See the 2024 finalists work below or borrow the writer's anthology from our collection.
2024 winners
Writing
Winners
- 12 to 15 years: Evgenia Damjanovski, "Kvachka"
- 16 to 18 years: Ruby Norman, "Memory of a Headless Snake"
- 19 to 24 years: Jaden White, "For My Grandmothers"
Runners up
- 12 to 15 years: Chris Pantelis, "Hot Off the Press"
- 16 to 18 years: Jade Huang, "This Android Doesn't Want to Dream of Electric Sheep Anymore"
- 19 to 24 years: Ira Freidberg, "Half Empty, Half Full"
Librarians' choices
- Jonathan Smyth, "It" (12 to 15)
- Kane Arriagada, "Of a Thousand Faces" (16 to 18)
- Joseph Hathaway Wilson, "After School" (19 to 24)
- Jaya Kortegast, "Father: A Love Ode, a War Song" (19 to 24)
People's choice
- Matilda Thomson, "It's Called Messy Love" (19 to 24)
View the writing winners, runners up and other selections
Art
Winners
- 12 to 15 years: Caydence Sumantri, "Teatime"
- 16 to 18 years: Carmi Pirola, "Mono No Aware"
- 19 to 24 years: Millicent Lee, "What Do Things Dream About?"
Runners up
- 12 to 15 years: Shona Bevis, "Mind As a Mirror"
- 16 to 18 years: Vanessa Huan, "Held"
- 19 to 24 years: Sharon Xu, "Safety/Vulnerability"
Librarians' choices
- Jim Dawes, "The Tempest" (19-24)
- Jonathan Nolan, "Echoes of Self" (16-18)
- Charlie Mendoza Mendez, "Swing" (16-18)
- Kobi Stenhouse, "Speed of Sydney & People of Sydney" (16-18)
People's choice
- Min Lin, "Meeting Point" (19-24)
View the art winners, runners up and other selections
Film
Winners
- 12 to 15 years: Francesca Nagle and Greta O’Donoghue, "Obsession"
- 16 to 18 years: Noah Luckett, "Day At the Office"
- 19 to 24 years: Oliver Whitehouse, "Myth"
Runners up
- 12 to 15 years: Indianna Thompson, "Don't Look"
- 16 to 18 years: Dutch Young, "Sandwich"
- 19 to 24 years: Yarno Rohling, Matt Shepard and Tom O'Meara, "Rescues"
Librarians' choices
- Anoushka Keswani and Yevin Yung, "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" (12-15)
- Zoe Duarte, "GOV_FILE42" (16-18)
- Joshua Danger Cresp, "Individuals" (16-18)
- Jack Moran, Ruby Blinkhorn and Euan Hart, "Ego"
People's choice
- Sara Lacanale, "Body" (19-24)
View the film winners, runners up and other selections
Competition info
The Young Creatives Awards are open to people aged 12 to 24 who live, work or study in the Inner West. Work can be submitted for the following categories:
Each category has three awards based on age: 12 to 15, 16 to 18, and 19 to 24.
Get your work seen
If you are seriously talented these awards give valuable exposure, and you can hone your skills in a competitive environment. Opportunities for previous winners include roles hosting youth workshops for Inner West Library and commissions for marketing campaigns for Inner West Council.
2024 prizes
- The total prize pool for 2024 is $8,400.
Winner of each age group and category: $500
Runner up of each age group and category: $250.
Librarians Choice for each age group and category: $100
People's Choice Award for each category: $250 - Finalists' artwork in public exhibition at Chrissie Cotter Gallery and Leichhardt Library.
- Finalists' film screening night at Marrickville Pavilion and Haberfield Library.
- Finalists' written works printed in anthology catalogue.
- Content producer roles for Young Creatives Take Over festival program in 2025.
How to enter
Choose an item in our library collection (digital, print, audio or DVD) and create your own work using this item as inspiration. Search our collection here.
- Writers: Submit a piece of writing which can be a short story, poetry, a fan fiction or a piece of prose that is 1000 words.
- Artists: Submit a photo of an artwork which can be a painting, drawing, sculpture, textile piece or still digital work.
- Filmmakers: Submit a MP4 file of a moving image digital work, animation, narrative film or music video between 2 and 7 minutes in duration.
Submit your entry using the correct link above. You can enter more than one work.
Entries for 2024 closed on 31 August.
Terms and conditions (DOCX 39KB)
Terms and conditions (PDF 165.5KB)
Event and program timeline
- Entries open: 21 May to 31 August.
- Winners announced: Art and Writing Awards 14 November, Film Awards 16 November
- Finalists' art exhibition: Chrissie Cotter Gallery, 15 to 24 November
- Live Reading: Chrissie Chrissie Cotter Gallery, 22 November
- Film screening: Marrickville Library and Pavilion, 23 November
Previous winners
Previous winners of the Young Creatives Awards
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Spence Messih is a multidisciplinary artist and writer who teaches at UNSW Art and Design and has exhibited work at the Murray Art Museum, The MCA, QAGOMA, Artspace, Firstdraft, and London.
Spence’s more recent work explores the limits and boundaries of glass as an inherently fragile medium and has a keen interest in the interplay between history and archives.
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Vedika Rampal is an Indian-born Australian artist who excavates histories, objects and sites from her cultural past and explores South Asian consciousness in the aftermath of the Empire.
Awards include: TWT Excellence Award in Fine Arts (2023), Jenny Birt Award (2022) and Kudos Emerging Artist Award (2021), highly commended: Olive Cotton Award (2023), finalist: Fisher Ghost Prize (2022).
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Lena Albin is a Development and Producer Associate at Easy Tiger Production and has worked on shows such as Colin From Accounts (Binge/Foxtel), The Twelve (Foxtel) and Scrublands (Stan).
She is also a filmmaker, with her short comedy/horror film BLOODY HELL winning Best Horror at Berlin Indie Film Festival and being selected as a semifinalist in New York Indie Shorts Awards. The film’s Australian premiere will be announced imminently. She is currently producing two other short form projects with other critically acclaimed filmmakers.
Lena is passionate about telling queer and women-lead stories.
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Sami Swilks is an early career screenwriter with a Masters of Arts Screen (Screenwriting) and a Bachelor of Communication.
She has worked with a variety of film and production companies, including Soundfirm Sydney, Fin Design, Paper Moose, Good Oil Films and MacGowan Films.
Sami currently works as the Development Coordinator for Curio Pictures.
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Ang Collins was the inaugural Incubator Fellow for Create NSW and Griffin Theatre Company and recipient of Create NSW’s Young Creative Leaders Fellowship.
Her play, Blueberry Play, was shortlisted for the 2017 Griffin Award with a sell-out season at Batch Festival and played at venues across Australia.
Ang was a 2022 Artist-in-Residence for the IWC and has been shortlisted for a variety of prestigious playwriting awards.
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Dave Drayton is a writer, poet, researcher, editor, and founding member of the Atterton Academy, Kanganoulipian.
He has been awarded and shortlisted for the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, Blake Poetry Prize, Lane Cove Literary Awards and Australian Postgrad Award for PhD research.
Dave has published six collections of poetry and journal articles, book chapters, creative non-fiction and conference papers. He is a casual academic at UTS and Western Sydney University.
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