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About the Walkley Arts Journalism Prizes

All Media: The June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism

The June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism recognises a significant contribution to arts journalism. It encompasses both shortform news and feature-length work across all media formats, and excellence in the reporting on or analysis of arts issues. This may include profiles of artists, features, breaking news, investigations and the examination of the creative arena. 

Judges will give special regard to impact, incisiveness, technique, creativity, public benefit, the craft of storytelling and the breadth of research. 

Work entered may relate to any aspect of the creative or performing arts. The word ‘arts’ is to be interpreted broadly so it can include, for example, journalism covering radio and television, music, photography, architecture, film, food and wine, literature, visual arts, performing arts and related industries.

Through the support of the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, both the winner of the June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism and the winner of the Pascall Prize for Cultural Criticism will receive $5000 in prize money.

Books are not eligible to be entered into the Arts Prizes. These should be entered into the Walkley Book Award.

Entries in this category must be a single piece of work or a series of no more than three related pieces. All entries must have been published or broadcast and available in Australia between April 27, 2023 and April 15, 2024.

 

Each entry to the Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism is judged on how well it responds to: 

  • the category description; and 
  • judging criteria. 

For more information on how judging works, including the judging criteria, please refer to the FAQs.

Your entry must comply with the following Terms & Conditions.

For entry support or questions, please contact Margie Smithurst, Senior Manager, Walkley Awards and Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism: margie.smithurst@walkleys.com.

 

Supported by

 

2023 winners:

Anna Verney and Richard Cooke, Guardian Australia, “‘Miles Franklin-nominated novelist apologises for plagiarising Nobel laureate ‘without realising’’ (1, 2, 3)

All Media: The Pascall Prize for Cultural Criticism

Enter now

The Pascall Prize for Cultural Criticism celebrates the unique contribution of critics to our cultural landscape and the specialist, detailed knowledge they draw on to contextualise their commentary.

For the purposes of this award, criticism can cover art (including design and architecture),  literature, food and/or wine, music, dance and/or drama, film, television, radio or podcasts.

Criticism includes both reviews responding to the work or creation itself, and deeper criticism placing the work or creation in the context of the creator’s oeuvre, specific genre and/or the current (or historical) social, political or cultural landscape. 

Judges will consider critical thinking, balanced, rigorous argument and evaluation, depth of knowledge, ability to contextualise, and engaging, illuminating voices.

Judges will pay particular attention to the entrant’s:

  • Knowledge of their given area
  • Ability to communicate and connect cultural ideas and practices with general audiences, and/or audiences with specialist knowledge
  • Contextualisation of the work / creation in the specific genre and/or more broadly.

Through the support of the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, both the winner of the June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism and the winner of the Pascall Prize for Cultural Criticism will receive $5000 in prize money.

Books are not eligible to be entered into the Arts Prizes. These should be entered into the Walkley Book Award.

Entries in this category must be a single piece or up to three pieces showcasing a body of work. This award is open only to individual entrants. All entries must have been published or broadcast and available in Australia between April 27, 2023 and April 15, 2024.

Each entry to the Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism is judged on how well it responds to: 

  • the category description; and 
  • judging criteria. 

 

For more information on how judging works, including the judging criteria, please refer to the FAQs.

Your entry must comply with the following Terms & Conditions.

Supported by:

 

2023 winner:

Catriona Menzies-Pike, Sydney Review of Books, “Critic Swallows Book” and “Fool’s Gold” (1, 2)

The prize

Through the support of the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund we are thrilled to announce that both the winner of the June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism and the winner of the Pascall Prize for Cultural Criticism will receive $5000 in prize money.

If you have any further questions, please contact margie.smithurst@walkleys.com

Entry fee

 

The cost of entering for each category is $50 per submission, including GST. Entry is free for all MEAA members.  

History of the Pascall Prize

The Pascall Prize for Cultural Criticism (formerly The Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism) has been Australia’s only major award for critical writing about the arts since 1988, when the inaugural prize was presented to David Malouf.

It celebrates the unique contribution of critics to our cultural landscape, and the specialist, detailed knowledge they draw upon to contextualise works of art. The award commemorates the flamboyant journalist and critic Geraldine Pascall, who worked for The Australian from 1970 until her sudden death in 1983.

The prize continues to reward engaging and illuminating voices, both new and established, whose work demonstrates critical thinking, eschews preconceptions, and which shows a balanced and considered treatment of the subject at hand.

The Pascall’s past winners include Roger Covell, Andrew Ford, Bruce Elder and Robert Forster (music), Sandra Hall, Julie Rigg, Andrew Martin, Noel Purdon, Paul Byrnes and Evan Williams (film), Robert Nelson and Joanna Mendelssohn (art), Alison Croggon and John McCallum (theatre), Elizabeth Farrelly (built environment), Mark Mordue, James Bradley, Gerard Windsor, Geordie Williamson, Kerryn Goldsworthy, James Ley, Marion Halligan, Andrew Riemer and Peter Craven (books and literature), the late Alan Saunders (gastronomy) and Kate Hennessy.

2022 winner:

June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism

Supported by Meta and Copyright Agency

Chip Le Grand, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, “Rogue Gallery: Tristian Koenig and the case of the missing artworks” “Top global dealer among victims of art rogue” and “Twiggy steps in to help artist “fleeced” by gallery owner

The judges said, “Chip Le Grand’s exhaustively researched and superbly written series of stories lifted the lid on an unregulated and unexamined corner of the contemporary art world, reuniting emerging and vulnerable artists with lost works, and giving impetus to multiple legal actions against a prominent gallerist. Investigative journalism at its best, it was also a riveting read.”

 

The Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism

Administered by the Walkley Foundation 

2022 winner

Sarah Krasnostein, The Saturday Paper, “Solos” “Alone” and “Katla

The judges said, “In the time of Covid, Sarah Krasnostein explored the artistic possibilities of television, as it met our desires for distraction and connection. She evoked new dramatic landscapes, as well as cultural change. There was depth of reference, a sense of formal advance, dry wit, and emotional openness.” 

Past winners of the June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism

Past winners of the Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism

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