Cotter Gallery and Leichhardt Library.
Finalists' film screening night at Marrickville Pavilion and Haberfield Library.
Finalists' written works printed in anthology catalogue.
Content producer roles for Young Creatives Take Over festival program in 2025.

Writing

Winners

• 12 to 15 years: Tape by Sepia-Hope McGovern
• 16 to 18 years: A Modern Hauntology by Emily Wu
• 19 to 24 years: Eight Metaphors of the Émigré Writer by B Fung-Ling
   

Runners up

• 12 to 15 years: Hurting, Beautifully (A Collection) by Jordan Steel
• 16 to 18 years: Gods, Monsters, and Girls by Isabel Steele
• 19 to 24 years: METAMORPHOSIS by Oliver Whitehouse

Librarians' choices

• The Trench by Maisie Morrison (12 to 15)
• The Immigrant’s Daughter by Joseph Hathaway-Wilson (19 to 24)
• Let Go by Jackson Ronchi (19 to 24)

Art

Winners

• 12 to 15 years: Commute by Chloe Yan
• 16 to 18 years: Footprints of Captivity by Chloe Dang
• 19 to 24 years: Masked by Scarlett Shine

Runners up

• 12 to 15 years: From the Universe by Sei-Rynn Oh
• 16 to 18 years: Our Creases by Sara Kamada
• 19 to 24 years: Someone, something, somewhere by Leo Whitehouse

Librarians' choices

• Urban Twilight and Coastal Serenity, Reflection by Hanako Houstone (16 to 18)
• Goodsey by Max Millgate, A Symphony of Dichotomies by Jim Dawes (16 to 18)
• Digital Clairvoyance by Oliver Whitehouse (19 to 14)

Film
Winners

• 12 to 15 years: Heart to Heart by Dylan Wrenn, Kieran Cashin, Joon Denholm and Isaac Brown
• 16 to 18 years: The Encounter by Caleb Kwan and Alex Gavrilovic
• 19 to 24 years: U Stay on My Mind by Zoë Dubuc

Runners up

• 12 to 15 years: Shielding by Jessica Lafflan and Kyla Vanderkley
• 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
   

Librarians' choices

• 12 to 15 years: Kin by Elodie Kliendienst
• 16 to 18 years: Dissolved Girl by Hart Ormella
• 19 to 24 years: The Hottest Day on Planet Earth by Ira Friedberg

Prizes for 2023

• Total prize pool: $7500 for winners and runners up. The cash prize for the winner of each age group was $500 and the runner up won $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.

Writing

Winners

• Winner 12 to 15 years: Victoria Pantelis - Men Don’t Cry
• Winner 16 to 18 years: Khanh Ngo - Instant Noodles and Cigarettes
• Winner 19 to 24 years: Jaya Kortegast - I AM MY OWN VOYEUR
  
   

Runners up

• Runner Up 12 to 15 years:  Lewis Mountney - Kicking off my trip to Liverpool
• Runner Up 16 to 18 years: Natalie Chidiac - Don’t Call Me Hope
• Runner Up 19 to 24 years: Joseph Hathaway-Wilson - Up the Coast
   

Youth librarian’s choice

• Kishore D’Souza - The Sanctum to the Workers
• Zoe Fitzgerald - A Burning Pear Tree
• Amy Zhong - Mother and Child
   

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

• Vanessa Huan - Childlike Innocence 
• Oscar Hartley - Resting Troopers
• Leo Whitehouse - Phone Call
• Noah Kenchington - The self destruction of Matt Murdoch

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.  

Writing

Winners

• Winner 12 to 15 years: Hitkaran Girn - My Little Angel 
• Winner 16 to 18 years: Bessie Yuan - Red Camelias Blooming
• Equal Winners 19 to 24 years: Harry Lawler Burn - Is Anybody Out There? and Lily Cameron - The Body Memory

Runners up

• Runner Up 12 to 15 years: Peli Nghiemxuan - Caramel
• Runner Up 16 to 18 years: Amy Zhong - Abnormality is Normal  
• Runner Up 19 to 24 years: Rinjani Soengkoeng - The Last Crossing of the Wind Sea
   

Youth librarian’s picks writing 

• Oliver Whitehouse - Pluviophile
• Darcy Phelan - The New Sound
• Caitlin Lawler - Middle of My Mid-Twenties
   

Art

Winners

• 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

Runners up

• 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

• James Nguyen - Daily Life
• Oliver Whitehouse - Afloat
• Mia Economou - Forest Bathing

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. 

Writing

Winners

• Winner 12 to 15 years: Kiet Phan
• Winner 16 to 18 years: Zoe Hamra
• Winner 19 to 24 years: Lily Cameron

Runners up

• Runner Up 12 to 15 years: Samuel Eastwood
• Runner Up 16 to 18 years: Eszter Coombs
• Runner Up 19 to 24 years: Rinjani Soengkoeng

Art

Winners

• 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

Runners up

• 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