IA Writing Competition 2024 WINNERS!

Independent Australia is delighted to announce the IA Writing Competition winners for 2024!

CONGRATULATIONS to our two prize-winners on their outstanding entries.

Most Compelling Article

WINNER: Kim Sawyer — 'The perils of indifference: History repeats itself in Gaza'
(Read this winning entry HERE.)

Most Enthralling Creative Work

WINNER: Karen Throssell — 'Changing the words'
(Read this winning entry HERE.)

JUDGE RANALD MACDONALD'S COMMENTS

It was a privilege and a considerable challenge to select the winning entry this year. Thank you to all the writers as each should be proud of their compelling and powerful contributions.

It makes me feel confident about the essential role writing has to play at this concerning time of AI (not IA because THAT is a badge of honour) where ethics, fairness and integrity in what is being presented are essential.

I found it interesting, but understandable, that so many entries concerned the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. Though human rights, race relations, the environment , the fate of whistleblowers and a powerful piece on scam victims, also featured.

On "scamming" there are a couple of lines in victim Kim Sawyer’s piece which will remain with me: 'Scammers need a facilitator, that facilitator is a bank. Banks may not be the thieves, but they do drive the getaway car.'

But the best and most evocative article in my judgement is another article by Kim Sawyer — 'The perils of indifference: History repeats itself on Gaza'.

Beautifully written, it features some excellent and apposite quotes from the remarkable Nobel prize winner, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. One, in particular, is worth highlighting: 'Indifference is more dangerous than anger and hatred… indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. Indifference is the friend of the enemy.'

Dr. Sawyer for me is a worthy winner in the Most Compelling Article category. Certainly, I was compelled!

~ Ranald Macdonald

JUDGE JO DYER'S COMMENTS

Karen Throssell's 'Changing the words' is a stark invocation of the fraught existence to which Australia condemns its workers.

With spare, direct language, 'Changing the words' contrasts the monotony of the life of a wage slave with the dangerous precarity of the underemployed, posing confronting questions about the impotence of all workers in a system skewed against them, and the unhappiness, anxiety and risk such powerlessness engenders.

~ Jo Dyer

Our 2024 overall category winners each receive a $1,000 cash prize.

Our winners and shortlisted finalists each receive a 12-month subscription to IA, plus their entries have been published on the Independent Australia website.

The following works were shortlisted entries.

Most Compelling Article 2024 finalists:

Therese Taylor ~ 'David McBride book review stirs controversy'

Chris Fitzgerald ~ 'Human rights takes back seat, as Australia rolls out red carpet for Marcos'

Mark Christensen ~ 'NZ race relations provide clearer picture for Australia's Voice denial'

John Schumann ~ 'USA now too disastrous for parody'

Kim Sawyer ~ 'The perils of indifference: History repeats itself in Gaza'

Imi Timms ~ 'Peter Dutton demonises Gaza refugees for political point-scoring'

Steve Bishop ~ 'Despite Monckton's climate denial, the world is still burning'

GJ Burchall ~ 'Etiquette tips for awed commoners when meeting King Chukka'

Lyn Bender ~ 'Israel proclaims itself chief mourner, as Gaza lies in ruins'

Kim Sawyer ~ 'Banks doing little to protect scam victims'

Most Enthralling Creative Work 2024 finalists:

Andrew Hefferan ~ 'POEM: Catching air'

Darren Rexter ~ 'POEM: Housing crisis'

K F Pearson ~ 'POEM: Moan of Gaza'

John Longhurst ~ 'She change'

Karen Throssell ~ 'POEM: Changing the words'

Roger Chao ~ 'POEM: Not in my name'

Michael Davis ~ 'POEM: What is labour about Labor?'

Lara Skerratt ~ 'Can I have an extension please? — a compilation'

Karen Throssell ~ 'POEM: Balancing'

Lidia Myburgh ~ 'POEM: Dragon Dreaming'

Roger Chao ~ 'POEM: The Holy Creed of Carbonus Rex'

Brian Musgrove ~ 'POEM: Sonnet on a failure'