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MIN READ
We’re thrilled to announce the winners and highly commended entries for the 2025 ASA Award Mentorship Program!
Fiction
Beth Amos – Take Me to Church
Dorothy-Jane Daniels – Moths
Leah Young – Queen of Noise
Children’s writing
Jess Horn – The Dandelion Wish Factory
Young adult
Brydie Cook – The Meadows
Non-fiction
Lauran Wassell – The Octopus’s Reach
Picture book writing
Heather Cummins – Elen and the Rosy Street Challenge
Picture book illustration
Phillip Robbie – Noodle Labradoodle Goes to Dog City Dog Hotel
Poetry: Izzy Roberts-Orr – Medusa is a Modern Woman
Picture book writing: Nikolina Bojkovski – Mira and the Magic Door
For 17 years the ASA Award Mentorship Program has provided the vital impetus authors and illustrators have needed to launch their careers. In 2024 alone, the program led to 14 publications of mentees’ work, which is why, in 2025, the ASA has decided to fund a smaller iteration of the program, until alternative ongoing funding can be sourced. Read more about how you can help to support the continuation of this program.
The 2025 award offers eight creators the opportunity to work with an experienced author, illustrator or publishing professional from the ASA’s Mentor Register to help develop their manuscript or illustration project to a publishable standard. Six 20-hour mentorships have been awarded to writers of fiction, non-fiction, children’s writing and young adult, and two 5-hour mentorships have been awarded to creators of illustrated works (picture book and graphic novel authors, author/illustrators and illustrators). In addition to their mentorships, the winners each receive one free ticket to the ASA’s Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect: Picture Books course, one free ticket for a Virtual Literary Speed Dating pitch, and one-year’s free membership to the ASA. The highly commended applicants receive three hours of mentoring on the first ten pages of their manuscript or illustration project, as well as a free ticket to Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect: Picture Books and one free ticket for a Virtual Literary Speed Dating pitch.
The mentorship recipients and highly commended were selected by a panel of assessors consisting of Maxine Beneba Clarke, Claire G Coleman, Mawunyo Gbogbo, Favel Parrett, Chris Kennett, Sara M Saleh and Gabrielle Tozer. Please read their full comments below.
This has been a hard field to judge; there are many quality works and many more writers deserve the mentorships than can receive them. Reading and judging these, and nobody really wants to enact judgement on the works of others, has left me with a strong faith that the future of Australian literature is bright. There are several books in the field that I am excited to have an opportunity to read again in their final forms. I congratulate the winners and also congratulate everybody who entered for the quality of their work and for their courage in sending their work out there to be assessed. The width of expression, the depth of understanding and the height of dedication in these entries is impressive, and so is the breadth of genre with works across the entire spectrum of literary outputs. Australian writing is in good hands.
I was very impressed with the quality of the entries in the fiction category, and many manuscripts only just missed out on my shortlist. I was also impressed with the originality of many of the entries. There was a wide range of subject matters and genres, with romance being the most represented genre. The judging criteria was:originality of the idea, the standard/quality of writing, and lastly the potential to develop the work. I applaud every single one of you for entering. It takes great courage to put your work out there, and if you were not successful this time, please keep going. Keep putting your best work out there and don’t give up!
Children’s and young adult
Entries in the children’s category this year were wide-ranging in theme and writing style. The most successful picture book entries largely examined the human and natural world and our connections to people, place and planet. Young adult fiction tended to turn outward to unfamiliar imagined worlds, often leaning into apocalyptic narratives. Coming of age narratives were also prevalent in the young adult category. Middle grade fiction generally trended away from the naturalistic, conjuring all manner of fantastical creatures and wild adventures. Amongst entries for older readers, there was also an emphasis on animals and their plight, in rural or regional settings. The most successful entries, however, were sure of voice, story and style, regardless of genre. For me, several of the manuscripts across the categories for older readers were difficult to separate during the final phase of assessing: testimony to the general strength of submissions. Please, writers, keep on keeping on!
It was a pleasure to read such a rich tapestry of themes, ideas and subjects across the children’s, middle grade and young adult categories. The winners and shortlists demonstrated a strong quality, with some standout ideas, moments, styles and voices that show real talent. In the children’s categories, many entries explored family bonds, friendship connections and what it means to belong in a diverse community. A few standout entries also put neurodiversity and the beauty of our natural world in the spotlight. The picture book shortlist was particularly impressive due to many of the writers’ mastery of the craft and overall development potential – I truly hope to see some on the shelves one day! Many of the young adult submissions ventured into speculative fiction, magical realism, gritty contemporary or fantasy, exploring dark and complex issues, such as the impact of trauma, to varied levels of success and nuance. Across the wider range of applications in all categories, many applicants would benefit from further editing to polish their idea to a professional level, and also familiarising themselves with the current publishing market, including their target age groups, to see where and if their stories may fit. Sending a huge congratulations to the winners and best of luck to all applicants with your future creative adventures.
Illustration
There were some extremely high-quality entries for this category, with very little separating the top three manuscripts. Which made my job incredibly hard indeed. The clear layouts and general understanding of the picture book format and its physical specifications, made it all the easier to imagine many of them as genuine physical products. With several that could sit comfortably on the shelves of books shops across the country. Animals featured heavily across the board and while there were a few common and well trodden themes, such as cats vs dogs, there was still a fresh approach to that relationship dynamic. Not to mention the potential themes and lessons that could be transferred into the human world. In many entries there were some genuinely delightful illustrations that showed humour, empathy, drama and even mystery when called for. While some illustrations could have seen them qualify alone, the accompanying text could have been stronger to further clarify the plot and the intentions of the author. In the end, the winning entry deftly showed how illustrations and staging can act as an alternative narrative to the text. The skill of revealing secrets the protagonist is blissfully unaware of is a familiar approach, but when executed well, can still be a delightful experience.
It was a privilege to read this year’s entries. Congratulations to the successful entrant. The range of entries fluctuated. There were quite a few entries that captured my attention. These were of high quality and the manuscripts showed real potential. I hope these writers continue to develop their craft. Other entries I found to be lacking. Some writers have a good story to tell, but failed to tell the story in a compelling way or were overly heavy-handed in trying to get a point across. Other stories felt like personal essays rather than book length manuscripts, with the writing bordering on being clinical. The vast majority of the manuscripts were centred around trauma. The standouts found beauty in this trauma, shared lessons from their heartache or the writing was so lovely that I could appreciate why they were telling these stories and how reading them might be a gift to others. I can see why people would be motivated to write about the circumstances presented in each narrative, however, some did not feel commercially viable.
Poetry
It was an honour to sit with these compelling texts, each of the entries offering their own bold and assured exploration of pressing social and political issues, with a particular focus on the body politic, gender dynamics, bodily autonomy, and the different violences to which we are subject. The exploration of migration and identity added another layer of complexity, highlighting the tensions between selfhood against a backdrop of erasure, displacement and societal marginalisation. What stood out to me was the poets’ ability to weave their individual stories within these broader, often oppressive contexts, writing with lucid self-awareness and an acerbic critique of these systems – the way only poets can – craft and purpose expansive and evident on each page. It was important to approach these texts with care, and I thank the poets for their trust.
