Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award

Congratulations to the 2025 finalists!

Two yellow pineapples appear on a navy blue background.

Olivia J. Bennett

Judges' comments:

An assured voice in essays and critique, Olivia J. Bennett offers exacting, uncompromising and lyrical insights into digital art, experimental film, independent music and new media. Her work, published in Overland, Art+Australia, The Big Issue, Kill Your Darlings and elsewhere, reveals a gifted artist with a bright future ahead of her.

Two navy blue pineapples on a yellow-gold background

Alex Philp

Judges' comments:

Alex Philp has a CV that includes the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction, the Griffith Review Emerging Voices Prize, the short film Pools, which premiered at the Flickerfest International Short Film Festival, and a PhD in Creative Writing. As the panel chair for Eat the Rich at the 2024 Brisbane Writers Festival, Alex also demonstrates an assuredness as a facilitator, interviewer and observer.

Svetlana Sterlin

Judges' comments:

Winner of the 2023 Helen Anne Bell Poetry Bequest Award, Svetlana has an impressive and diverse publishing history. As an editor and emerging mentor she has hosted workshops for the Queensland Writers Centre, and as an artist she has participated at multiple events, including the National Young Writers Festival and the Island Storytellers Festival.

Sean West

Judges' comments:

Sean West is an editor, poet, producer, publisher, academic and workshop facilitator. As the founder of Blue Bottle Journal, he has given other emerging poets not only a platform for showcasing their work but also valuable feedback. His own poetry is of a high standard – vivid and evocative.

About the award

This award is part of the Queensland Literary Awards and is awarded to 2 outstanding Queensland writers and/or publishers up to 30 years of age.

Eligibility

Queensland residents who can provide proof of a current Queensland address.
Writers born in Queensland who now live elsewhere and can demonstrate strong, continuing ties with the state.
Writers and publishers up to and including 30 years of age at 30 April 2025 (proof of age must be submitted).
Individual writers with a steady professional history, and individual publishers with a steady professional history.
Writers and publishers of all forms, including novels, short stories, poems, works for children, biographies, memoirs, plays, scripts, non-fiction, comics and graphic novels.
Download the 2025 terms and conditions of entry document for full eligibility criteria.
Entry is free to this category.