from the editor's desk
The 2015 Patricia Hackett Prize
Every year, Westerly awards the Patricia Hackett Prize to the strongest work published within the volumes of that year. The prize is announced in the first issue of the following year.
Westerly is very excited to announce the winners of the 2015 Patricia Hackett Prize: Donna Mazza and Siobhan Hodge. Donna’s story ‘The Exhibit’ appeared in issue 60.1, and Siobhan’s poem ‘Pay it Forward’ appeared in issue 60.2.
The fact that this year’s Prize has joint winners is an exciting reflection of the quality of work coming out in the Magazine. Picking the 2015 winners was a difficult decision, with many well-known names in contention. We are very happy to see the Prize go to two Western Australian writers. The fact that Siobhan is an emerging local poet is particularly encouraging! Western Australian writing is certainly a force to be reckoned with.
Donna and Siobhan join a wonderful list of past recipients, including Kim Scott, David Whish-Wilson (who won the 2014 Prize for his story ‘The Cook’), Judy Johnson, Marcella Polain and many others. Donna’s story can be read free online here – it was the feature piece for issue 60.1. Likewise, Siobhan’s work featured in our ‘Word Matters’ campaign last year, and can be found here.
The Patricia Hackett Prize is awarded annually since 1965 from a bequest left for this purpose. It remembers the contributions Patricia Hackett made to both theatre and poetry, and her family’s connection with the University of Western Australia. A feature written in remembrance of Miss Hackett was published in Westerly 10.1 in 1965. It is now available as a free download from our digital archive here.
Congratulations Donna and Siobhan! We thank you both for your lovely work.
[…] This year’s Westerly Centre Randolph Stow Memorial Lecture saw Dr Donna Mazza, senior lecturer in arts and co-ordinator of ECU’s South West arts program for the School of Arts and Humanities, speak eloquently on Randolph Stow’s To the Islands and the Australian Gothic to a fascinated audience at the 2018 Perth Festival Writers Week. Donna’s novel The Albanian (Fremantle Press, 2007) was awarded the TAG Hungerford Award, and she is the 2018 Mick Dark Flagship Fellow for Environmental Writing at Varuna Writers House. Donna has also contributed to Westerly in the past, including her short story ‘The Exhibit’, which was the co-winner of Westerly‘s 2015 Patricia Hackett Prize. […]