Judges

Adam Spellicy

Adam Spellicy is an award-winning screenwriter based in Hobart, Tasmania. He spent his formative years growing up in Broken Hill, the real-life inspiration for the fictional town of Bundanyabba in Wake in Fright, and credits that experience with his abiding fascination for dark, mysterious stories. He has written six short films that have screened at local and international festivals, and more recently had his first feature screenplay, a supernatural horror tale entitled Murder Ballad, produced by Justin Kurzel’s company Third Born. Directed by Tom Campbell, the film will have its Australian premiere at the 2027 Melbourne International Film Festival.

Alessandro Antonello

Alessandro Antonello is an environmental historian at the University of Tasmania. He researches and writes on Antarctic, ocean, marine and cryosphere histories in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. He is the author of The Greening of Antarctica: Assembling an International Environment (Oxford University Press, 2019), and numerous articles and essays, including in Inside Story and Griffith Review.

Angela Morgan

Angela Morgan is the Manager Acquisitions and Collections Management for Libraries Tasmania, with extensive experience in public libraries and a longstanding commitment to literacy, reader engagement, and the promotion of Australian literature. Throughout her career, she has worked to build diverse and dynamic collections that give communities a mirror to their world and a window to the worlds of others. Angela brings a broad knowledge of literature across genres and audiences to her role on the Tasmanian Literary Awards judging panel. A passionate advocate for visual storytelling, she has a particular interest in picture books and graphic novels, and values works that challenge, comfort and resonate deeply with readers.

Blake Nuto

Blake Nuto is an internationally published author-illustrator living in Nipaluna/Hobart. He is the author of Child of Galaxies (2020), A Day That’s Ours (2022), When You’re A Boy (2023) and the forthcoming A Pool of Tears (2027). His books have received numerous translations and landed on some fancy book lists, such as the Ezra Jack Keats Award, the Kate Greenaway Medal, CBCA Book of the Year Awards, Queensland Literary Awards and Tasmanian Literary Awards.

Caitlin Richardson

Caitlin is a school teacher and writer living and working on Muwinina Country. She created and wrote AACTA, AWGIE, SPA and Melbourne WebFest award winning 2021 SBS web series THE TAILINGS (Good Lark in association with 2Jons and Roar Film). Caitlin is developing a screen project with collaborator Stevie Cruz-Martin (supported by Screenwest), and in 2023 was shortlisted for the Screen Australia and SBS Emerging Writers’ Incubator Program, and the AACTA/Screenworks Regional Landscapes initiative. Her theatre work has been produced in Nipaluna/Hobart, Launceston and Sydney, adapted for ABC Radio National and nominated for a Tasmanian Theatre Award.

Caroline Flood

Caroline Flood lives and writes in southern Tasmania. Her award-winning short stories have been widely published in literary journals in Australia, the United States of America and Canada. A collection of her short stories, With these we will never go hungry, was published by Ginninderra Press in 2022.

Charlotte Dunn

Dr Charlotte Dunn is a Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Tasmania, whose research explores the people, stories and ideas of the ancient world. Specialising in the age of Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic kingdoms that followed, she has written extensively on ancient rulers, historical storytelling, and the ways power and identity were represented through images, literature and material culture. Charlotte's expertise in history, narrative and cultural interpretation informs her appreciation of engaging, imaginative and insightful writing for readers.

Chloe Mayne

Chloe Mayne is a Tasmanian poet, essayist and researcher from Nipaluna/Hobart. Her poetry has been published widely, including in Overland, Cordite, Australian Poetry and Best of Australian Poems. She was a finalist in the Australian Book Review’s 2026 Calibre Essay Prize, the Judith Wright Poetry Prize in 2024, and was a recipient of the Marten Bequest for Poetry. Of Trawlwoolway and convict descent, her work is deeply shaped by questions of belonging and relationship with place. Chloe has a background in teaching and recently completed a creative PhD.

Claire Konkes

Claire Konkes is a senior lecturer in media and communication at the University of Tasmania. A former newspaper journalist, her essays can be found in The Monthly magazine and other publications.

Demelza Hall

Dr Demelza Hall is a Regional Manager with Libraries Tasmania and an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Tasmania. She has an established research profile in contemporary Australian literature, women’s writing, English education, place-based literary cultures and reading communities, with particular interests in how stories shape identity, belonging, and cultural participation. Through her leadership in public libraries, she works to strengthen reading culture across Tasmania, including through inclusive reader engagement, community partnerships, and targeted adult literacy initiatives. Her work brings together literary scholarship, public library practice, and a commitment to expanding access to reading across the state.

Graeme Miles

Graeme Miles has published three collections of poems: Infernal Topographies (University of Western Australia Press, 2020), Recurrence (John Leonard Press, 2012) and Phosphorescence (Fremantle Press, 2006), as well as many pieces in journals and anthologies. His most recent book was shortlisted in the Tasmanian Literary Awards and his first for the West Australian Premier’s Prize. He has lived in Hobart since 2008 and teaches Latin and ancient Greek literatures at the University of Tasmania. His scholarly work is in ancient Greek literature (especially Greek literature of the Roman era) and philosophy (especially late-antique Platonism).

Jennifer Kremmer

Jennifer Kremmer won the Australian/Vogel Literary Award last millennium, and has since worked as a freelance editor. She is currently working on a collection of short stories titled Space Monkeys.

Jillian Mundy

Jillian Mundy is a Palawa woman from Nipaluna. A freelance writer, photographer, filmmaker and artist, she has reported for national Indigenous newspaper the Koori Mail for over two decades. In 2025, Jillian was honoured as the NAIDOC Palawa of the Year in the Tasmanian awards for her dedication to storytelling, truth telling and cultural preservation, and shortly after as Most Valuable Contributor in the First Nations Media Australia Awards. She loves the beach, spicy food, the colour blue, meeting people, her work and new opportunities.

Kathleen Williams

Dr Kathleen Williams is the Head of Politics, Media and Languages at the University of Tasmania. She is an avid fiction reader, and publishes both academic writing and creative non-fiction. She’s interested in how people negotiate change, especially socially and technologically.

Kyle Perry

Kyle Perry is the bestselling Tasmanian author of The Bluffs and The Deep. His novels have received multiple award nominations, been published across numerous international territories, and are both in screen development. Outside writing, Kyle works for Tasmania’s peak body for the alcohol, tobacco and other drugs sector, where he coordinates the Lived Experience Advocate Service.

Kylie Dickson

Kylie Dickson is an Aboriginal Community Engagement Officer, writer and storyteller based in Tasmania. She is passionate about amplifying Aboriginal voices, fostering cultural understanding and building meaningful connections between communities, organisations and stakeholders. Alongside her professional work, Kylie is an accomplished author and co-author of Here on Sea Country and We Love Country, publications that celebrate Aboriginal culture, connection to Country and community knowledge. Drawing on her experience in storytelling, community engagement and cultural advocacy, Kylie brings a deep appreciation for the power of words to educate, inspire and connect people through diverse stories and perspectives. Photo credit: Jillian Mundy

Lauren Gray

Lauren Gray has established an international career in libraries, archives, records, freedom of information and knowledge management. She has held senior roles across the public sectors and at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. Lauren recently completed a PhD in Law at the University of Technology Sydney, researching transparency in law and practice. She also holds a Master of Information Services and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Sociology, and has lectured at the Haute école de gestion de Genève. Her first book, Dispatching Democracy, is soon to be published. She currently serves on the Western Australian State Records Advisory Committee and works as a Regional Manager at Libraries Tasmania.

Maggie MacKellar

Maggie MacKellar is an historian and writer who has published two books on the history of settlement in Australia and Canada, and three memoirs: When It Rains, How To Get There and Graft, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Award and won the 2025 Tasmanian Premier’s Prize for Non-fiction. Maggie lives on the banks of Kanamaluka/River Tamar in Tasmania with her partner. She runs the much-loved newsletter The Sit Spot. Photo credit: Abbie Melle

Melanie Tait

Melanie Tait is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and journalist. Melanie’s plays include The Vegemite Tales (Riverside Studios and Leicester Square Theatre), The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race (Ensemble Theatre and National Tour), The Queen’s Nanny (Ensemble Theatre and National Tour), A Broadcast Coup (Ensemble Theatre and Sydney Festival) and How to Plot a Hit in Two Days (Ensemble Theatre). She is currently under commission by Sydney Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre and Essential Theatre, and has a television series in development with Dreamchaser and Script Engine.

Naomi Milthorpe

Naomi Milthorpe is Associate Professor in English at the School of Humanities. Her research interests centre on modernist, interwar and mid-century British literary culture, particularly the works of Evelyn Waugh. Naomi is currently completing a scholarly edition of Waugh’s 1932 novel Black Mischief, volume 3 of Oxford University Press’s Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh. Naomi was previously a judge in the 2022 Tasmanian Literary Awards.

Nunami Sculthorpe-Green

Pam Schindler

Pam Schindler is an Australian poet living at Blackmans Bay, Lutruwita/Tasmania. Her work has been published widely in Australian magazines and anthologies, and her second book, say, a river, won the Tim Thorne Prize for Poetry in the 2025 Tasmanian Literary Awards. Her work has been shortlisted or commended in the Robert Gray Prize for Poetry, the W. B. Yeats Poetry Prize (Australia), and the Philip Bacon Ekphrasis Award. In May 2026 she travelled to Montegiovi, Italy for a La Baldi/Cultivate Arts Residency, with support from the Salamanca Arts Centre and the Australian Government Regional Arts Fund.

Rachael Weaver

Rachael Weaver is an ARC Future Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Tasmania, working in colonial Australian literary and cultural studies, environmental humanities, and human-animal studies. She is General Editor, with Professor Ken Gelder, of the Colonial Australian Culture Series (Miegunyah/MUP), and a Visiting Scholar at the State Library of NSW. Her current research examines Australia's colonial and contemporary relationships to native species.

Rosemary Cann

Rosemary Cann is an accomplished actor, writer, musician and improviser based in Nipaluna, Lutruwita, whose practice spans theatre, devised performance and original writing. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, English Literature and Anthropology, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing (Script and Screen). Her recent stage work includes Zep in Space Neighbours On Uranus (Nathan Maynard & Terrapin), Pip in Things I Know To Be True (Mudlark & Tas Theatre Co.), Mrs Elton in Emma (Bijou Tasmania) and Leanne in Sunday Roast (Bad Company Theatre). Rosemary won the 2026 Tasmanian Theatre Award for Best Female Lead Actor for her work in Sunday Roast. As a writer, her work has been showcased at Midsumma Arts Festival and supported through Arts Tasmania, the Erin Thomas Playwriting Fund, the Blue Cow Theatre Legacy Fund and Salamanca Arts Centre’s Emergence Program. She has developed new work with ATYP, Performing Lines TAS and Blue Cow Theatre, and also works as a dramaturg, mentor and advocate for bold, inclusive and queer-centred Tasmanian theatre. Photo credit: Ped Duke

Ruth Dawkins

Ruth Dawkins is a freelance writer from a tiny island in the north of Scotland. In 2013, Ruth moved from the UK to Lutruwita/Tasmania, where the cold winters, beautiful sunsets and generous measures of whisky make her feel very much at home. Ruth does a combination of copywriting and feature writing, and her bylines include The Washington Post, Guardian, SBS Life, RACT Journeys and Lonely Planet. Ruth was an invited speaker at the inaugural Tasmania Reads ‘Weekend of Reading’ and is a former board member of Transportation Press. When she’s not writing, you will almost always find her reading. Photo credit: Karen Brown Photography

Sue Hayes

Sue Hayes is an Ensemble Studios graduate with more than 20 years' association with JUTE Theatre in Cairns, where she performed, co-wrote and devised original physical theatre works. She was both actor and playwright for Gods of Spicy Things – A Divine Comedy, which toured through Queensland Arts Council and was published by Playlab. In Tasmania, Sue has worked with Blue Cow Theatre on Frida and Derek, and Bingo!, and facilitated the Cowshed Master and Future Proof Playwriting programs. She has also performed with Big Monkey Theatre and MADE. Sue is currently Convenor of Hobart UNESCO City of Literature, supporting Tasmania's literary community through programs, partnerships and advocacy. Photo credit: Leah Purcell

Tim Loveday

Tim Loveday is a poet, writer and academic. He won the 2022 and 2024 Dorothy Porter Poetry Awards, the 2025 Calanthe Prize and the 2023 Venie Holmgren Environmental Poetry Award, came runner-up in the 2024 Cloncurry Poetry Prize and was a finalist in the 2023 David Harold Tribe Poetry Prize, 2024 Best Australian Yarn, the 2024 Montreal International Poetry Prize and the 2025 Dorothy Hewett Prize. His work has been widely published. He’s received numerous fellowships, residencies and grants, including a 2021 Next Chapter Fellowship, 2026 Writing Space Fellowship and 2026 Creatives Australia Grant. Tim teaches Creative Writing at Unimelb and RMIT. He is the poetry editor at Island Magazine. His debut collection, your father was a bastard, will be published by UQP in 2027.