Huge congratulations to the winner of our Inaugural Hilarie Lindsay Prize! And what a fabulous afternoon! Our guest speaker, Andrew Lindsay, and our judge, Angela Bowne, enlightened and entertained us, inspired and amused us, and appealed to our emotions. All with the backdrop of the Members’ Room at Parliament House, a Sparkling High Tea and lots of chatter.
Co-president Liz Newton explained that the Hilarie Lindsay Prize was created to challenge women writers nationally to submit an unpublished work of fiction or non-fiction on the subject of social justice. It was established in memory of Dr Hilarie Elizabeth Lindsay MBE OAM (1922-2021), Hilarie was a distinguished Australian writer, mentor, businesswoman, a champion of women, and proud supporter and former president of The Society of Women Writers NSW Inc. She was also a fierce advocate for social justice, a theme reflected in the breadth of her literary works.
Andrew’s speech, or part of it, will be added here soon.
Thanking Andrew for his speech, co-president Pippa Kay said, ‘I blame Hilarie for getting me started as a writer some decades ago. Hilarie and I both lived in Hunters Hill and together we started the Moocooboola Fellowship of Australian writers, which met in the Gladesville Library and is still going strong. Later I joined Patricia Gaut’s Willoughby Writing Group with Hilarie and it was through that group that I learned of the Society of Women Writers. I have a lot to thank Hilarie for. And we have a lot to thank her son, Andrew, because without his generous support, we wouldn’t have this competition.’
Pippa continued, ‘We had 69 entries and I was the Returning Officer. I made sure there were no names attached to the actual stories submitted and assigned a number to each one, then sent them to two preliminary judges – Liz Newton and Christine Sykes – who selected their ten best. This was the long list which I sent to Angela Bowne, who selected six shortlisted entries.’
Angela described each of the six shortlisted entries and explained how she decided on the winner. Her speech will be added here soon.
Angela Bowne SC’s practice at the NSW Bar was primarily in intellectual property, and her work has always involved writers and publishing. She has been a journalist, editor and publisher of small journals. She was a director of UNSW Press/New South Publishing for the maximum six-year term and is currently on the board of Australian Book Review. She has served on several arts boards, including Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) and Sydney Chamber Opera. As Chair of the ATYP Foundation, she initiated annual Foundation Commission Awards for new plays to be performed by young people and was on the judging panel for 15 years.
Angela was President of PEN Sydney (2006–2007) and was awarded honorary life membership of PEN for her services. In that role, she was a judge of the PEN Keneally Award and the Sydney PEN Award. She has served on and chaired several NSW Bar Association committees, including chairing the judging panel for the Bar’s Media Awards (2006–2008), and currently sits on its Media & Information Law & Technology Committee. In 2019 she was awarded life membership of the Copyright Society of Australia for her services to copyright owners and creators. She has convened numerous writers’ events over the years and directed the Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival in 2018 and 2019, showcasing 54 women writers across more than 30 sessions.
The shortlisted entries and their authors (not in any order) are:
• Amanda Clarke for Learning to Disappear
• Jane McGown for Whispers
• Sadia Dubow for Letters of Suggestion
• Helen Lyne for The Depths of Ignorance
• Brielle Bates for A Resourceful Woman
• Melanie Weckert for Bus
The winner, Sadia Dubow, lives in Victoria and was not able to join us for the presentation. This is her acceptance speech, which was read by Pippa Kay:
It is an honour and a delight to be the very first recipient of the inaugural Hilarie Lindsay Prize. Before anything else, I would like to congratulate my fellow writers who were shortlisted, those who were longlisted, and all who submitted their work to the prize. I wish I could’ve been present to celebrate with you in person.
I came across the Hilarie Lindsay prize late last year and I remember feeling pleasantly surprised at the fact that the theme was unabashedly ‘social justice.’ Often writers are told to be subtle—to suggest and imply, to show not tell. The story I submitted, titled Letters of Suggestion, is nothing like that. It is straightforward and brash, it lectures and berates; I thought it was the kind of story that might never find a home. The Hilarie Lindsay Prize truly appeared at the perfect time for me and I feel incredibly grateful to have my writing recognised with this award.
I would like to thank all the wonderful people who made a prize like this possible. Thank you to the wonderful team at The Society of Women Writers NSW, and in particular to the co-president Pippa Kay who I’ve exchanged many emails with. Thank you to the judge Angela Bowne for selecting Letters of Suggestion as the winning piece. And thank you to all of you, the community of writers and readers that surround The Society of Women Writers NSW and support this organisation in doing the work that it does. I look forward to seeing the prize re-open later this year, and wish everyone who submits all the best.
Sadia also created a video of herself, which is viewable at the top of this article. Photos taken by Rita Shaw at the function are also viewable at the top of this article.
The Society of Women Writers NSW is delighted with the outcome of this inaugural Hilarie Lindsay Prize competition and is looking forward to opening it up again in November 2026. We are extremely proud of the contribution Hilarie made to our organisation and to be able to honour her memory in words and by wearing hats, just the way she would have wanted.